We’re sharing details about the Amex Gold credit card, listing all the perks and points rewards + giving our real-life experience and reviews as cardholders ourselves.

About the Card

• Gold Card Fee $325 / $0 annual fee for up to your first 5 auhorized users
• Gold Card is not branded as a travel credit card:
• The points earned are called Membership Rewards Points. 
  1. You are able to transfer your MR points directly to their airline partners for travel and free flight redemptions
  2. Travel categories purchases have a good MR earning value
  3. Gives baggage insurance for carry-ons and checked luggage on a plane, train, ship or bus
  4. Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
  5. It does not give you things like lounge access, annual travel statement credits and other types of miscellaneous perks that other branded travel credit cards usually give you.

Amex Gold Card Perks

• Ability to transfer points to airlines, ANA, Aero Mexico, Air Canada, Airfrance KLM, BA, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Etihad, Hawaiian, Singapore, Virgin, Qatar, Quantas, Jet Blue, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Even hotels like Hilton and Marriott 
• Sign up bonus, Usually 60K MR points, but I signed up when it was as high as 90K
  1. Tip: If you’re interested in the card, google search Amex Gold Sign Up Bonus. It will take you to a specific page that shows what the current sign up bonus is if you apply through that link. If you just google Amex Gold, it will take you to website to sign up, but not advertise or give you a bonus offer. You can hold out for higher or apply with the standard 60
  2. Also, if you have ever applied for one of Amex signature credit cards, such as the Platinum or Gold before, and got a welcome bonus, Amex recently came out with a new policy saying you are only eligible for a sign up bonus one for life. When we applied, it gave that disclaimer and an option to fill out additional info to verify bonus eligibility, so you should do the same to ensure you can get it. 
• 4x pts on restaurants and dining, 3x pts on flights booked direct with airlines or through amex travel, 2x MR pts on prepaid hotels & rental cars, vacation packages and cruises 1x back on everything else. 
• No Foreign Transaction Fees
• $120 annual Uber credit
• $10 per month on Uber rides or Uber Eats
• $120 Dining Credit – Disbursed as a $10 per month credit at participating restaurants and vendors like Grubhub, cheesecake factory, fiveguys, wine.com, etc.
• $100 annual credit when dining at Resy Resturants, $50 disbursed semi-annually
• $84 Dunkin Donut Credit, disbursed as a$7 per month
  • Download the app, add $7 each month into my Dunkin account and I get my statement credit. So this is not a use it or lose it if you “buy Dunkin” by funding your app with credits.
  • Perfect to stack up free funds for coffee when traveling and on the road.

Check out our other travel credit card episodes!

Amex Gold Card Worth It – Episode Transcript

0:51

Today you have just me, Jamal for solo episode to share some details with you about the American Express Gold Card.

I just want to start off by saying that this is a non sponsored episode and that every time we at the Travel Squad talk about credit cards, we’re giving you our personal feedback about cards that that we have like and think would be a great benefit for travelers.

1:12

Of course, when talking about credit cards and their perks, it’s important that you utilize these perks and minimum spend requirements to get bonus points with responsibility.

Credit cards can be abused and we do not advocate that anyone abuse and spend frivolously to get points and perks.

If charging on the card is going to be a financial burden to you and will be a hardship to pay off.

1:32

We’re not here to give anybody financial advice, but just let you know how to maximize the perks of this card when exercising financial responsibility so it could be a great benefit to you when you travel.

So let’s dive right in and start talking about the American Express Gold card.

Now, when people think about American Express cards more particularly for travel, of course, the Platinum card comes to mind.

1:54

That’s their signature branded travel credit card.

But we’re not talking about that here.

Today, I’m going to give you a little bit of comparisons between the Gold and the Platinum.

But the Gold card isn’t even a travel branded credit card.

But you can utilize it, as mentioned before, to be a great benefit when it comes to your travels and get the perks.

2:13

To start off, the Gold card does have a $325 annual fee, so pretty steep, but there are ways that we’re going to get to where you can offset these fees and basically have it be at no cost and get additional perks for you.

