topic Re: AMEX Gold Cards in Credit Cards

AMEX Gold Cards

WhiteCollar — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:26:55 GMT

What makes AMEX Gold cards so great besides the car rental perks? They both have AF's and PIF requirements. That $175 AF for the PRG seems kind of steep to me. Can anyone shed some light?

Thanks!

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

armbenderc — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:14:14 GMT

I love it, but I recently upgraded to Platinum.
 

[mod cut]
PS. Sorry mod if linking to another forum is not allowed. 

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:59:43 GMT

While not quite an unbiased review (he gets compensated by clicks to the app process) it does touch on the main advantages of the card.

3x on flights

2x on gas and supermarkets

(No cap on either)

An additional 15K when spend exceeds $30K each year.

The AF is waived the first year. After that, you need to be a relatively heavy spender to get all the benefits given the AF.

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

IcEWoLF — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:04:00 GMT

AMEX offers the best warranty in the industry among credit cards. They are very good. Their customer service has been stellar when I needed to call them.

I'd be definitely worth it if they offered the same deal they did earlier on this year, 50K MR, annual fee waived for the first year.

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

WhiteCollar — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:34:17 GMT

OKay, I get it. It may be worth it in the short term because the AF is waived the first year. Can AMEX charge cards be PC'd to revolvers?

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

Pat94108 — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:39:23 GMT

@WhiteCollar wrote:
OKay, I get it. It may be worth it in the short term because the AF is waived the first year. Can AMEX charge cards be PC'd to revolvers?

NO, you can only PC charge to charge, revolver to revolver but not revoler to charge and vice versa.

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

wHiTeSoL — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:47:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
While not quite an unbiased review (he gets compensated by clicks to the app process) it does touch on the main advantages of the card.

3x on flights
2x on gas and supermarkets
(No cap on either)
An additional 15K when spend exceeds $30K each year.

The AF is waived the first year. After that, you need to be a relatively heavy spender to get all the benefits given the AF.

With the deval of United MR points are going to become more sought after, this is one of the only reliable ways to generate MR points (besides 1x)

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

FutureBillionaire — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 23:46:00 GMT

@wHiTeSoL wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
While not quite an unbiased review (he gets compensated by clicks to the app process) it does touch on the main advantages of the card.

3x on flights
2x on gas and supermarkets
(No cap on either)
An additional 15K when spend exceeds $30K each year.

The AF is waived the first year. After that, you need to be a relatively heavy spender to get all the benefits given the AF.
With the deval of United MR points are going to become more sought after, this is one of the only reliable ways to generate MR points (besides 1x)

This card is overvalued. Warranties and customer service aren't worth the annual fee. I tend to buy products that will last anyway, plus many times the product will have a warranty from the manufacturer or the seller. Amex is overpriced, but they do a good job with marketing. Folks tout lounge access and other features that aren't often used. I regret getting my charge card, and I wish I had applied for the BCP or Blue Sky first. I'd even take the Costco or SPG card.

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 01:51:14 GMT

@FutureBillionaire wrote:
This card is overvalued. Warranties and customer service aren't worth the annual fee. I tend to buy products that will last anyway, plus many times the product will have a warranty from the manufacturer or the seller. Amex is overpriced, but they do a good job with marketing. Folks tout lounge access and other features that aren't often used. I regret getting my charge card, and I wish I had applied for the BCP or Blue Sky first. I'd even take the Costco or SPG card.

I disagree that AMEX warranties and customer service are overvalued. All their cards have standard 90-day theft and accidental damage protection. And it's not full of little clauses like it can't be stolen from your car or you can't be negligent (huh? what?) that Visa and Mastercard puts in which basically make such protections useless. But I'd agree that people who use this as a reason to get a Gold card are ill informed since as mentioned before, even AMEX revolvers w/o AF's have this feature. BTW, the Platinum also adds accidental loss protection, which is pretty huge IMO.

The real reason to get a PRG is the points and high-end perks. But as previously mentioned, you have to be a big spender to benefit from these. Most would benefit from the PRG for the intro points then use it to get a nice revolver (assuming you're a new AMEX customer) or just PC to a Green after the first year if they need a charge card for business expenses.

Most people wouldn't benefit from the car rental insurance. If you already have a car, which most Americans do, car insurance policies cover rental cars. But I guess some people from big cities don't have cars and rent cars. But you'd need a license to drive, so why don't you have a car? I dunno. Nevermind.

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

ezdoesit — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 02:29:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
While not quite an unbiased review (he gets compensated by clicks to the app process) it does touch on the main advantages of the card.

3x on flights
2x on gas and supermarkets
(No cap on either)
An additional 15K when spend exceeds $30K each year.

The AF is waived the first year. After that, you need to be a relatively heavy spender to get all the benefits given the AF.

+1 I don't agree that it is overvalued for me anyways. What do you consider a heavy spender?

Also Amex cardholders on average spend twice as much as Visa or Mastercard holders so when you get an Amex you know what your getting. If the high AF on Amex puts someone off then they should definitely close the card.

Re: AMEX Gold Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 03:09:51 GMT

@ezdoesit wrote:
+1 I don't agree that it is overvalued for me anyways. What do you consider a heavy spender?

Also Amex cardholders on average spend twice as much as Visa or Mastercard holders so when you get an Amex you know what your getting. If the high AF on Amex puts someone off then they should definitely close the card.

I am always a little wary of the Amex spend comparison, for example does it include reimbursed expenses on corporate cards (hopefully not) but also I don't know if people in general will have say one Amex but two Visa/MC, so diluting earnings per card.

Also, at least here people get Amex for all sorts of reasons, not necessarily because they are high spenders.

But to answer the heavy spending question: clearly if you can spend $30K a year, you will get the 15K point bonus, which even at 1:1 takes care of most of the AF. If you spend a lot less, unless you have a very high valuation of MRs, it's possible that other cards will give you better rewards. (But of course you may still prefer Amex for non-rewards reasons, such as customer service, improved protections etc, but there are cheaper Amex to provide those)