American Express® Gold Card Review: Should You Apply?

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The American Express® Gold Card – is it worth it? Yes, especially if you foresee dining and travel in your future.

The annual fee for the American Express® Gold Card can be expensive (Click here for rates and fees). However, by utilizing the card’s benefits you could effectively redeem enough membership rewards® points to almost cancel out the card’s fee.

The benefits increase even further if you’re a new card holder with access to the 60,000 membership rewards® points offer, which you get after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases within the first 6 months.

The card offers the most membership rewards® points across three categories: dining at restaurants, grocery shopping, and airfare purchases. So if you’re looking to take full advantage of the American Express® Gold Card’s benefits, we recommend it for the adventurous foodie.

The Benefits and Rewards

In a nutshell, here are the primary benefits of the card:

Earn 4X membership rewards® points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., and earn 4X points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X).
Earn 3X membership rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.

Note: Terms apply. Click here for rates and fees

If you dine out, order in, or shop for expensive and exotic ingredients, this is the card you want in your wallet.

You can earn statement credits on dining each month with participating dining partners. Some of these partners include:

The Cheesecake Factory
Goldbelly
Wine.com
Grubhub
Milk Bar
select Shake Shack locations

If you’re planning on traveling soon, all the better – you’ll be eating out everyday, and the American Express® Gold Card offers points for dining worldwide. By strategically using this card for your travel expenses, you can accumulate points faster and enjoy significant savings.

However, it’s important to carefully weigh the annual fee and consider your upcoming plans to ensure that the rewards and benefits outweigh the costs. In the end, if you’re diligent about maximizing your rewards and take full advantage of the card’s offerings, the American Express® Gold Card can help you get more bang for your buck while traveling.

Minimum Credit Limit: Can You Get Approved?

The recommended credit score range for the American Express® Gold Card is typically 670 – 850 (“Good” to “Excellent” score range). If you’re worried about a low credit score or if you’re looking for a credit card to start building credit with, this might not be the best card for you.

American Express® Gold Card vs. The Platinum Card® from American Express

While both cards are recommended for travel, the key difference between them is that The Platinum Card® from American Express offers more points at a higher annual fee – $695 (Click here for rates and fees)compared to the card_name’s annual fee of $250.

It’s a steep difference, but card_name makes up for it by offering greater rewards, for example a welcome offer that allows you to bonus_miles_full.

And unlike the card_name, you can get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on select prepaid hotel bookings through American Express Travel. And if card_name offers 3x points on flights, The Platinum Card® from American Express offers 5x points on flights (with a cap of up to $500,000 on purchases).

What it comes down to is the annual fee. If you’re planning a luxury vacation, card_name is for you – otherwise that annual fee might not be worth it.