topic Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me? in Credit Cards

Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 03:08:18 GMT

I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

I currently have the 50k for 1k spend offer, and it’s tempting me to apply for the card. Does the card make sense for someone who doesn’t frequently travel internationally? From what I’ve been told, international travel is where MR points really shine.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 03:57:35 GMT

I understand the temptation, but based on what you described, you may be stuck paying $250/year and not use the points at a good value (international air travel). AMEX points are not very valueable for Cashback credit.

If I were you, I would get a Cashback CC with no annual fee.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

K-in-Boston — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 04:51:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

I currently have the 50k for 1k spend offer, and it’s tempting me to apply for the card. Does the card make sense for someone who doesn’t frequently travel internationally? From what I’ve been told, international travel is where MR points really shine.

Welcome to the forums! Sounds like Gold would likely be a good fit for you. While international business/first travel is where the point value really shines, it's not like you're going to get poor value from MRs using them on domestic airfare, even in coach. Is there a specific airline or alliance that you normally travel on?

Let's split the difference on your spend to $500 a month. Just with dining and groceries alone, you'd get 24,000 points a year. Transfer that to Delta and worst case it's worth $288 in travel, plus you can get two $50 eGift cards from Delta and a couple of others to trigger the airline credit. That alone is likely enough to pay for your international flight every other year, especially combined with other spending. You'd also get 3x points on your airfare purchased through the airlines or through Amex Travel. Certainly worth a shot for at least the first year!

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

drave199 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 05:19:36 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

I currently have the 50k for 1k spend offer, and it’s tempting me to apply for the card. Does the card make sense for someone who doesn’t frequently travel internationally? From what I’ve been told, international travel is where MR points really shine.
Welcome to the forums! Sounds like Gold would likely be a good fit for you. While international business/first travel is where the point value really shines, it's not like you're going to get poor value from MRs using them on domestic airfare, even in coach. Is there a specific airline or alliance that you normally travel on?

Let's split the difference on your spend to $500 a month. Just with dining and groceries alone, you'd get 24,000 points a year. Transfer that to Delta and worst case it's worth $288 in travel, plus you can get two $50 eGift cards from Delta and a couple of others to trigger the airline credit. That alone is likely enough to pay for your international flight every other year, especially combined with other spending. You'd also get 3x points on your airfare purchased through the airlines or through Amex Travel. Certainly worth a shot for at least the first year!

At least for the first year? Then what? Im genuinely curious about what you mean. Are saying to cancel it or ? My understanding is you dont want to cancel a card as it could affect credit, although since this is a charge card maybe its different? Thanks for the info

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 05:21:55 GMT

Isn’t the AF effectively $30 if I go through both credits, which I’m almost certain I will?

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

USF — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 05:30:28 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

I currently have the 50k for 1k spend offer, and it’s tempting me to apply for the card. Does the card make sense for someone who doesn’t frequently travel internationally? From what I’ve been told, international travel is where MR points really shine.
Welcome to the forums! Sounds like Gold would likely be a good fit for you. While international business/first travel is where the point value really shines, it's not like you're going to get poor value from MRs using them on domestic airfare, even in coach. Is there a specific airline or alliance that you normally travel on?

Let's split the difference on your spend to $500 a month. Just with dining and groceries alone, you'd get 24,000 points a year. Transfer that to Delta and worst case it's worth $288 in travel, plus you can get two $50 eGift cards from Delta and a couple of others to trigger the airline credit. That alone is likely enough to pay for your international flight every other year, especially combined with other spending. You'd also get 3x points on your airfare purchased through the airlines or through Amex Travel. Certainly worth a shot for at least the first year!

I think K-in-Boston nailed it. 100% agreed! If you can make use of the full $220 in credits ($30 EAF) it’s a good value with your monthly spend on dining and groceries, and if you use the MR for flights. If we are talking strictly about your $500 avg spend on dining and groceries, that would only net you $120 in cash back a year on the numerous 2% cards out there. Whereas like K-in-Boston mentioned, that same spend with the Gold card is worth a minimum of $250+ in travel via Delta and other partners.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

red259 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 06:53:45 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

I currently have the 50k for 1k spend offer, and it’s tempting me to apply for the card. Does the card make sense for someone who doesn’t frequently travel internationally? From what I’ve been told, international travel is where MR points really shine.
Welcome to the forums! Sounds like Gold would likely be a good fit for you. While international business/first travel is where the point value really shines, it's not like you're going to get poor value from MRs using them on domestic airfare, even in coach. Is there a specific airline or alliance that you normally travel on?

