We recently reached the end of one year with one of our American Express Gold Card. In this review, we’ll break down how the card works, why it will have a place in our wallets despite the $250 annual fee, and how we’ve made the most of its perks in the past 1 year.
Earning Rewards with the Amex Gold Card
At its core, the Amex charge cards (green, gold, platinum) are about earning Membership Rewards (MR) points. The basic deal is simple: for every dollar spent with the card, you get 1 MR point. There are bonus categories where the rewards are higher. For instance, at supermarkets like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Meijer, and Whole Foods, the cards earning 4x points per $. Dining out also gets 4x points, whether it’s takeout, delivery, or dining-in at a restaurant. Flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express travel portal earns 3x points.
Each MR point is typically worth one cent, making it a 1 cent per point (1 cpp) currency. But where things get interesting is when these points are transferred to airline and hotel partners. With some research and planning, one can often get two to three cents per point in value, especially when you use them for travel. The ultimate goal for us is to fund (or partially fund) our travel with points earned from everyday spending.
Dealing with the Card’s Annual Fee and Benefits
Now, let’s talk about the $250 annual fee. Yes, it’s there, but we believe the benefits outweigh this cost, thanks in large part to the monthly credits.
First, there’s a $10 Uber credit you can use for rides or Uber Eats. Then, there’s a monthly $10 statement credit for purchases at places like Grubhub, Wine.com, Goldbelly, Cheesecake Factory, among others.
For us, ordering takeout or dining out is something we do 2–3 times per month whether we have the Amex Gold Card or not. So, using the Uber and Grubhub credits is pretty easy for us and we are not spending any extra money than we normally would just because we have the credit card. The Uber credit is automatically added to our Uber account, while the statement credit shows up a few days after making the qualifying purchases. Plus, with multiple Amex Gold/Platinum cards, the Uber credits can be combined and used in one single or across multiple transactions.
Taking Advantage of Bonuses
The sign-up bonus was great — 90,000 MR points for spending $4,000 within the first 6 months. Meeting this spending requirement was straightforward for us because it lined up with our regular grocery shopping and dining habits. Plus we had some travel/tickets that we bought during this time which added up to 4000 USD pretty quickly.
But there’s more! Mid way through the year, the person with the Gold card ( P1) referred the other (P2) to get the same gold card and earned an extra 30,000 MR points for the successful referral. P2 also earned the sign up bonus of 90000 MR and a $ 200 statement credit as per the offer. Additionally, for three months after the successful referral, we enjoyed 9x points for P1 at supermarkets instead of the usual 4x. These bonuses made our experience with the Amex Gold Card even more rewarding.
The Cost-Benefit Analysis
In our first year using both the Amex Gold Cards, we earned a total of 270,000 Membership Rewards (MR) points across the two cards via the sign-up-bonus as well as from the spending. If we convert these points into cashback, they would be worth a maximum of $2,700 at a redemption rate of 1 cpp which is typical for cashback redemptions. However, with some careful planning and research, we can make these points go much further.
For example, using approximately 100,000 Amex points, we were able to book a multi-city flight ticket from Minneapolis-Seoul-Tokyo-Minneapolis in economy class. The cash price for this specific itinerary is upwards of $2,700. So, booking these award tickets with MR points provides excellent value of 2.7 cpp.
However, it’s important to note that we also had to pay a $250 annual fee for each card, totaling $500 in annual fees. Fortunately, we received monthly credits totaling $240 on each card, and when combined with the one-time $200 statement credit on the second card, we ended up with a rare net positive on the annual cost of our Amex Gold Cards to +$180 for the first year on top of the sign-up-bonus, and MR points.
Moving forward, we won’t receive the one-time $200 statement credit, but if we continue to use up all the monthly credits for food takeout/delivery with Uber and Grubhub, as we did this year, the card will still pay for itself and earn us extra rewards for any other bonus category spend. And if we don’t have any urgent spend to meet sign-up-bonuses on other cards, we will continue to put our grocery and restaurant expenses on our Amex gold. In our situation, it might also be worth considering keeping only one of the two Gold cards going forth.
In summary, our experience with the Amex Gold Card has been excellent. Despite the annual fee, the generous sign-up and referral bonuses combined with monthly credits that complement our regular spending habits made it a savvy choice for us. While it does require a bit of attention to make sure we use those credits each month, it’s a small effort for the rewards it offers.
For us, the Amex Gold Card isn’t just a piece of metal; it’s a tool that helps us fund our adventures with the rewards from our everyday expenses. If you’re considering getting this card, we say go for it — the benefits are worth it!
BabuSoge 
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