Amex Gold: To Apply or Not To Apply??? (Update: Approved)

[Anonymous]

And as others have said, IF you apply, make sure its for the PRG and not the regular gold.  Since you have the ED, i assume you are familiar with the MR program  (no point in getting lots of mr points if you can't use them)

ANd as an existing Amex cardholder, it is extremely likely that you won't get a hard pull if they reject you, only if they accept.

[Anonymous]

Funny story: I did on or about the 65th say and was declined. Got the letter but can't remember what it said. I did it again (for the same card) last week and they approved it! I'm wondering if they rely on the previous SP or do the do a new SP for current cardholders at the time of the application. I think I'm going to take TheJoshuaTree's advice and just wait a couple of more weeks to be sure, it won't kill me.

[Mattopotamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

The regular Amex Gold ($160 AF) is pretty much garbage in my opinion.

If you'll make good use of the rewards (and/or benefits) the $195 Premier Rewards Gold or the $450 (soon to be $550) Platinum can make sense. You pay more with those, but you get much, much more. I have a variant of Platinum.

If you don't need PRG or Platinum, they maybe just don't get a charge card and look elsewhere.

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+1

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Plus the PRG comes with a $100 airline credit which effectively makes the AF $95.

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The airline credit is a little misleading for Amex.  It is NOT like chase and others where you get a credit for tickets.  You get a credit for thinks like luggage fees, drinks, wifi purhcase, etc on an airline that you select.  You just need to make sure you will actually use that.

[Anonymous]

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@Mattopotamus wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

The regular Amex Gold ($160 AF) is pretty much garbage in my opinion.

If you'll make good use of the rewards (and/or benefits) the $195 Premier Rewards Gold or the $450 (soon to be $550) Platinum can make sense. You pay more with those, but you get much, much more. I have a variant of Platinum.

If you don't need PRG or Platinum, they maybe just don't get a charge card and look elsewhere.

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+1

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Plus the PRG comes with a $100 airline credit which effectively makes the AF $95.

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The airline credit is a little misleading for Amex.  It is NOT like chase and others where you get a credit for tickets.  You get a credit for thinks like luggage fees, drinks, wifi purhcase, etc on an airline that you select.  You just need to make sure you will actually use that.

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True, but for many the airline giftcard trick has worked, and so that can be used for tickets.   But I agree, the signle airline thing makes this much more restrictive anyway

[Anonymous]

UPDATE!!! Call me Loophole Larry....Got The Gold!!! So I was worried about if/how my inquiries would impact my approval odds so I chickened out. Well...wifey only had 3...count'em 3 inquiries!!! Do I even need to explain further!?!? Lol. Mission Accomplished!!! I'm in the garden until the end of 2018! Will pursue soft inquiry increases and watch the hard ones drop like flies!!! Thanks all, for your advise and guidance!

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:
UPDATE!!! Call me Loophole Larry....Got The Gold!!! So I was worried about if/how my inquiries would impact my approval odds so I chickened out. Well...wifey only had 3...count'em 3 inquiries!!! Do I even need to explain further!?!? Lol. Mission Accomplished!!! I'm in the garden until the end of 2018! Will pursue soft inquiry increases and watch the hard ones drop like flies!!! Thanks all, for your advise and guidance!

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Regular Gold? Or PRG?

[Anonymous]

PRG...do they even offer a "regular" gold anymore?

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:
PRG...do they even offer a "regular" gold anymore?

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Glad to hear it.

Yes, they do.

[bourgogne]

congrats to you, that is great.  what was your ex fico when you apped? maybe sure you call retention every quarter, do not wait until the af fee posts.   re the air credit, its getting hard to get something worthwhile.  I got $100 in amazon last year before that dried up.  in feb I heard re flyertalk that folks were getting credits with alaska air gift certificates, so I changed my carrier to them but never got the credit.  an online csr was nice enough to fix me up last week so that was good but it could be that if you switch air after jan it will not register awards properly or that it might be just hit and miss.  I also got $ 75 just for calling retention in 1/17.  so over the past year I netted $ 275 and a 50K bonus, not too shabby.  the af fee is tied to your first statement cut date, I got mine in 3/16 and the af will post in 5/16 and one has 30 days to back out of it if desired.  I am going to move my points to a 25K everyday I just got, well almost got - its in recon right now because I am coming up as dead.  long story lol.  why did you get the card, if I may ask.   

[Anonymous]

Her scores are in the high 600's low 700's. If I remember correctly , I want to say 690 to 705. Wanted the card to auto-pay fixed expenses. Also, we're getting ready to apply for a mortgage so I wanted it to help wIt's purchasing big ticket items. Even though it's going to be paid off in a month, it'll still help. Also allows us to limit debit card usage for recurring payments and subscriptions and use out bank account strictly for out future mortgage payment. Plus... once we apply for the mortgage, no more credit apps! Lol.