And we’ll dive into that a little bit later.

2:30

One unique feature about this card too is that you can actually add authorized users at no additional charge.

A lot of other travel branded credit cards, whether it be from Amex or any of the other big credit card companies will usually charge you to add on an authorized user, a second person, maybe even a third.

2:49

American Express.

The gold card here will allow you to add five authorized users at no additional cost.

So if you are married, have kids and the kids are old enough and you trust them enough to with a credit card, you can give it to them and they can actually start earning points for you just as well.

3:07

The points that I’m talking about earning are going to be called membership rewards points.

So that’s American Express’s name for their points system that they do have internally.

So why is this a great card for travellers if it’s not even a travel branded credit card?

Well, you can transfer your membership reward points directly to airline partners for travel and free flight redemptions.

3:30

So that’s one of the big things in the credit card industry now is being able to take your points that you earn with your credit card and transfer them to partner airline and utilize those points.

We’ve actually done that very recently.

I’ve opened this card not too long ago, got the points.

3:45

I’m going to dive into that a little bit more later.

But that is the main benefit here of why we are talking about it is that ability to transfer your points to airline partners for those free flight redemptions.

Even though again, this is not a travel branded credit card, purchases and travel categories have a good membership reward earning value.

4:05

So even when you spend it on flights, hotels, you do get a good point earning value for you.

It also gives you baggage insurance for carry ONS and checked luggages if you have a ticket on a plane, train, ship or bus.

So it gives you some sort of protection just as well like other travel branded credit cards.

4:25

Additionally, you do get car rental loss and damage insurance.

So those things are pretty standard.

Now again, even though you can do this, I want to reiterate the Gold is overlooked because it is not a travel branded credit card.

It doesn’t give you things like lounge access, annual travel statements, and other types of miscellaneous perks that other branded travel credit cards usually give you.

4:46

But let’s dive in and start talking about those perks.

I kind of alluded to it earlier.

You do have the ability to transfer your membership reward points to airlines.

I’m going to go through the whole list of all the airlines that you can transfer them to, so bear with me on that.

5:02

You can transfer them to Anna, which is Al Napone Airways, another Japanese airline, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air France, KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Etihad, Hawaiian, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar, Qantas, JetBlue, Iberia, Aer Lingus, even hotels like Hilton and Marriott.

5:28

So you can just tell here from that extensive list that I mentioned covers a bunch of major airlines also very well reputable airlines and airlines that are known to be more on the luxury side of things.

That way when you redeem those points, you can travel in style.

5:43

Now the sign up bonus for this card is usually 1000 membership rewards points, but when I signed up it was as high as 90.

So if you’re interested in the card, Google search American Express sign up bonus.

It will take you to a specific page that shows you what the current sign up bonus is if you apply through that link.

6:03

If you just Google the Amex Gold card, it will take you to American Express’s website, the landing page for the gold card.

But I’ve seen a couple times where it does not even show you a sign up bonus that is offered to you.

So I don’t know if you did that without it stating that hey here’s a signup bonus if you would get it.

6:22

So just Google American Express Gold signup bonus and it will take you to a specific page or at least you could click the link to get to that page and it will tell you what the current bonus is.

Do keep in mind if you’ve ever applied for one of American Express’s signature credit cards such as the Platinum or the Gold before to get a welcome offer bonus.

6:43

American Express actually came out with a new policy very recently saying that you’re only eligible for one sign up bonus for life.

When I applied, it gave me that disclaimer and it gave me an option to fill out additional information in the web page that would verify if I was eligible for the bonus.

6:59

So you should do the same thing to ensure that you get it.

The last thing you want to to do is sign up for a credit card and you aren’t even eligible for the bonus now, even though it does say that you’re eligible for it once in a lifetime.

I’ve read some stuff on some credit card forums that say, yes, they say lifetime, but it’s really once every seven years.

7:19

I can’t attest to this, I do not know.

So do your own research.

