American Express^® Gold Card Review

Calling all foodies and frequent travelers: The American Express^® Gold Card wants to reward you for doing what you love. It offers one of the highest rewards rates on purchases made at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets, as well as generous rewards on airfare purchases. These benefits come with a hefty annual fee of $325. However, the card also happens to offer statement credits on dining, Uber and hotels that can help you balance out this cost.

With the ability to transfer points to other loyalty programs, the American Express^® Gold Card is extremely flexible and one of the most valuable cards for earning travel rewards points. But it doesn’t offer as much value when it comes to cash back redemptions. If you are not a frequent traveler and are looking for simpler redemption options, you may want to look at a different card.

The card’s rewards on purchases made at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets are some of the best you can get, and its statement credits are worth a combined total of $240, covering most of the $325 fee you will pay with this card. You’ll find tons of value in its other features, including the welcome offer, travel protections, $0 foreign transaction fee and redemption value on flights.

• Rewards rate

  The American Express^® Gold Card is one of the most rewarding cards when it comes to food purchases. It offers an exceptionally high earning rate on restaurant and U.S. supermarket purchases. You’ll earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants (on up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X), Earn 4X Membership Rewards® 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. Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com. Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point on all other eligible purchases. Terms Apply

  If you take advantage of American Express transfer partners, you can increase the value of your points to make this one of the most valuable cards for travel rewards.

• Welcome offer

  The American Express^® Gold Card offers an especially large introductory welcome offer of Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

  This can be a very valuable bonus, depending on how you use it — you can get $600 in travel through Amex’s travel portal and possibly even more value by transferring your points to an airline partner like Delta Air Lines.

• Dining credit

  You’ll earn up to a total of $10 in statement credits monthly when you use your American Express^® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations — for an annual savings of up to $120 per calendar year. Enrollment is required. If you’re able to use this credit each month, you can make up for nearly half of the card’s annual fee.

  Note, the credit is not valid on gift cards or merchandise purchases.

• Uber Cash credit

  The card also includes a valuable benefit for frequent Uber users that can cover much of the card’s annual fee. Once you add your American Express^® Gold Card to your Uber account, you’ll automatically get up to $10 in Uber Cash each month (for a total of up to $120 per year) to use on Uber Eats or Uber rides in the U.S.

• Hotel benefits

  When you book two nights or more with The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel, you will get a $100 credit to use during your stay on resort experiences like dining or spa treatments.

• Travel and shopping protections

  The American Express^® Gold Card offers a number of valuable protections on travel and shopping, similar to the other top travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card:

  • Purchase protection
  • Baggage insurance: Covers up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage on trips booked using your American Express^® Gold Card.
  • Global Assist® Hotline: Available 24/7 for emergency assistance and coordination services including medical and legal referrals, emergency cash wires and missing luggage assistance when you travel more than 100 miles from home.
  • Extended warranty
  • Rental car insurance: Covers rental vehicles for up to 30 consecutive days per rental agreement for damage or theft up to $50,000. Coverage is secondary to your primary insurance policy.

  If you are looking for additional protections, The Platinum Card^® from American Express comes with all of the same protections plus others like trip delay and trip cancellation insurance and return protection for a higher annual fee. The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card also comes with extra benefits like trip interruption/cancellation insurance.

• No foreign transaction fees

  Along with the other great travel benefits offered with this card, there is no foreign transaction fee, making it a good option to use for international travel. However, acceptance is limited in other countries, so make sure it is accepted before you head out on your trip, or consider bringing another card along.

• Flexible rewards redemption options

  American Express Membership Rewards® points can be redeemed for statement credits, travel, merchandise, gift cards and more. Depending on what you redeem your points for, they can be valued at anywhere from 0.5 cents to 1 cent per point. Flights booked through the American Express Travel portal are valued at 1 cent per point, with hotels at 0.7 cents per point.

  You can get a much better value by transferring points (mostly at a 1:1 ratio) to one of 20 American Express transfer partners including:

  • Delta SkyMiles® (1:1)
  • Emirates Skywards (1:1)
  • Marriott Bonvoy™ (1:1)
  • Hilton Honors (1:2)
  • JetBlue TrueBlue (2.5:1)

  Visit the full list of partners for details.

• High annual fee

  The American Express^® Gold Card charges a substantial annual fee of $325. That said, the dining, airline and hotel credits can more than cover that amount each year.

  Also know there is no annual fee for up to five additional cards. The annual fee for six or more cards is $35 per card.

• Statement credits are difficult to use

  Although the statement credits offered on dining and Uber are nice perks that can get you up to $240 total back to use toward the $325 annual fee, the credits can be difficult to use. The dining credit only applies to a few restaurants, Grubhub and a handful of food-related websites. The credit can also only be used in $10 monthly increments.

  Similarly, the Uber Cash benefit can only be used in $10 monthly increments and comes with other restrictions. The credit is only valid for rides and Uber Eats in the U.S., and you must link your eligible card to your Uber account. Unused balances for both the dining and Uber credits do not carry over to the next month, so if you don’t use your credit that month, you will lose it.

• Poor value outside of airfare redemptions

  If you’re looking to redeem your rewards for anything besides airfare, you won’t get a good value with the American Express^® Gold Card. It only offers a good return on airfare booked directly on amextravel.com. Other travel purchases, such as hotels and car rentals, are worth less than 1 cent per point. Also, you’ll lose value on your points if you use them for cash back since statement credits are only worth 0.6 cents per point.

  In comparison, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card gives you far more flexibility with your points. You can redeem points for any travel purchase through its portal for a value of 1.25 cents per point, and you can get 1 cent per point for statement credits in case you need to cash them out.

• You can't carry a balance on some purchases

  Unlike typical credit cards, this card only lets you carry a balance for certain charges. American Express does offer a Pay Over Time feature, which gives cardholders the option to pay for eligible purchases of $100 or more over time with interest. However, you’ll need to pay off the remainder of your purchases at the end of the month.

  Note, enrollment for Pay Over Time is required, and you will accrue interest charges on all eligible purchases if you choose to carry a balance.

• No lounge access or complimentary elite status

  The American Express^® Gold Card does not offer lounge access, complimentary elite status or other luxury travel benefits offered by many premium travel rewards credit cards. If you’re looking to take advantage of these complimentary benefits, it may be worth it to choose a card with a larger annual fee for additional value.

If you want a more flexible travel and dining rewards card that offers a valuable sign-up bonus at a lower annual fee, check out the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card.

At $95 a year, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card offers a similar sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

The card offers a larger number of valuable redemption options, including cash, statement credits, gift cards, travel and products and services. Cardholders also get a 25% bonus on points redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, meaning you can get at least 1.25 cents per point on most of your travel redemptions.

Like the American Express^® Gold Card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card allows members to transfer points to a variety of travel transfer partners at a rate of 1:1 to get even more value on their points. However, Chase offers different transfer partners, including United and Southwest, making the card a better fit for frequent flyers with these airlines.

While the American Express^® Gold Card offers the opportunity to earn a higher rewards rate on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card also offers an elevated rate in a broader variety of travel categories, including airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, discounted travel sites and campgrounds, as well as operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges, highways, parking lots and garages.

Deciding if the American Express^® Gold Card is the right option for you comes down to what you want to get from the card.

If earning more points at restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets and on air travel is most important to you, the American Express^® Gold Card could be a great fit — especially if you plan to take advantage of the annual credits, which will help offset the cost of the card’s annual fee.

But if you prefer to earn a higher rewards rate on a broader range of travel purchases — while getting more value from those points — another rewards card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card may be the better choice.