KEY LINK: American Express® Gold Card – Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 in your first 6 months. $250 annual fee (see rates and fees)
I’ve often said that one of the best ways to get a lot of miles and points is through careful and judicious signing up for new credit cards. It can be difficult to earn an appreciable amount miles and points when you’re only counting on your organic spending, 1 or 2 miles at a time. So it can make sense to regularly apply for new cards in order to take advantage of some of the bonuses that are out there. As always, make sure that you are in a financial position to always pay your statement in full and that you don’t sign up for a new card just because some guy on the Internet said you should.
American Express® Gold Card Review – signup bonus
First up let’s talk about the signup bonus on the Amex Gold Card. The Venture X card currently is offering the ability to:
- Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 in your first 6 months
This is worth several hundreds of dollars if you redeem it for travel, and it’s pretty easy to get more value than that through transfer partners.
American Express® Gold Card Review – earning points
The Amex Gold Card has the following earning structure:
- 4X points at restaurants worldwide plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 4X points on groceries at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 in purchases per year (then 1X)
- 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
- 1X points on all other eligible purchases
American Express® Gold Card Review – redeeming points
One thing I really like about the Amex Gold Card (and all Membership Rewards cards) is its flexibility in redeeming miles. You can transfer your points to airline and hotel transfer partners, or you can redeem miles for travel purchases directly. Unlike redeeming travel with Chase or Capital One, redeeming points directly for travel is not as attractive, since you only get a value of 1 cent per point toward airfare and 0.7 cents per point for cars, hotels, vacations and cruises. However, if you also have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, you can combine your Membership Rewards to pay for flights and get a 35% rebate, which can represent a solid redemption.
Your best bet for Membership Rewards is likely going to be transferring them to hotel and airline travel partners.
American Express® Gold Card travel benefits
The Amex Gold also comes with a variety of useful travel benefits
- Up to $120 in Uber Cash annually if you add your card to your Uber account. You’ll automatically get $10 in Uber Cash each month for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S.
- $100 annual experience credit when you book a two-night minimum stay through The Hotel Collection
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Lost luggage reimbursement
- Trip delay reimbursement
- No foreign transaction fees
American Express® Gold Card benefits and perks
Besides the travel perks, the Amex Gold card also comes with a variety of other benefits and perks.
- Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.
- Eligibility for potentially lucrative Amex Offers
Other Cards To Consider
In addition to the Amex Gold card, here are two other cards that offer similar benefits that you could consider:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card – Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. $95 annual fee
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. $95 annual fee
Bottom Line – Should you get the American Express® Gold Card?
KEY LINK: American Express® Gold Card – Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 in your first 6 months. $250 annual fee (see rates and fees)
The Amex Gold card is a good one for foodies, since you’re going to get 4X points on many dining and grocery purchases. The Membership Rewards points that you’ll earn are flexible and allow you to maximize your points earning by potentially using one of a variety of different transfer partners. It does come with a $250 annual fee, but also includes the possibility to get some value back through the two $120 annual credits (for Uber and select restaurants). All in all, it’s a solid card and a good way to increase your balance of Membership Rewards points.
What do you think? Where does the Amex Gold card fall in the list of best credit cards cards out there? Leave your thoughts in the comments