But there are credit card forums that I have read that says it’s truly seven years.

But you should use the option that they give you to check and see if you would be eligible for the bonus or not.

Now, I signed up for the 90,000 bonus offer that they did have.

7:38

I transferred it to Cathay Pacific because Brittany and I happen to be going to Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific is Hong Kong signature airline.

We got two one way tickets from LA to Hong Kong for absolutely free minus the taxes.

And let me just tell you something, we are not flying in economy.

7:57

This card is letting us upgrade our lifestyle.

So I’m super, super excited about that.

And again, a great way to utilize those points, yes, you can travel in economy, you’re going to save on the points, have more points leftover and you can travel more.

But if you really want to take those points, travel in style, this is a great way to do it for those premium economy business class flights, even first class should you choose.

8:20

Now let’s talk about earning points.

Of course, that’s 60,000 to 90,000 depending on what bonus offer they do have is the sign up bonus.

You have to spend so much money on the card within the 1st 345 months, whatever the terms and conditions are at that time.

8:35

OK, pretty standard between all credit cards.

But beyond the bonus, how do you actually accrue points?

Well, you get 4 times membership rewards points on restaurants and dining with this card.

Groceries 4% also.

So very common purchases to give you high point redemption value.

8:53

Three times the points on flights booked direct with airlines or through American Express travels portal, 2 times membership rewards points on prepaid hotels and and rental cars, vacation packages, cruises and one times points back on everything else.

9:10

So you can see that this card actually has really great earnings potential.

A lot of common categories, restaurants, groceries and dining that three times points on travel is pretty standard with a lot of travel credit cards too.

So that is very, very good.

This card also has no foreign transaction fees.

9:28

So another great benefit to a traveler.

You go in internationally, you don’t want to have to worry about using your card, pay more for things because they’re hitting you with a foreign transaction fee.

This card doesn’t have one.

Now I alluded earlier for you guys about how that $325 fee is steep, but there are ways to offset it.

9:47

And if you use this card properly or even use the reward categories here that they allow you to get those redemptions, you are going to offset that $325.00.

So the Gold card gives you $120.00 annually in Uber credits.

They prorate that $120.00 into $10 a month.

10:05

That $10 a month can be used for Uber rides or Uber Eats.

So it’s a use it or lose it type situation, but you get $10 a month with Uber for you.

As an additional perk on top of that you also get $120.00 dining credit same way as it is with Uber, $10 a month throughout the year.

10:24

Another use it or lose it, but you can use it at participating restaurants and vendors like Grubhub, Cheesecake Factory, fiveguyswine.com, several more.

They do change from time to time who comes on, who comes off.

So always keep up to date with that.

But again, another way to offset that annual fee, something that they very recently just added is going to be $100 annual credit when dining at Rezi restaurants.

10:50

So if you don’t know what Rezi is, Rezi is a platform almost like OpenTable to make reservations for you at restaurants as long as you dine at a Rezi restaurant.

So a restaurant that is located on the Rezi website.

If you were to try to make those reservations use your American Express Gold card, you get $50 semi annually as a statement credit.

11:13

So it’s not $100 blanket.

It’s every six months you’re allotted that $50 another use it or lose it type thing, which again is completely standard within the credit card industry for rewards and perks and things that they give you like that.

Additionally, they do give you $84 a year in Dunkin Donut credits.

11:32

That equates to $7.00 per month.

So again, not a blanket $84.

You get $7.00 per month.

And I don’t go to Dunkin very often, but they are a lot of times in airports.

So if you’re traveling, it’s great.

You can get your free coffee, donut, whatever you want.

11:47

And if they’re not very common on the West Coast, although they are here, but when we travel to the East Coast, Dunkin’ Donuts are very, very popular, almost as popular as Starbucks.

You see them a lot on the corner.

Great place to get coffee.

But since I don’t have access to Dunkin’ Donuts a lot here on the West Coast in San Diego, 1 hack that I use to make sure that I am getting my $7.00 each month is I’ve actually downloaded the Dunkin’ Donuts app.

