The American Express Gold card is one of the most popular Membership Rewards-earning cards in their portfolio. However, like so many premium and super premium cards, it’s been getting more expensive to have. Unfortunately, rumor has it that another Amex Gold annual fee increase is on its way.
Today, the American Express Gold card carries a $250 annual fee. For that, cardholders enjoy the following benefits:
- 4x points at restaurants and U.S. delivery/takeout, plus the first $25k spent annually at U.S. grocery stores
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or via Amex Travel
- 1x points on everything else
- $10/month dining credit at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar, and select Shake Shack locations
- $10/month in Uber Cash
- $100 experience credit with a two-night minimum stay at The Hotel Collect properties booked via Amex Travel
- No foreign transaction fees
I think the Amex Gold card is a good one to have, especially with the grocery bonus. If the average American family spends almost $500/month on groceries (I’m rounding up for ease), that means you’d earn 24,000 points doing so with this card. At the widely accepted valuation of $0.02 per Membership Rewards points, that means the card earns $480 worth of points per year. Just on groceries.
However, it does also provide $120 in credits for purchases at certain restaurants and for Uber, though they’re split up into $10 monthly credits. The utility of these is questionable, as they may not be feasible in all areas. It was certainly a leading factor in me parting ways with my Gold Card. However, as rumors swirl that an Amex Gold annual fee increase is on the way, so too are rumors that more of these annoying credits are on their way.
Amex Gold Annual Fee Increase
The Amex Gold’s current annual fee of $250 places it between premium cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and super-premiums such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum. To a certain degree, this middle ground makes sense, as the card has fairly unique and rich benefits. However, your calculation for that could change, especially since it looks as if an Amex Gold annual fee increase is coming.
Reported on several subreddits, it seems that the Amex Gold’s annual fee is jumping $75 to $325/year. Why? Who knows. What we do know is that Amex plans on softening the blow with two new (rumored) benefits in the form of, you guessed it, more statement credits. Unfortunately, like the existing set of credits, these new ones promise to have questionable utility and include:
- $50 Resy credits doled out on a semi-annual basis
- $7/month Dunkin’ credits
Yeah, you read that correctly. Dunkin’ credits. Though, I suppose that’s less odd than the Walmart+ credits the Platinum card gets. Anywho, these are credits that may have very limited to no use in certain markets since Dunkin’ Donuts and Resy restaurants are not everywhere. However, if you can take advantage of these credits without going out of your way, then the Amex Gold annual fee increase may be of no consequence to you.
Final Thoughts
I actually don’t have any annual fee cards from Amex anymore. I got rid of the last one, the Hilton Honors Surpass, this year. However, if I were to pick up an annual fee card from them again, I’d probably go with the EveryDay Preferred again. For $100/year, you get 3x points on up to $6k annually at U.S. grocery store, 2x points on gas, 1x points on everything else, and a 50% points bonus each billing cycle in which you hit at least 30 transactions. To me, that’s more worth it than what the Gold Card has become, especially since I’m more likely to put dining spend on my Sapphire Reserve, anyway.
What do you think of these rumored changes to the Amex Gold? As far as timing goes, the rumors on Reddit say to expect a formal announcement in the next few weeks.