forbes.com
The Gold Card from American Express is probably the card I've put the most transactions on in the four years I’ve had it. If it weren’t for one very large transaction on my Platinum card, it would probably have had the most dollars charged on it, too. So this isn’t just a card I tell other people to get: it’s my real-life go-to workhorse (or coordinator, if you’re using my heist team analogy!) card.
So what is the Gold Card? Why is it so good? What other cards does it work well with? And who is the Gold Card a good match for? Let’s dig into these questions!
I classify the Gold Card as a C-tier card that would most frequently fit into a coordinator type of role in a broad card strategy. It carries a $250 annual fee, but with some strong characteristics to help make it worth it. First, it earns flexible Amex Membership Rewards points (MR points) on all transactions. The base earning rate is 1 point per dollar, but you’ll earn 4 points on supermarkets (doesn’t include Costo or Walmart, for example), 4 points on worldwide restaurants, including food delivery services, and 3 points on flights booked with airlines. It’s important for some high spenders to note that the supermarket bonus earning is limited to $25,000 per year. Honestly, we’re only ever at about a quarter of that, but larger families spending $500/week at the grocery store could reach this cap. The Gold Card usually has a low-end signup bonus of 60,000 points, with limited-time and targeted offers that might be as high as 75,000 or more.
There are also two important credits helping to directly offset the annual fee. Both credits are a monthly format, which makes them a little tougher to use because they don’t roll over. There is a $10/month Uber cash credit, and a $10/month dining credit at select merchants. The dining credit (image below) works for Grubhub, Cheesecake Factory, Gold Belly, Wine.com, Milk, and Shake Shack. Some of those are pretty niche, but it seems like there’s some way for anyone to use the credit. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten about the credit until the last day of the month, and just Grubhub’d a smoothie or sandwich for like $11-15 with fees and tip. The other credit isn’t a traditional statement credit like the dining one, but is rather just Uber cash deposited into your Uber wallet every month, as long as the Gold Card is linked as a payment method (although you never have to actually pay with it). This Uber cash still expires, however, so if you have $10 of Uber cash left on September 30th you don’t use, then you will still have $10 on October 1st, not $20. Uber cash can be used for rides or deliveries.
At face value, these two credits almost erase the annual fee, leaving an effective annual fee of $250-120-120=$10. Depending on how you use it, you may personally value on or both credits at partial value. Personally, I treat the Uber credit as money in the bank (which I’ll expound on later), but value the dining credit at about 50%, between forgetting to use it roughly once per year and paying the slightly higher fees for Grubhub on food I would typically just pick up anyways. That leaves an effective annual fee of $70, which is still much better than $250.
The real value for that annual fee is the points earning on dining and groceries. Everyone eats food, no matter how much you travel now or how much you’d like to travel. If you spend $500 per person per month on food in general, then a family of four could earn almost 100,000 points per year on JUST food, or a couple could earn about 50,000 points. There are several other cards earning 3 flexible points per dollar on food with lower annual fees; however, just that one point per dollar could be over 10,000 extra points per year. Because I value Amex MR points at a minimum of 2 cents (see my MR points article), that’s $200 more in earnings than competitors. This paragraph is why the Amex Gold Card is my workhorse!
The Amex Gold is a card that can pair nicely with many other options for a variety of credit card teams. A common option would be to pair it with other Amex MR earning cards, like the Amex Green card, the Platinum Card, or the Blue Business card. The Green has elevated earning on broad travel and transit spending, the Platinum earns a strong rate on flights and comes with a load of perks, and the Blue Business elevates the base earning rate to 2 points per dollar. Combining two or three MR-earning cards is a great way to supercharge your earning of a particular points currency. Pairing with the Amex Platinum Card also has the sneaky benefit of stacked Uber cash credits. The Platinum’s $15 per month and the Gold’s $10 per month will be deposited at the same time. A lot of Uber rides or food orders will be over $25 anyways, so having $25 per month elevates each credit from offsetting half a ride or meal, to offsetting a whole ride or meal, for example. Since it’s one of the best-earning cards on food, it also can pair with almost any generic travel card, like co-branded hotel and airline cards. The only cards with significant earning overlap are other B- C- and D-tier cards that have elevated food earnings, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Even the CSR, however, has other benefits and earning categories that prevent it from truly being mutually exclusive with the Gold.
Who is the Gold Card a good match for? Seeing as everyone needs to spend money on food, and this is arguably the best overall card for earning free travel from food, anyone can get strong value from this card who can make use of the monthly Uber cash and dining credits. I typically recommend this card for beginners to the points and miles game who are willing to put in a little work to offset a higher annual fee. Just because I recommend it as one of the first cards, though, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place in experienced optimizers’ wallets! I’m still using it multiple times per week, even with another 10+ cards to choose from.
Want this card? Check the link below to support us as long as it's a good offer for you.
Apply for an American Express Card with this link. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and I could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply. https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/MARCH7pCa?XLINK=MYCP
Comments