topic Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold in Credit Cards

I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

andymoor — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 01:51:05 GMT

I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.

I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex

Here's my take on having both.

I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value

So long Amex.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

SouthJamaica — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 02:24:50 GMT

@andymoor wrote:
I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.
I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex
Here's my take on having both.
I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value
So long Amex.

My experience was similar to yours. I used to have the Amex Business Platinum and also had the Amex Gold personal. Neither was worth the annual fee to me, so I dropped them.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

xenon3030 — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 06:04:54 GMT

I closed my Amex Gold too, because of the same issue.

While there is no path do downgrade it to a card without AF, there is one way to keep the MR points alive without paying AF (Amex ED CC). The ED is not a great card while it might be a back-up plan for some people that have accumulated points on Gold/Platinum and wish to exit the MR system ASAP...

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

805orbust — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 09:14:22 GMT

I think I'm going that route with the Platinum. Just passed my annual fee tho. I may as well wait until next July. I'm never returning to pre-pandemic levels of travel so just no point at all. Clinical decision tho, because when you go to one of those "Collection" hotels, they treat you like royalty... I'd rather have that 7 hundy in my pocket tho.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

Suzette2 — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 12:26:42 GMT

@andymoor wrote:
I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.
I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex
Here's my take on having both.
I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value
So long Amex.

I don't travel a lot but use all my Amex cards for heavy soend. I've never used Uber. I've accumulated a LOT of points and you do not have to use them monthly so I'm not sure where you're getting your Uber/monthly usage premises. My points are used for gift cards (6500 for 100 macys card, for example) and statement credits. I have so many I'm about to get a Samsung tv and I'll still have a lot left. I took a trip and used my points, the $500 hotel stay and $200 meal turned out free. Of course, I have the BCP for cash back too.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

Salanth — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 14:20:17 GMT

Congratulations on the chase reserve! It's a great card . I myself have been on the fence on going for it, but my feelings for chase are meh. I don't like their reducing credit for none use, etc.

Best of luck with chase!

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 14:59:35 GMT

@Suzette2 wrote:
@andymoor wrote:
I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.
I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex
Here's my take on having both.
I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value
So long Amex.
I don't travel a lot but use all my Amex cards for heavy soend. I've never used Uber. I've accumulated a LOT of points and you do not have to use them monthly so I'm not sure where you're getting your Uber/monthly usage premises. My points are used for gift cards (6500 for 100 macys card, for example) and statement credits. I have so many I'm about to get a Samsung tv and I'll still have a lot left. I took a trip and used my points, the $500 hotel stay and $200 meal turned out free. Of course, I have the BCP for cash back too.

It's the credits that are monthy. So you get $X a month credit for Uber (on certain cards). If you don't use Uber that month, you have lost the credit. This contrasts with say the Chase SR $300 ANNUAL travel credit where you can use it throught the year.

Generally statement credit give a pretty low cents per point value, although your gift card example is a better rate than many!

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

SouthJamaica — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 16:35:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Suzette2 wrote:
@andymoor wrote:
I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.
I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex
Here's my take on having both.
I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value
So long Amex.
I don't travel a lot but use all my Amex cards for heavy soend. I've never used Uber. I've accumulated a LOT of points and you do not have to use them monthly so I'm not sure where you're getting your Uber/monthly usage premises. My points are used for gift cards (6500 for 100 macys card, for example) and statement credits. I have so many I'm about to get a Samsung tv and I'll still have a lot left. I took a trip and used my points, the $500 hotel stay and $200 meal turned out free. Of course, I have the BCP for cash back too.
It's the credits that are monthy. So you get $X a month credit for Uber (on certain cards). If you don't use Uber that month, you have lost the credit. This contrasts with say the Chase SR $300 ANNUAL travel credit where you can use it throught the year.

Generally statement credit give a pretty low cents per point value, although your gift card example is a better rate than many!

When I look up Macys gift cards for MR's I get 10,589 for $100.... and that's a special offer. It's normally 11,765 for $100.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

xenon3030 — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 16:49:44 GMT

@Suzette2 wrote:
I don't travel a lot but use all my Amex cards for heavy soend. I've never used Uber. I've accumulated a LOT of points and you do not have to use them monthly so I'm not sure where you're getting your Uber/monthly usage premises.

