There is a lot of Amex gold propaganda around here and please check me if I'm wrong. I'm not above being wrong. Amex gold is not for card optimizers. It's for people with one or two cards.
If you don't drink Dunkin and Uber regularly and you have 3% on most categories this card is probably not for you.
A lot of people around these parts have multiple* cards. We usually get 3% cash back on grocery and dining with no annual fee if we want it. So in this case, where does an extra %1 on these categories make any sense? Only if you can completely offset the annual fee of the amex gold.
this leaves you with a certain, specific demographic this card makes any sense for. But on this forum most people are here to make the most of their money. I think it makes sense in only the case above and people who dine out or grocery a lot with 2% or less in those categories currently.
Or I guess third case. If you have a very large family so much that the extra % will overtake the AF.
This is a bad card for a low-detail context recommendation. Stop recommending it outside of niche circumstances.
Don't believe the amex gold stans
byu/Big_Salamander_9663 inCreditCards
Posted by Big_Salamander_9663
28 Comments
You arnt wrong. I have the gold and I use the dining, Dunkin, resy, and some of the uber credit. But one thing you arnt considering is I value Amex points at 1.5 so when I use them I’m getting at least 6x on my purchases
Gold isn’t the same anymore. It was once THE card but honestly no annual fee cards that offer 3x or 3% is much better than the $325 AMEX annual fee.
Don’t trust any card stans and just do the math yourself is the only real answer.
If you can’t figure out which card is better for you, then you should just stick to a cash back no annual fee card.
Please stop using % and x interchangeably. Amex Gold is not a cashback card so calling it 4% is literally wrong
Not an extra 1%. 4x != 4%. AmEx MR points are intended to be transferred out to transfer partners, where their value is variable depending on the particular booking they’re used towards. That can yield much more than 4% net value out of a 4x multiplier if used correctly.
Not just the Gold but *all* AmEx MR earning cards only make sense for use with transfer partners. If you want cash back, AmEx has exactly three cards for you:
Blue Cash Everyday
Blue Cash Preferred
Blue Business Cash
I don’t think you need to “regularly” use uber – its $10 a month you can use on uber eats for one order a month, which is how i would use it. So that just leaves $200 dollars of the AF (not counting Dunkin, Resy, etc which are more niche) and if you use more than 20k on restaurants/groceries a year, you can easily get the $200 dollar back as 1% over the 3% cards. 20k sounds like a lot but it’s only 1.7k a month which in most MCOL/HCOL can hit.
I wouldn’t call it a bad or niche card, but it’s OK if it’s not for you.
Where did you read a comment saying to get the Amex gold if you can’t use most of the credits lol
If you spend more than $32,500 on Groceries/Dining it is above breakeven even if you get no value from the credits. For big spenders, the card makes sense.
If you spend > $20K and fly Delta (and have Delta Gold Card), it may also make sense.
Otherwise, I agree that the card isn’t all that. Resy Credit and Uber are okay, but the rest are annoying. Even if you can theoretically use all of the credits, unless you’re spending a considerable amount, you’re being told what to spend your money on for marginal gain.
I don’t like your tone, but I don’t totally disagree with you. I think Gold makes sense if you’re pairing it with another MR earning card like BBP or Platinum and you’re putting significant spend on it, especially if the credits nullify the annual fee. You definitely shouldn’t assume the 4x vs 3x of other cards will negate the annual fee. People who spend a lot on dining or grocery can get good value from it.
I did the math and it gives my family a higher return than flat fidelity – so it works for us
Do the math.
Either a card works for you, or you work for it.
If you organically make use of the $120 Uber, $120 Dining, $100 Resy, and $84 Dunkin’ credits annually, you’re already at +$99. Thats before counting the 4x dining/grocery and 3x flights.
If not, then don’t get it.
The category is not for me. I value BCP much more before I go churning it.
I can’t imaging anyone with over 1k groceries bills doesn’t have a wholesale club nearby. Or they are fancy whole food goers. Then, well, do whatever you like. I am poor af so I look for best deal
Idk man…I have a multi card setup with clear use cases, and none of em beat 4% flat on Dining/Groceries. Also, I don’t own a car and take Ubers regularly. Plus it’s $10 GrubHub per month and $100 in Resy per year.
I am able to very organically extract a $340 value bare minimum and a solid 40k points per year.
