WOW AMEX Gold SUB now 75k

[blazerein]

I'm gardening for Chase and now seeing Amex Gold with 75K SUB (is this real? from 60K to 75K now).... ugh!  My hands are itching lol.  Should I do it or garden?

[FinStar]

Only you can decide whether this is something that is worth the value and whether it will be a good fit for your spending patterns.  The SUB is great, don't get me wrong, but it depends on whether you would benefit from the MR ecosystem in the long run.

ETA - you mentioned you're gardening for Chase, however, your signature doesn't provide many details on how far along your are as far as 5/24.  Just something to think about.

[IntegerIntrovert]

What a deal! I think I got 35k when I signed up a few years ago.

Personally, I think I'm going to retire mine later this year when the annual fee comes up.  When I got it, 4x dining was the real draw, so was having a "open line" for large purchases when I needed it.  However, they wouldn't approve anything over XX amount when I needed it so I ended up using a different card.  I was also too frustrated to call and plead my case.  I knew it would result in a financial review and I didn't want to deal with it.

Moving on: so I have a great relationship with US Bank and because of that, I have the Alitude Reserve and Go cards. That combo effective annual fee is $75 and gives me 4x dining and 3x ALL travel and 3x mobile pay.  The AMEX Gold just isn't a competitior anymore.

I hate to let it go, but I can't get $250 expected value out of it anymore.

[EAJuggalo]

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@IntegerIntrovert wrote:I hate to let it go, but I can't get $250 expected value out of it anymore.

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Can you get $10 of value out of it?  My effective annual fee this year is $-90 with the two $10 dining credits each month and the $100 airline credit that is going away after this year.  I got my Gold when it was 60k and it's been the most used card in my wallet ever since.

[K-in-Boston]

It's definitely real and this is likely the highest the offer will ever be.  If you are able to use MRs for travel partners, it's a card that is very difficult to beat for restaurant and grocery spend.  I'm effectively getting over 8% back with no real effort on my part.  With the credits and Amex Offers, the net AF can be negligible or even negative as stated.  Add in that Welcome Offer and it's an extremely good deal.

As for whether to go for it, that's for you to decide as we can't do it for you.  But with my current rewards strategy this would be an easy card to justify even without the bonus which come to think of it, I either didn't get one at all or it would have been minimal back then - but it's still in my wallet after all these years.

[4sallypat]

Yes, this offer is really good!

4 years ago when Amex upgraded my Gold to Platinum, I only got the current SUB of 60K points.

I love these points - used them all the time for travel (we travelled a lot pre=pandemic).

The MR points are very valuable and I find any way to put charges on the AMEX card to get the points which are redeemed for travel.

Also, the annual fee is offset by lots of Amex offers, promos, Uber, airline & hotel credits - so for me the card actually pays for itself when the annual fee is assessed.

[notmyrealname23]

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@IntegerIntrovert wrote:

I hate to let it go, but I can't get $250 expected value out of it anymore.

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4x dining AND grocery is what does it for me, but the value proposition is going to be different for everyone.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@notmyrealname23 wrote:

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@IntegerIntrovert wrote:

I hate to let it go, but I can't get $250 expected value out of it anymore.

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4x dining AND grocery is what does it for me, but the value proposition is going to be different for everyone.

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Dumb question:   Can you downgrade the gold to a no-fee or lower-fee card like the original green card?    Since I burned AMEX in my BK7 for quite a bit of money I have not followed them, but my spouse has perfect 850 FICO 8s so this could benefit us for travel.   Are downgrades allowed?

[K-in-Boston]

Yes.  Cards can be downgraded to the revamped Green, or the previous Green (which was called The American Express Card before that) which is now called The Classic Green Card and has a lower annual fee.  The issue with those cards is they do still have annual fees that may be more difficult to justify than Gold or Platinum cards which have numerous credits to offset their annual fees over the course of the cardholder year.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

Yes.  Cards can be downgraded to the revamped Green, or the previous Green (which was called The American Express Card before that) which is now called The Classic Green Card and has a lower annual fee.  The issue with those cards is they do still have annual fees that may be more difficult to justify than Gold or Platinum cards which have numerous credits to offset their annual fees over the course of the cardholder year.

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Thanks K,

Way back in the 1990s and early 2000s my spouse and I had the platinum card and got huge benefits from it -- mostly with their hotel upgrade program.   We would often stay in a hotel room that cost us $200/night and stay in a $2000/night suite -- at the Oriental in Bangkok, the Ritz in Madrid and a lot of the grand dame hotels in New York and Sydney and others.   It was so worth it.   We just got our second Covid shots so we hope to start traveling again in the fall.   I think we used to get lounge access and all kinds of other benefits.   I think the price then was roughly the same as the $500-$600 they charge now for platinum card.   But I would probably go for the gold card at this point using his credit.

Thanks again.