AMEX Gold Card vs EDP Maximizing Rewards - Detail

[Anonymous]

i guess the question eventually is if value you get back, minus the AF, will be more than 2% of your spending.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous But if I get rid of the EDP, I will be loosing the 30 transactions for 50%

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isn't 50% only applied for those 30 transactions?

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No, it's a threshold.  Once you get 30 transactions in a billing period, you get 50% on ALL the transactions in that period.   If you do less than 30, no bonus at all.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous that's EXACTLY what I was thinking because I can still get 30 transactions per month on EDP even if I use the Gold for groceries and restaurants

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If you are getting 30, why use Gold for groceries?  EDP gives 4.5MR, gold gives 4 (given that you are under the $6K a year spend on groceries)

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@wasCB14 have no idea what the means, sorry.

My spend is:
Goceries $480/month
Gas $200/month
Cox
TMobile
Home alarm
Dog tracker
Water bill
Netflix
Dog insurance
Spotify
Home insurance/car insurance

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Question was:

"What cpp value do you use for MRs? Are you eligible for a BBP? Any other off-category cards you'd consider? How much off-category spend do you have?"

"cpp per MR" means how many cents per point do you value an MR point (Amex reward system for these cards).   That's important when you consider what card to use for a transaction.   If you get 1.5MR using the EDP, but get 3% cashback using another card, the question is which is worth more to you.   BBP is the Blue Business Plus from Amex.  This gives 2MR per $ on up to $50K spend a year.    Off-category just means spend in areas other than those covered by the Gold and EDP.

The question is whether it is worth paying the two AF for you.   The answer depends on where your spend happens and what other cards you have (or could get instead)

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous But if I get rid of the EDP, I will be loosing the 30 transactions for 50%

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isn't 50% only applied for those 30 transactions?

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No, it's a threshold.  Once you get 30 transactions in a billing period, you get 50% on ALL the transactions in that period.   If you do less than 30, no bonus at all.

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I think i misstated. I understand what you said. But that 50% bonus doesn't apply to the transactions on other Amex cards, does it? Say, if op have both gold and EDP, even after 30 transactions, there is no 50% bonus on Gold card points.

[mongstradamus]

I recently had to decide between EDP and gold card. I decided on gold card mostly because of the restaurant spend.Only other card i had was ink cash and CSP that was getting me bonus spend for restaurants. EDP only getting 1.5x from restaurants was a very limiting factor. The extra dining credits and airline reimbursement didn't factor in my decision for gold. I downgraded my edp to an ED, and using my gold card as my primary amex card for groceries and restaurants. 

Something I have considered is to pair BBP with the gold. I am not 100% sure i want to go all in with amex mr. I am using my ink unlimited for 1.5x , cip for 3x travel, and 5x on my ink cash for cell phone/cable bill. Also using ink cash for 5x staples for GC like amazon and shell gas stations. Shell is only sligltly more than cheapest station in my town, with fuel rewards it makes them practically the same so it worth it for me. 

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous But if I get rid of the EDP, I will be loosing the 30 transactions for 50%

---

isn't 50% only applied for those 30 transactions?

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No, it's a threshold.  Once you get 30 transactions in a billing period, you get 50% on ALL the transactions in that period.   If you do less than 30, no bonus at all.

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I think i misstated. I understand what you said. But that 50% bonus doesn't apply to the transactions on other Amex cards, does it? Say, if op have both gold and EDP, even after 30 transactions, there is no 50% bonus on Gold card points.

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Its only for purchases made with EDP. To me i don't think it is worth it to have both unless you have a ridiculous amount of spending on groceries. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous didn't think about that ($6k w EDP then move to Gold). We usual stay right at $6k to $6.5k per year

As for the transactions, I do about 5 transactions on my Cox bill, 5 on cell bill, 5 on water bill = 15 etc. The other 15 come from groceries (4 times a week) gas (twice a week), the the rest on bills. I've been able to do so with no problems from AMEX.

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Ah ok. As long as you can hit the threshold easily then you are good.

Me on the other hand, most of my spend is Dining/Groceries. I don’t have much non category spend outside of recurring bills.

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:
I dumped my EDP and stick w/ gold it's the only personal card I use.

W/O gas or grocery there was no sense because 30x would become difficult. BGR is 3x for me and employees gas.

Most of our other purchases are done online on either AA or UR shopping portals so the .50 point really doesn't matter.

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So you use you gold for non category spend as well? I’m leaning towards this route to help out with my utilization since charge cards don’t factor it.

I would use my gold for dining, groceries, flights and non category spend (including bills) while using the citi premier for gas and other travel. Premier also serves as a dining backup for Amex If it isn’t accepted.

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@redpat wrote:
I dumped my EDP and stick w/ gold it's the only personal card I use.

W/O gas or grocery there was no sense because 30x would become difficult. BGR is 3x for me and employees gas.

Most of our other purchases are done online on either AA or UR shopping portals so the .50 point really doesn't matter.

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So you use you gold for non category spend as well? I’m leaning towards this route to help out with my utilization since charge cards don’t factor it.

I would use my gold for dining, groceries, flights and non category spend (including bills) while using the citi premier for gas and other travel. Premier also serves as a dining backup for Amex If it isn’t accepted.

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I am not redpat but I think most people use BBP for 2x on non category spend, or ink unlimited for 1.5x.