Amex Gold Annual Fee

[Anonymous]

I got an Amex Gold card on the old SUB offer of first year no annual fee, last August 31st.

My statement generates on the 12th and is due on Sept 6th. There's no annual fee charged on it. I thought it would be on this statement, so I guess it will be on the next one, with a due date of Oct. 6th.

My main question is, assuming it's on the Sept. 12th statement, when can I cancel the card without being responsible for the annual fee?

I love the card, but my TD Visa gives me 3% on restaurants and 2% on groceries worldwide, and I can't get enough use to make up the annual fee.

Also, is there a chance of getting a retention offer? if so, what's my best shot - web chat, Customer Service phone number on the card, or platinum customer service number?

Thanks, 

[Wrigley2172]

Pay it off and wait for the next statement to generate with the annual fee, then cancel. You have a grace period once the statement generates and theyll refund it to you. Not sure how theyll handle it with the first year free but typically if you cancel right beforr the af amex doesnt like that

[Anonymous]

Thanks - that's why I want to make sure it generates before cancelling. But either way now, the earliest the annual fee will hit is 2 weeks after the one-year anniversary.

[Trikoret]

They might offer you a retention so you won't cancel.

[Anonymous]

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@Trikoret wrote:
They might offer you a retention so you won't cancel.

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That's what I'm hoping. I'm going to mention the TD Card so they'll understand that my Gold card spending isn't being consolidated on the Platinum or EveryDay.

[Shadowfactor]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I got an Amex Gold card on the old SUB offer of first year no annual fee, last August 31st.

My statement generates on the 12th and is due on Sept 6th. There's no annual fee charged on it. I thought it would be on this statement, so I guess it will be on the next one, with a due date of Oct. 6th.

My main question is, assuming it's on the Sept. 12th statement, when can I cancel the card without being responsible for the annual fee?

I love the card, but my TD Visa gives me 3% on restaurants and 2% on groceries worldwide, and I can't get enough use to make up the annual fee.

Also, is there a chance of getting a retention offer? if so, what's my best shot - web chat, Customer Service phone number on the card, or platinum customer service number?

Thanks, 

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You have 30 days once the annual fee posts to receive a refund.

I dont understand your logic with 3% and 2% on the TD card being better then 4X MR. I could see if if your a cash back kind of person, but given that you have two other MR earning cards it seems like your somewhat invested in the MR ecosystem. 4X points even at a crappy value of 1CPP through the travel portal is 4%. Even with domestic transfers to Delta or JetBlue you should be able to squeeze 6% out of MR without much effort.

[Anonymous]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:

I dont understand your logic with 3% and 2% on the TD card being better then 4X MR. I could see if if your a cash back kind of person, but given that you have two other MR earning cards it seems like your somewhat invested in the MR ecosystem. 4X points even at a crappy value of 1CPP through the travel portal is 4%. Even with domestic transfers to Delta or JetBlue you should be able to squeeze 6% out of MR without much effort.

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The TD Card is no annual fee. 

To cover the annual fee on the Amex, I need to spend $4175 in restaurants at 6%. That's probably more than my annual spend in restaurants, but even if not, I've spent $4175 just to break even, while I'd have $125 from the TD card for the same spend. It would take an annual spend of $8500 in restaurants for the Amex to reward more than the TD. And I know there are a lot of people who spend that much or much more. It's just one or two modest restaurant meals a day. That's just not me at this particular point in my life.

For my particular circumstances, the Dining credit is only usable a few times a year, and the 4% on groceries not at a, ll (US grocery spend is at Target and Costco, Canadian isn't covered) So the card needs to justify itself purely on restaurant spend and for me it can't come close.

[Shadowfactor]

Since you have the platinum card, how do you use the Uber credit ?

If your justifying the platinum, I don’t see why Gold wouldn’t be an easy sell. The credits are almost the same as the platinum but easier to use IMO.

You can use the Amex Gold dining credit on Boxed now. Not super familiar with them but it seems like you can just get the stuff shipped to your house.

[Anonymous]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
Since you have the platinum card, how do you use the Uber credit ?

If your justifying the platinum, I don’t see why Gold wouldn’t be an easy sell. The credits are almost the same as the platinum but easier to use IMO.

You can use the Amex Gold dining credit on Boxed now. Not super familiar with them but it seems like you can just get the stuff shipped to your house.

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Oh, that's simple. The Uber credit only gets used as often as the Restaurant, but the Saks is used and the Centurion, Plaza Premium and Delta Lounge Access is the big attraction for me. 

At the time I got the Gold I'd recently acquired a Canadian Platinum, which lacks the Delta lounge access. I got the Gold on the old rewards program, strictly for the SUB and no annual fee first year, knowing I'd let my Canadian Platinum go and get a US one at the proper time.

Once they changed the reward structure it became worth considering keeping, but it was always intended as a throwaway first card. Note: my details are very different from mostt here.

[Anonymous]

I’m in the same boat OP as I’m not sure whether im keeping mine after October. If you aren’t using the 220$ in credits then I would suggest closing it after the AF posts.

My biggest complaint right now is that the airline credit is harder to use now due to the gift card hack not working. The monthly dining credit can be a nuisance too but it’s not too hard to use at all. I mostly use it at Grubhub once a month. Now if I can figure out a way to use the $100 airline credit up then I may consider keeping it. I do have my grandfathered Savor to replace it if I do end up parting ways.