Amex Gold gives $10 monthly for Uber and $10 for dining at specific places or via e.g. grubhub. It is a heavy homework, if somebody wants to do 24 food pick-ups per year (in CA, there is mandatory $2 fee for deliveries). One may use UberEat and pickup from Shakeshack to save time but the issue is that, I do not typically shop at Shakeshack. Somehow, it reflects that I pay a high AF and to be able to return it, I need to do lots of homeworks in each month. Such benefits can be good for frequent users of Uber (no car or frequent traveler).

Anyway, not sure how you could find such rates to buy Macy's GC....

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

calisig — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 17:48:30 GMT

@805orbust wrote:
when you go to one of those "Collection" hotels, they treat you like royalty... I'd rather have that 7 hundy in my pocket tho.

there are other cheaper / no annual fee cards that also include a 'Luxuary Hotel Collection' Visa Signature benefit, such as USAlliance and City National Bank ... not sure if it is available on all Visa Signature cards though ...

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

Suzette2 — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 18:55:12 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Suzette2 wrote:
@andymoor wrote:
I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.
I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex
Here's my take on having both.
I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value
So long Amex.
I don't travel a lot but use all my Amex cards for heavy soend. I've never used Uber. I've accumulated a LOT of points and you do not have to use them monthly so I'm not sure where you're getting your Uber/monthly usage premises. My points are used for gift cards (6500 for 100 macys card, for example) and statement credits. I have so many I'm about to get a Samsung tv and I'll still have a lot left. I took a trip and used my points, the $500 hotel stay and $200 meal turned out free. Of course, I have the BCP for cash back too.
It's the credits that are monthy. So you get $X a month credit for Uber (on certain cards). If you don't use Uber that month, you have lost the credit. This contrasts with say the Chase SR $300 ANNUAL travel credit where you can use it throught the year.

Generally statement credit give a pretty low cents per point value, although your gift card example is a better rate than many!
When I look up Macys gift cards for MR's I get 10,589 for $100.... and that's a special offer. It's normally 11,765 for $100.

Mine has a 'sale' for 6600. For 100.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

Suzette2 — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 18:57:54 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Suzette2 wrote:
@andymoor wrote:
I have had Amex Gold for 4 years. I managed to get Close to 125,000 points through spend, initial offer and referring 2 friends. I have used the points solely for travel.
I recently got approved for the #ChaseSapphireReserve and I had to cancel the #Amex
Here's my take on having both.
I travel frequently and I like to have lounge access, Ideally I would like to have the Amex Platinum but recently they bumped it to $695. Amex tries to justify this high fee with the credits they offer but here's the catch: They're Monthly credits. You have to take Uber, eat at Shake Shack .... every month
Amex doesn't have a no fee downgrade path, i.e. you can't downgrade the Gold to a no fee card and keep your points.
At $250 AF I'm not seeing any value
So long Amex.
I don't travel a lot but use all my Amex cards for heavy soend. I've never used Uber. I've accumulated a LOT of points and you do not have to use them monthly so I'm not sure where you're getting your Uber/monthly usage premises. My points are used for gift cards (6500 for 100 macys card, for example) and statement credits. I have so many I'm about to get a Samsung tv and I'll still have a lot left. I took a trip and used my points, the $500 hotel stay and $200 meal turned out free. Of course, I have the BCP for cash back too.
It's the credits that are monthy. So you get $X a month credit for Uber (on certain cards). If you don't use Uber that month, you have lost the credit. This contrasts with say the Chase SR $300 ANNUAL travel credit where you can use it throught the year.

Generally statement credit give a pretty low cents per point value, although your gift card example is a better rate than many!
When I look up Macys gift cards for MR's I get 10,589 for $100.... and that's a special offer. It's normally 11,765 for $100.

Weird. I just looked and you are right. Today it's 10,589. I sweat it was 6 yesterday. Maybe a glitch?

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

wasCB14 — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 01:42:03 GMT

Keep in mind that plenty of people pay $95 for BCP which has a $6k supermarket cap.

