topic Re: American Express Gold App in Credit Card Applications

American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 04:28:10 GMT

Hey everyone. So I've been looking at getting the AMEX gold card as my second credit card. I am a college student and am worried that my income of about $10,000 a year is too low for the gold card. I looked on the AMEX prequalifying website and it says I'm prequalified for the card. Should I just go for it and see what happens??

Credit scores:

T: 786

EQ: 775

Re: American Express Gold App

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 04:50:23 GMT

It's a charge card. It's not like they'll let you rack up 20k in a month. Their internal spend limits will keep that from happening. Go for it.

Re: American Express Gold App

tparks5961 — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:58:40 GMT

As a college student what would you need an Amex gold card for?

The $250.00 annual fee is 2.5% of your annual income.. Do you have any other credit cards?

In your current position, I'd work on no annual fee cards for a few years.

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 09:16:40 GMT

OP, you'd do well to get your FICO scores. I'm assuming by your data points on TU/EQ that you're getting your scores from Credit Karma or some similar monitoring service? Those are basically useless for gauging your creditworthiness as lenders don't use those scores (they're calculated from a different algorithm than FICO). This goes doubly so for Amex since they pull Experian almost exclusively.

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 12:55:04 GMT

I'm also a college student and I was approved, but different credit profile.

I am curious why you want the card. As others pointed out, there is a $250 annual fee, and although you receive a $120 dining credit and a $100 airline fee credit, both with restrictions, you have to use them or you aren't receiving the value from the money you're forced to spend. With your income, I'm not the 4% on food will earn you enough points to justify the annual fee, even if you utilize both credits.

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:02:11 GMT

Not sure if the scores you provided are Fico or Fako. My guess is your using Credit Karma? Amex uses EXP 8 score which you haven't provided, but despite what that score is, you're a college student with low income. Like it's been said, this card holds a $250 AF which is high relative to your income. If you NEED a new card, I think it would be wise to apply for one with no AF. JMO

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 19:04:32 GMT

I was drawn to the card for its rewards at supermarkets and restaurants. I wasn't too concerned about the annual fee due to what I'll be making this year. I do currently have the Discover it card. One of the no annual fee credit cards I was eyeing was the Wells Fargo Propel card. Do you know much about that card?

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 19:58:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was drawn to the card for its rewards at supermarkets and restaurants. I wasn't too concerned about the annual fee due to what I'll be making this year. I do currently have the Discover it card. One of the no annual fee credit cards I was eyeing was the Wells Fargo Propel card. Do you know much about that card?

I got the WF Propel card before I got the Amex Gold. It offers a lot of value being that it has no AF, and offers 3x cash back on restaurants, gas, travel, and online subscriptions. The former two comprise a majority of my spending because I commute to work and school and rarely have time to cook.

I understand the 4x rewards looks appealing, but you should know a few things. One, with the Amex Gold you are earning American Express's Membership Reward points, not cash back. MR points can be redeemed for many things, but the points change value depending on how you redeem them. If cash back is your goal, you'll be disappointed to know that MR points are .7 cents per point when redeemed as cash. Two, again you are paying $250, and you receive $230 in credits with restrictions on how you can redeem them. You most likely will be losing money if you only use the card for food and redeem as cash back, especially if you don't use the credits. The WF Propel cash back is 1 cent per point, and again no AF. It seems to me this would be a much better card for you.

If the card being metal is a factor for you, both cards are metal, but the Amex Gold is heavier at 15g and the WF Propel is 10g, over the standard 5g for plastic cards.

Re: American Express Gold App

NimbusIII — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:13:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was drawn to the card for its rewards at supermarkets and restaurants. I wasn't too concerned about the annual fee due to what I'll be making this year. I do currently have the Discover it card. One of the no annual fee credit cards I was eyeing was the Wells Fargo Propel card. Do you know much about that card?

Also consider the fact the gold card is a charge card and will not add to your overall Available credit line (for scoring purposes). The WF Propel Will Get you further in establishing a better credit profile at this point if this is your second card.

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:30:47 GMT

i think you should go for a different card.

almost half of your yearly income will have to be spent within 3 months to take advantage of the 35k MR.

like everyone else said...it's pointless to spend $250 a year on a card that you can't really benefit from.

maybe the blue cash preferred will be better if you want to get in with amex.

low AF. and you get 6% cashback on supermarkets and streaming services.

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:43:02 GMT

Or BCE where OP can still get cash back on groceries without an AF.

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:48:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Or BCE where OP can still get cash back on groceries without an AF.

This!

Re: American Express Gold App

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 22:00:42 GMT

good card to start off with and build a relationship with amex.

when you're ready, you can get the amex trifecta and take advantage of all the benefits amex has to offer for your travels

@Anonymous wrote:
Or BCE where OP can still get cash back on groceries without an AF.

Re: American Express Gold App

NRB525 — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 09:39:57 GMT

OP with your income and being a student, it may make sense to discuss this with your parents.
As noted, the spend required for the once a lifetime SUB is rather a large share of your income. Meeting that spend requirement may be best done by paying bills for your family and getting reimbursed to pay the card.

If your parents have good credit they could get a Gold card for themselves, and make you an Authorized User. There is no additional fee for this. Your points would build in their AMEX MR account, but the use of those points to transfer to travel partners later could be negotiated

In either case, you ( and each parent ) only get one shot at the SUB for each AMEX card, so wait for the 50,000 MR SUB to be available.