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The American Express® Gold Card has a robust rewards program geared towards travelers, with additional benefits and earning potential on dining and groceries. However, the $250 annual fee is high, so only borrowers who can fully benefit from the rewards, welcome bonus, and annual rebates should consider this card.
Quick Review
The American Express® Gold Card has a long list of benefits and rewards, including:
- 4x points on groceries
- 4x points at restaurants or delivery
- 3x points on flights booked directly from airlines or through Amex Travel
- 1 point on all other purchases
- 75,000 bonus points if you spend $4,000 in first 6 months
- $120 annual dining credit
- $120 annual Uber credit
While this is a good rewards program, it’s worth noting that other credit cards offer similar cashback rates with lower annual fees. What could make the high annual fee on this card worth it is if you:
- Spend a lot on both groceries and dining out (to take advantage of the highest rewards categories)
- Can easily meet the spending limit in the first 6 months to get the welcome bonus (worth roughly $750)
- Will use the Uber and dining credits every month (up to $10 each month)
- Will book travel (including flights and hotels) through Amex Travel, which could earn you the best points conversion rate
If you can’t take full advantage of the above features, consider looking for a card with a lower annual fee. In addition, this card has a high APR, meaning carrying a balance may get expensive. However, American Express offers Plan It®, a payment program that allows you to split large purchases into fixed monthly payments.
Overall, this card can be a good choice for you if your spending habits align up with the rewards program and benefits package, or if you’re looking for an Amex without foreign transaction fees.
American Express® Gold Card Important Details
Basic Card Details
- APR: 19.74%–26.74% (variable)
- Annual fee: $250
- Rewards rate: 1%–4%
- Grace period: 25 days
Additional Information
- Balance transfers are not available.
- Earn Membership Rewards® Points on purchases including restaurants, groceries, flights and other eligible purchases
- Earn a bonus of 75,000 points after you spend $4,000 in your first 6 months, which has a value of about $450–$750 depending on how you redeem points
- No annual authorized user fee for up to 5 additional cards
- Amex benefits such as travel insurance and protections
American Express® Gold Card Feature Breakdown
Take a look at the American Express® Gold Card rates, fees, and borrowing terms to decide whether it’s the right card for you.
Fees
- Annual fee: $250
- Plan It® fee: Up to 1.33% of each purchase in a plan
- Cash advance fee: $10 or 5% (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Late payment fee: Up to $40
- Returned payment fee: Up to $40
The American Express® Gold Card has a very high annual fee, which is the biggest drawback of the card. While the welcome bonus covers 1–3 years worth of annual fees, you need to earn enough rewards and credits in following years to make the high fee worth the cost.
Interest Rates
- Pay Over Time APR: 19.74%–26.74% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 28.24% (variable)
- Penalty APR: 29.99%
The interest rates for the American Express® Gold Card are rather high, for both purchases and cash advances. This card is best for people who plan to pay their balances off every month or can take advantage of the Plan It® to space out the cost of a large purchase.
Rewards
American Express® offers rewards through the Membership Rewards® Points program. You earn points based on your purchases in the following categories:
- 4X points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the US
- 4X points on groceries (up to $25,000 in purchases per year)
- 3X points on flights booked with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 1 point on all other eligible purchases
Your points can be redeemed in a variety of ways, including:
- Paying with points at checkout with selected vendors
- Buying gift cards
- Choosing card charges to cover with points (i.e. as statement credit)
- Booking or upgrading travel
- Transferring points to a frequent traveler program
- Shopping with merchant partners
However, note that points are worth different values depending on which method you use to redeem them. The rewards range from 0.5%–1% cashback value. You can likely get the most mileage out of your points when booking travel through Amex or transferring points to a frequent flyers program.
Cash Advance
A cash advance is when you take money out of an ATM using your credit card. Cash advances are allowed with the American Express® Gold card, but the APR is 28.24% and the fee is 5% (with a minimum charge of $10). Because the cost can quickly add up, we recommend not using this card for cash advances. Instead, opt to withdraw money from a debit card.
Balance Transfers
Balance transfers are not available on this card. If you need to consolidate debt by moving a balance from one card to another, look for a different card, optimally one with a 0% APR period.
Travel Benefits
The American Express® Gold card offers many benefits for people who travel, including:
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Access to the Hotel Collection with American Express® Travel which offers room upgrades and hotel credits for dining, spa and resort activities when you stay for two or more nights at select hotels.
- Access to 24/7 emergency Global Assist® services, including legal and medical referrals, emergency cash wires, and assistance with missing luggage.
- Baggage insurance which covers stolen, lost, or damaged baggage when you purchased tickets using your card.
- Car rental loss and damage insurance when you reserve and pay for the rental with your card.
- Membership Rewards® points can be redeemed to cover flights and hotels booked through AmexTravel.com.
- There is a lowest hotel rates guarantee, so if you find the same room, in the same hotel, for the same dates, at a lower price online American Express® will refund you the difference.
Other Benefits
In addition to travel benefits, the American Express® Gold Card comes with additional benefits:
- $120 Dining Credit: Earn up to $10 each month in statement credits when you pay with your card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar, or select Shake Shack locations.
- $120 Uber Cash to Dine or Ride: Get $10 in Uber Cash each month when you add your card to your Uber account, which you can use for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the US.
- Amex Offers: Earn additional rewards and discounts on purchases through special American Express offers.
- American Express Experiences: Get exclusive access to ticket presales and member-only events including theater, sports, and live music.
- American Express Preferred Access: Enjoy access to member-only premium seats for select events.
- More Ways to Pay: You can choose to pay your bill in full, to carry a balance with interest using the Pay Over Time feature, or select large purchases and split them into monthly payments with a fixed fee using the Plan It® feature.
- Send & Split®: Send & Split® allows you to send payments using your card to people through Venmo and PayPal. It also lets you split purchases and receive funds to your card as a statement credit or through Venmo or PayPal.
Additional Cardholders
With the American Express® Gold Card, there are no annual authorized user fees for up to 5 additional cards. Cards can be issued for people 13 and over, so your younger family members can use your account.
While rewards can be earned across cards, only the primary cardholder can manage the account and pay the monthly balance. So only add users you trust to use the card responsibly, as payments are your sole responsibility.
Customer Service
The 24/7 customer service number for American Express® credit cards is (800) 528-4800.
You can also write to them at:
American Express
P.O. Box 981535
El Paso, TX 79998-1535
Should You Get the American Express® Gold Card?
FinanceJar verdict
The biggest consideration with this credit card is its high annual fee. While $250 is a lot to embrace, this card may actually be worth it to the right borrower. If you frequently travel and take advantage of the rewards, benefits, and foreign transaction fee waiver, this card can go a long way. Additionally, the welcome bonus and dining/Uber credits can make up the annual fee on their own, leaving the 1%–4% rewards as pure profit.
Who is this card for?
- International travelers: The fact that the American Express® Gold card has no foreign transaction fee makes it a good choice for international travelers. In addition, the rewards program offers 3X points on flights, as well as other travel benefits including baggage loss and car rental insurance, and lowest hotel rates guarantee.
- High Spenders: If you spend a lot of money each month, especially on restaurants and groceries, you can earn significant rewards points. This is especially true if you also pay off your balance each month so you aren’t losing money on high interest rates.
- GrubHub and Uber users: The American Express® Gold card offers credits of $10/month if you use your card to pay for GrubHub and Uber. This results in a $120 dining credit with GrubHub and a $120 Uber Cash credit. These two things alone counteract almost all of the annual fee.
Comparable Cards
To see whether the American Express® Gold Card is a good choice for you, let’s see how it compares to other cards.