If you can get 1.5 cpp, you're getting points worth 6% on potentially a huge amount of supermarket/dining spend.

If you can get 2/3 of the nominal value of the credits, that puts the net AF on par with BCP.

I know BCP added streaming, but there's generally a low limit to how much a person will spend there.

*Though as I crunch my own numbers, I'm buying so much of my food at Costco, and eating out so little, that I should probably close Gold or seek retention next month.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

xenon3030 — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 06:52:02 GMT

Groceries might not be a good way to justify the high AF, due to having several cards in the market without AF that they give ~3-7% (including rotating categories, digital wallet, online shopping for store pickup). If you can have some of these cards, you can easily get ~3-7% in the entire of the year.

Anyway, if you have to do lots of groceries that can hit the typical caps easily, that is a different story

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

TheRedHat — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 06:08:01 GMT

Grubhub and Uber Eats. Use pickup option instead of delivery. Only have to do this twice a month. Now your annual fee is $10.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

calisig — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 15:31:57 GMT

@TheRedHat wrote:
Grubhub and Uber Eats. Use pickup option instead of delivery. Only have to do this twice a month. Now your annual fee is $10.

Don't Grubhub and Uber Eats charge additional fees that would still apply for pickup? It seems like I remember there being being some sort of convenience type fee for using their platform, and the menu pricing being higher than ordering directly from the restaraunt ...

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

TheRedHat — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 15:42:51 GMT

It varies by restaurant. For some it could be an additional $2 while for others it is only $0.50 (just checked this for a Peruvian restaurant nearby). Still significantly cheaper than delivery. I do this with my AMEX Platinum Uber Eats monthly credit.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

wasCB14 — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 16:21:46 GMT

@TheRedHat wrote:
It varies by restaurant. For some it could be an additional $2 while for others it is only $0.50 (just checked this for a Peruvian restaurant nearby). Still significantly cheaper than delivery. I do this with my AMEX Platinum Uber Eats monthly credit.

But more expensive than ordering directly with the restaurant and picking up.

In Los Angeles I don't see fees added explicitly for takeout (not that I've tested it for every GH/UE restaurant in my area)...but the prices are often 20%-30% higher than if you'd ordered directly from the restaurant. So if the $10 you planned to spend creeps up to $15/$20/$25 due to inflation or hunger, that can significantly reduce the value of the GH credit.

A few places do use the same prices. Half of my GH credits have been used at a pizza/hot sandwich place <5 mins away that uses the same prices.

*Then again, some restaurants' proprietary apps/websites have added service fees whenever a customer doesn't dine in. Not a nominal $2 or $3, but a full 15%-20% tip on takeout.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

Aim_High — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 18:23:20 GMT

I'm in the same situation, @andymoor. I opened my Gold card two years ago to experiment with the card and MRs. I already had the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I'm finding disappointing value in MRs, especially relative to the $250 AF and my natural use of those limited monthly credits. AF is due. I may fish for a good retention offer but even then, probably better to close it.

Besides getting the "Everyday" card, another option to keep the MRs alive, though, *WITHOUT* having to pay an AF is the Blue Business Plus card. It earns 2 MRs per $ up to $50K spend with no AF. That's the route I chose to keep my MRs alive, regardless of my decision on the Gold.

Re: I Finally Closed My Amex Gold

M_Smart007 — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 19:44:35 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
I'm in the same situation, @andymoor. I opened my Gold card two years ago to experiment with the card and MRs. I already had the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I'm finding disappointing value in MRs, especially relative to the $250 AF and my natural use of those limited monthly credits. AF is due. I may fish for a good retention offer but even then, probably better to close it.

Besides getting the "Everyday" card, another option to keep the MRs alive, though, *WITHOUT* having to pay an AF is the Blue Business Plus card. It earns 2 MRs per $ up to $50K spend with no AF. That's the route I chose to keep my MRs alive, regardless of my decision on the Gold.

I only find value in MR's when redeemed through travel partners.

Mostly redeem for stays within the Hilton portfolio of properties.

ETA: This is just my personal preference, and may not apply to anyone else.