Let's split the difference on your spend to $500 a month. Just with dining and groceries alone, you'd get 24,000 points a year. Transfer that to Delta and worst case it's worth $288 in travel, plus you can get two $50 eGift cards from Delta and a couple of others to trigger the airline credit. That alone is likely enough to pay for your international flight every other year, especially combined with other spending. You'd also get 3x points on your airfare purchased through the airlines or through Amex Travel. Certainly worth a shot for at least the first year!

I think the Delta value can be less than that. I believe Amex charges a fee for transferring points into US based airlines like Delta so that lowers the .012 value per point a bit more.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

red259 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 06:57:03 GMT

@drave199 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

I currently have the 50k for 1k spend offer, and it’s tempting me to apply for the card. Does the card make sense for someone who doesn’t frequently travel internationally? From what I’ve been told, international travel is where MR points really shine.
Welcome to the forums! Sounds like Gold would likely be a good fit for you. While international business/first travel is where the point value really shines, it's not like you're going to get poor value from MRs using them on domestic airfare, even in coach. Is there a specific airline or alliance that you normally travel on?

Let's split the difference on your spend to $500 a month. Just with dining and groceries alone, you'd get 24,000 points a year. Transfer that to Delta and worst case it's worth $288 in travel, plus you can get two $50 eGift cards from Delta and a couple of others to trigger the airline credit. That alone is likely enough to pay for your international flight every other year, especially combined with other spending. You'd also get 3x points on your airfare purchased through the airlines or through Amex Travel. Certainly worth a shot for at least the first year!
At least for the first year? Then what? Im genuinely curious about what you mean. Are saying to cancel it or ? My understanding is you dont want to cancel a card as it could affect credit, although since this is a charge card maybe its different? Thanks for the info

credit cards stay on credit report for 7 years from closure date so credit score wouldn't necessarily take a hit just by closing a credit card. Some lenders if they see a repeat pattern of people apping for cards then closing them after a year will factor that in when deciding if they want to approve you for cards in the future, so it is good to have some cards you keep long term to have a more balanced approach but never pay an AF if the card does not hold enough value.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 07:16:33 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@drave199 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I’m a 23 year old grad student who is thinking of getting a new card and this one interests me. I currently fly domestically around 1-3 times a year, and internationally maybe once every 2 years or so. I also take weekend trips domestically on occasion, by car. I spend around 4-600/month on dining and groceries combined.

Some lenders if they see a repeat pattern of people apping for cards then closing them after a year will factor that in when deciding if they want to approve you for cards in the future, so it is good to have some cards you keep long term to have a more balanced approach but never pay an AF if the card does not hold enough value.

This!

I just bit the bullet on the Gold after doing the math on my spend. With the $50k offer, it will sparkle. 😀

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

red259 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 07:20:05 GMT

OP whether or not the card makes sense depends on if you can actually use the points. It doesn't matter what value anybody else tells you if you don't fly on the airlines or partners of the airlines that Amex MRs transfers to then the card does not make sense. The first thing you need to do is research the different ways the points can be used and see if any of those are useful redemptions to you. Getting the card and points first and then trying to figure out how to use them is a poor way of picking credit cards. You don't need to know your exact redemption strategy but you should determine that there are at least a handful of options that you would be interested in within the next 1 or 2 years. If so then given your spend the card may make sense. Obviously international redemptions in business or first class will have a much higher return on value per point than on economy tickets, but in some cases you can get at least some value back on economy tickets as well when you can't find flights on sale etc.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 07:35:38 GMT

Is it a “waste” to use points on domestic travel? Is it possible to get more than 1cpp on them? If so I could see using MR for that

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

kdm31091 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 11:51:22 GMT

Make sure to dig into the redemption value for your specific redemption plans. If it's domestic travel, it could be that you really won't get much more value than a cash back card, especially given the annual fee. Having to buy egift cards and such to negate the fee is fine if you have the patience to do it, but don't ignore cash back cards that can provide comparable rewards that are more flexible with no need to worry about a fee. There are many dining and grocery reward cards out there, even if you have to sign up for two to maximize both of those things.

I'm not knocking the Amex Gold; it's a great card for someone who can make the best use of it. But to me that really means international travel. Other than that, even if you're getting 1 cent per point, it's 4% dining, which you can match or beat with other cash back cards with no fee. For grocery it becomes a bit more of a tossup, but still, you don't spend that much, so the reward difference isn't going to be very much.

At the end of the day just remember the card costs money to hold every year and it's not a tiny amount of money. Make sure you can overcome the fee and come out ahead vs other options. If you can, then the card makes sense.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 13:53:58 GMT

You would certainly get more than 1cpp right now with domestic travel.

If you fly SA or OW, you may have to book ticket through alliance partner award travel instead of booking AA or UA directly.

It will be more than 1cpp, although not a lot more. Greater value is from bonus transfer or airline sales.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

NRB525 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 13:37:13 GMT

With the Gold, you select an airline to make the fee credit available.

