New Amex Gold Card Offer - Is it right for me?

[Dave4fun]

Mulling over the New Amex Gold Card Offer

Hey everyone, thanks for reading. I’m a long time Amex card holder. I have had many different Amex cards over the years. Currently I have the Amex Hilton Ascend, Blue Cash Everyday and a very old Optima Platinum. Last Christmas Amex flooded my mailbox with all kinds offers, seems like they were really pushing the Platinum and Gold cards, all with enticing SUB offers.

Over the weekend I received the Gold Card offer again.

- $250 AF, 50,000 MR points for $2,000 spend in 3 months.

- 4X points at restaurants   4X Points at grocery stores 3X points on airline flights

- POT feature, I guess that is now more or less a given now, APR at 19.49%, not horrible, but only if I had to use it.

- Cash Advance Feature. Now, that’s new! How does that work on a Charge Card? Perhaps like Diners Club used to with Club Cash?

- The $120 annual credit amount for some dining, and the $100 airline incidentals credit annually.

-I do like the preapproval feature and no hard pull inquiry as well.

So, I keep reading through their terms, even did a little research online on their site. The points in the selected category is a good fit for me.

Is this a good offer? I think end of last year, there was maybe a better one? Or, was the required spend higher too for the better SUB?

-I do like that it is easy to transfer MR points to other reward programs.

I guess I am just on the fence. I know many MyFico members love their Amex cards and love the Gold Charge card. I think maybe more prefer the Platinum, but ouch that $550 AF!

- I think my typical spend would range from $400 as high as $2000 each month.

Also, the dining credit options seem very limited. At best I would use the Grubhub choice. The incidental airline credit I honestly would never use, since I pretty much fly 1st class, and there are no incidentals since the ticket price is so high. So, I struggle with those two things because I would like to recoup most of the annual fee if possible.

I guess I am looking to see if I am missing any key benefits. Do they run bonus points on certain categories? Is entertainment spending always just 1 MR point?

Thank you all so much for your input and feedback!

[Anonymous]

I like the card, as it works for me.
Good card, if it works for you.
The dining credit is used by my girlfriend mostly. She likes an occasional slice of cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. That whole "happy wife, happy life" stuff works! Grubhub can be handy, though. Just place your order for pick up. Not sure if there is even a fee for doing that.

I recall seeing around Christmas time using 1 MR point on Amazon would give a nice discount (something like $15?).
The card has the amex offers tab. I see some different offers than my Blue Cash card. If you use any of those offers for things like sunglasses & clothing, you can REALLY reduce the effective AF.

There are offers to add to your card that add extra MR points. Currently +1 MR points when spending at:
-Lowe's
-Grub hub, seemless, cheesecake factory (so 5 point on spending these places currently!)
-neimanMarcus
-Macy's
-Best buy
-Bloomingdales


I don't believe I've seen over 50k for a gold SUB.
Not having a use for the incidental charge is a drag. Guess you don't ever need to bring extra baggage, huh? Maybe "gift it" to a relative?

[Anonymous]

I tend to vote against Amex Gold.

The card’s benefits would need to be $250 greater than one of the Amex personal or small business cards that grant Member Rewards points.

Edge case is maybe you have had an Amex charge card longer than many people have been alive and you want to make certain the account history keeps showing up indefinitely.

[Dave4fun]

@Rebuilt - Thank you so much for valuable feedback. You also made me smile....appreciated on a Monday! 

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@Anonymous wrote:
I like the card, as it works for me.
Good card, if it works for you.
The dining credit is used by my girlfriend mostly. She likes an occasional slice of cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. That whole "happy wife, happy life" stuff works! Grubhub can be handy, though. Just place your order for pick up. Not sure if there is even a fee for doing that.

I recall seeing around Christmas time using 1 MR point on Amazon would give a nice discount (something like $15?).
The card has the amex offers tab. I see some different offers than my Blue Cash card. If you use any of those offers for things like sunglasses & clothing, you can REALLY reduce the effective AF.

There are offers to add to your card that add extra MR points. Currently +1 MR points when spending at:
-Lowe's
-Grub hub, seemless, cheesecake factory (so 5 point on spending these places currently!)
-neimanMarcus
-Macy's
-Best buy
-Bloomingdales


I don't believe I've seen over 50k for a gold SUB.
Not having a use for the incidental charge is a drag. Guess you don't ever need to bring extra baggage, huh? Maybe "gift it" to a relative?

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[Adkins]

50K is the best offer I've seen. I got 50K for $1K spend in 3 months, but it was my first Amex card, so they were courting me. You can still buy GCs for the airline credit, just not for American Airlines (that I know of). I use the dining credit at the cheesecake factory.