12:12

Every month I will go into my app and I will use my gold card to pay and buy a $7.00 credit and load my app.

So that way I’m just stacking up my $7.00 each month to get my 84.

And if I travel happen to be in an airport where there’s a Dunkin and they accept Dunkin Donut gift cards or just any other regular restaurant outside of the airport situation, I have it here.

12:36

So I really, really do love this and it’s perfect to stack up those free funds for later use.

So I’ve kind of gone over all of the main perks of the credit card here.

You can see with those annual credits that I was talking about from Uber, the dining Credit Resi, Dunkin’ Donuts, you can really offset that $325 annual fee.

12:58

Maybe you’re going to completely wipe it and come out ahead.

Maybe you’re going to wipe it a little bit.

But again, the whole point of this card is to actually utilize those bonus point signups.

You should wait for that 90.

But of course, if you want to do it sooner, by all means.

But when you utilize the signup bonus and are able to transfer those membership reward points to your preferred airline, that’s really where this card is going to become a benefit for you.

13:24

One thing that I also really love is if you have another travel credit card that lets you transfer points to partner airlines, the American Express Gold transfers to a lot of the same airlines that other travel branded credit cards transfer to.

So now you could have two, maybe even three sources to stack your points for those flight redemptions.

13:43

One thing I said earlier, and I’m going to say it again, is yes, you don’t get lounge access with this card because again, it’s not a travel credit card per SE, but you get high membership reward point value for purchases in travel categories.

Like I said, it’s that 3% on Airlines Direct or through the American Express travel portal.

14:02

Additionally, the restaurants and groceries, which are very common everyday purchases for people are 4 * 4 times points.

It’s very rare to see four times points on those categories on any card that actually gives you points to transfer to potential partner airlines.

14:18

Some credit cards have it, no doubt, but those credit cards that I’ve seen that have four times points on groceries or maybe are usually cash back cards, this one is different.

So the American Express Gold gives you those high categories of four times on restaurants as well as groceries, meaning it gives you that high membership reward earning potential and a lot of everyday common categories.

14:40

Now, as we’re closing things out here, I do want to kind of compare this to the American Express Platinum, which again is a travel credit card and most people traveler wise are going to gear towards this.

But I find the Gold card to be of more value than the American Express Platinum, especially if you actually have another travel branded credit card.

15:01

The reason for it is such.

So let’s just do a little bit of a comparison.

The Platinum gives you five times membership reward points earning potential on only a few categories.

One is if you book flights direct with an airline.

So that means no Expedia, no Travelocity or anything like that direct with the airline or through American Express, travel.com, the Amex travel portal.

15:23

You also get five times membership rewards points with the Platinum on prepaid hotels book through amextravel.com.

Everything else is going to be one point, OK, one time point membership rewards.

So really you limit your earning potential.

15:40

On top of that the the Platinum’s fee is more than double that of the Gold, so it’s a near close to a $700.00 fee for the Platinum credit card.

So yes, the Platinum has more travel perks such as lounge access, the annual travel statement, reimbursement credit, and of course several other things.

15:58

But I want to reiterate, it really does limit your earning potential for those points, which realistically is the game.

And that’s why I have the Gold card over the Platinum.

When I’ve compared the Platinum to other travel branded credit cards, it really hasn’t been my favorite.

16:13

I don’t see a lot of things that really stand out to me versus other big name credit cards such as the Sapphire Reserve or even the Venture X.

Again, not hating on the Platinum, just for me, my purchases, travel style, etcetera, it hasn’t been one that’s really stood out to me.

But the gold here again and why we’re talking about it is again, most people do not think about it because it is not a travel branded credit card, but it does have a lot of benefits that make it great for travellers.

16:41

And I hope the information this episode has been useful for you guys really puts the American Express gold card on your radar, especially to utilize and sign up for that first time bonus offer.

Thanks for tuning in to just the tip.

Make sure to subscribe, leave a review and follow us on all the socials at Travel Squad Podcast and have fun travelling this week