What airline do you fly most regularly? Is Delta a possible choice? If you only have the Gold as a travel card, and you stick with one airline, you will probably use up all the $100 credit just on bag fees, with two round trips per year. Since this is what you would pay anyway, it is a good pass-through fee usage. It is possible to get gift cards, but there are some limits on how those can be used to pay for stuff. The gift cards should be considered in December each year if you didn’t use all the credit yet.

You do not have to use the MR in the same year. Earning 4MR on food is a good earning rate. Transferring even to Delta can make sense because there are regular flash sales, reduced mileage requirements for using miles. If you are flexible with schedule those can be a good use of miles. The $10 per month dining credit is a good excuse to get a slice of Cheesecake each month, which is enough for three deserts

I agree with KiB, this card probably makes sense for you. For international usage, be aware you need to take along a VISA or MC to handle non-AMEX merchants but that applies domestically as well.

You are already signed up with the airlines you fly to earn miles for those flights, regardless of any credit cards, right?

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 15:39:30 GMT

Yes I typically fly UA, AA, or Delta depending on which offers the cheapest flights. I have frequent flyer numbers with all 3, but no airline cards. I would no doubt go through the dining credit with Grubhub, and the airline should be fine. Seat upgrades (in same class), count right? It’s mainly the value of MR points I’m concerned about. If they’re worth the $30 AF for me. If I can get more than 1cpp it would likely be worth it right?

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 16:31:27 GMT

Sure, 1cpp is basically 4% cash back on dining and grocery, 3% on travel.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

red259 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:24:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yes I typically fly UA, AA, or Delta depending on which offers the cheapest flights. I have frequent flyer numbers with all 3, but no airline cards. I would no doubt go through the dining credit with Grubhub, and the airline should be fine. Seat upgrades (in same class), count right? It’s mainly the value of MR points I’m concerned about. If they’re worth the $30 AF for me. If I can get more than 1cpp it would likely be worth it right?

If you are asking about the airline credit I do not know it will be triggered by buying seat upgrades in the same class. I would research that more I'm assuming you are asking about going from economy to economy plus or something like that vs just paying to select your seat in advance (which definetly would be covered by the fee). Some of this varies from airline to airline. Sometimes stuff like this gets covered but its going to come down to how they define upgrade, although people have been able to trigger the airline credit on things that do not qualify.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

red259 — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:45:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Is it a “waste” to use points on domestic travel? Is it possible to get more than 1cpp on them? If so I could see using MR for that

You gotta price it out because it really varies by airline, award charts, time of year flying etc. Look at the award charts for economy flights you want and then compare it to the lowest ticket prices you can get on those same flights. Keep in mind with points you need to find availability but with cash back not only can you avoid being told there is no available award space but with cash back you can use any airline not just the ones that allow point transfers. Can you get more than one cpp on domestic redemptions? Absolutely, but a cash back card may work just as well or better. People recommend business and first class international redemptions on points because its a whole lot harder to be able to book those kinda tickets in cash and beat out the value of points.

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:28:35 GMT

So I get that a citi DC aid easier, but isn’t it still worth it at 1cpp? Even cashing out at 0.6 cpp doesn’t seem horrible as a worst case, unless I’m missing something.

Assuming 6k annual spend on dining and groceries, that’s 120 cashback with citi DC or 24k MR Points with the gold right? Doesn’t the gold net similar cashback if redeemed at 0.6cpp? Plus Amex offers could potentially save me more money. Isn’t having the flexibility to use points on travel worth the AF? I get that 0.6cpp or even 1cpp isn’t most efficient but it still seems to come out ahead doesn’t it?

Not sure if I’m missing something but knowing how new I am to this, I must be.

Edit: I guess if I got two no AF cards, like Uber visa and BCE, my cashback would outweigh the points

Re: Does Amex Gold make sense for me?

K-in-Boston — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:35:46 GMT

Just to clarify, upgrades are specifically excluded from the airline credit. Since I had a $142 Delta ticket trigger the credit, I tried a Main Cabin to Comfort+ upgrade on Gold and not only did I did not get the credit but I only got 3x instead of 5x MRs since I didn't use my Platinum card.

Worst case, a transfer to Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Air France/KLM would be 1.2 - 1.5 cents. With award sales and transfer bonuses, those values can go WAY up. They also go way up if you move to the front of the cabin. (JetBlue and Alaska should also be at least the same value.) I really do think Gold would be more beneficial for you from what you have stated than a 2% cash back card like Double Cash assuming that you are okay with travel rewards.

The other things to look at (maybe not right away) are whether Platinum makes sense for you to get (it's a hefty fee, but the math can surprisingly work out well for people who travel at least a few times a year) and whether it's time to choose an air alliance and grab a cobranded airline card.