The American Express® Gold Card is a popular travel rewards card. It comes with a solid welcome offer and benefits, but doesn’t carry the enormous fee associated with the American Express® Platinum Card®. Let’s look at all the need-to-know info about the Amex Gold, so you can decide if it’s a good fit for your wallet.

Amex Gold Card Details

Welcome Offer: As high as 100,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $6,000 in purchases on your new card within the first 6 months of card membership.

Here’s how it works:

1. Apply and find out your offer amount
2. Continue to see if you’re approved
3. If approved, accept the card with your offer
4. Spend $6,000 in 6 months
5. Receive the points

Note: welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.

Annual fee: $325 (rates & fees). Want to learn more about how to decide if annual fees are worth it? Check out this post.

Amex Gold Card Benefits

Amex cards tend to have a lot of small credits and perks, which makes them a bit harder to manage. I highly recommend using CardPointers to help you keep track of your credits, especially since some are monthly and some are yearly.

• Up to $10 per month in Uber Cash for Uber and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. To receive this benefit, you must have downloaded the latest version of the Uber App, and your eligible American Express Gold Card must be a method of payment on your Uber account. The Amex Benefit may only be used in the United States.
• Up to $10 monthly in dining statement credits with select partners: Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys.
• Up to $50 twice a year (January-June and July-December) in statement credits when you eat at a Resy restaurant and use your card to pay.
• Up to $7 per month on Dunkin’ purchases. We don’t have a Dunkin’ nearby, but I load a digital Dunkin’ gift card in the app with $7/month and use it when we’re near a Dunkin’ store.
• $100 hotel experience credit when you book a two-night stay through The Hotel Collection by American Express.
• Global Assist, Baggage Insurance, Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance, and more.
• No foreign transaction fees.

*Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

Amex Gold Earning Rates

This card has great spending categories that can add up to a lot of points over time.

• 4X points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. (up to $50,000 per year, then 1X)
• 4X points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year, then 1X)
• 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel
• 2X points on hotels and other eligible purchases booked on Amex Travel
• 1X points on everything else

Eligibility

FAMILY LANGUAGE

Amex has some tricky rules when it comes to its cards. Basically, if you already have (or have had) a higher-level card, you can’t go back and open a lower one. For example, you won’t be eligible for the American Express® Green Card if you currently have (or once had) the Gold or Platinum.

So, if your goal is to earn the welcome offers on all three cards, you’ll want to start at the bottom and work your way up.

For example:

1. American Express® Green Card (although, this one could be skipped since the offer is smaller)
2. American Express® Gold Card®
3. American Express® Platinum Card®

<All information about the American Express® Green Card has been collected independently by The Traveling Hansens. The American Express® Green Card is no longer available through The Traveling Hansens.>

LIFETIME LANGUAGE

Amex also has what’s called “lifetime language,” which says: “Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card.” In other words, you can only earn a welcome bonus once per card.

However, there are some times this may not apply:

• Many data points show that Amex defines a “lifetime” as around seven years.
• Oftentimes, you’ll find targeted offers (in the mail, in your email, or in your Amex account online) that don’t include lifetime language. If you see a targeted offer, it means you may be able to earn the bonus again, even if you’ve had the card before. This has happened to me multiple times.

The other good thing? Amex is upfront about your eligibility. When you apply, a pop-up will tell you if you’re not eligible for the welcome bonus. This is what people sometimes call “Amex pop-up jail.” If you get this, just back out of the application. There will be no credit pull, and you can try again at a different time.

Using Your Points

These cards earn valuable Membership Rewards®, which can be used in multiple ways.

Transferring points to travel partners is my favorite way to use our points because it gives us the most value. However, there are a few other options.

• You can transfer them to one of Amex’s 21 airline and hotel partners.
• You can book flights, hotels, and more through the Amex Travel portal.
• You can cash out your points to cover expenses; however, this typically nets a lower than one cent per point value, so I try to avoid this.

Wrapping it up

We have at least one of these cards open at all times. The fee is manageable, it has decent credits, and the welcome offer earns a lot of points. Plus, being able to earn 4X on many categories is a big win in my book.