I agree. It’s still a coupon’ish card. The uber (eats) and Grubhub $10/mo each with Dunkin basically covers the af. Then add in the resy credit. That’s how I think of it
But absolutely if you can’t use them then it’s probably not worth it. It all depends on what you want the points for, or what travel partners, and which reward systems you use
Good luck
Amex Gold Business is great for business owners because 4x on ad spending
Thank you all for fighting me. I’m very bored today and I’m tired of hearing about devaluations lol
$120 Grubhub, $120 Uber, $84 Dunkin, $100 Resy. My annual fee is negative $99, not to mention the $1100 or more SUB value. Every dollar of spending at 4X is better than your 2X or 3X cards net of fees and benefits.
Amex is a good starter card for points and miles. Least it was for me.
That being said, now that I’ve optimized my setup, it was the annual fee card that I dropped.
As others have said, everyone should be looking into what works best for them and their lifestyle
Amex Gold and Plat are both shit cards. Not sure why they are shilled so much around here.
In terms of value proposition they are terrible
The Platinum is a lot better in terms of what it does.
The Gold keeps losing steam every year, it hasn’t been worth it for a while unless you have a big family.
Heads up: Amex corporate advantage program reduces the fee by $100. That plus 4x and resy make it worth it to many people. Uber should be easily usable to anyone who travels.
Dunkin/grub hub are all gravy.
I totally understand where you’re coming from. If you find it too hard to utilize the credits to get positive value, it might not be the way to go. Theres some great other options like the Savor or CSP like you mentioned.
For me? It just works.
UberEats- wife works from home so she sometimes will get something delivered. ✅
Grubhub- I can order pick-up something up on my way home on a night we don’t cook ✅
Dunkin- Theres one next to my work and i have no problem drinking regular coffee ✅ (beats purchasing the nasty coffee from our work cafe)
Resy- A restaurant we frequent even before we got this card is on resy ✅
I also do the Amex Duo (Gold + BBP) and it’s been great so far. I always appreciate amex’s customer service if i have a question or issue.. and they’ve been generally good overall to me. (Note: i do always keep a CFU as a backup visa as I’m sure you know lol)
Overall, i understand that these credits can feel like hurdles for some and if i ever find I’m working hard to use them i’ll be sure to cancel and move on. But the card works well if you can use it within your normal habits.
I don’t listen to anyone except myself, and this card works for me because of Uber credits and our outsized spend on groceries (household of 6).
I mean, I can see a case for both sides. 4x groceries/dining and 3x for direct airfare gives a lot of coverage for a lot of people, assuming they perceive MR as good value (I personally do). I think the argument might be tailored more toward the credit card gooners asking the question regarding the average efficacy of effective redemption value if you want things to be as simple as possible, because while it is not hard to get a decent deal from a transfer partner, it is pretty easy to get a bad deal and sometimes very hard to get a great deal.
From my perspective, I have a multiple card portfolio which includes Amex Gold. My biggest problem with it is the coupon book shit, but I do manage to cash in the $8 for DD every month. Uber eats and grubhub are hit and miss. Certainly makes me consider running the numbers for a better solution, but generally speaking I’m feeling OK with the product in its current state.
I put about $20k a year on my gold card for a few years, but ditched it about 6 months ago. I was tired of thinking about the stupid coupons. And thinking about having a different dining card if travelling overseas. I have not missed the card. Still like my Schwab Platinum and my BBP though.
3% is not the same as 3x, dont get those twisted
But all else said I agree, this card is exhausting and is unnecessarily complex. Old card was fine enough as-is
I’m by no means a Stan, but I do recommend this card very often for folks but only if they pass some simple tests.
I personally have a gold and my wife has her own. We have 19 cards total and we only sock drawered 1 (BCE).
We live in the city and work a ton so cooking isn’t something we always have time for. We easily order Uber Eats and Grubhub more than once a week.
So there’s +$20/mo to each of our AFs ($240 each)
Then we also go out to eat at least 2 times a week. Without even trying, inevitably one of them is a Resy restaurant. At least once a month actually. So there’s another $100 each. (Now up to $340 each, AF is already gone). We’ll actually even tap our Plat for $100 first, then put the balance on one of our golds if we haven’t used the plat credit yet in the quarter.
We reload the Dunkin’s monthly to a gc we’ve had in our Dunkin app for 14 years. We share one login to DD. P2 doesn’t mind Dunkin’s iced coffees and will dip into DD on the way into the office from time to time and grab a drink and maybe bfast. But doesn’t like Dunkin enough to actually spend our own money there. I don’t factor DD $$ into my AF offset so I just consider this an unvalued benefit that if taken away, I wouldn’t miss.
I usually ask people questions to see if this at all matches their lifestyle before recommending the Gold. This is the approach I take to any card with an AF.
Exactly, business gold is where it’s at. What’s the max amount I can open?