by Daniel | Last Updated July 26th, 2024
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So American Express just announced some pretty big changes to the Amex Gold card which includes a few new benefits and an increased annual fee.
It has been 6 years since the Amex Gold card had a major refresh, so its not to surprising they have decided to do it again.
But with the addition of these new perks the annual fee has also increased quite a bit.
So, is it worth the new cost?
Well, keep reading as I dive into all of the new changes that have been implemented to the Amex Gold card to help you decide if it is the right choice for you.
Increased Annual Fee
So the first thing that we need to talk about is the increase the annual fee.
Basically Amex has decided to put it up by 30% from $250 up to $325, which an additional $75.
Now this new annual fee is effective from July 25th for all new card holder, and if you are an existing Amex Gold card holder, the new annual fee will go into effect starting October 1, 2024 for your annual renewal.
Now if you are looking to get the updated Amex Gold card, you will be able to choose between 3 different card options, The normal Gold card, the Rose Gold card or for a limited time, the new White Gold card.
And this is available for new card members and for current cardholders, although it is a limited run so it wont benefit availabe for long.
Essentially if you are a new card holder you will be able to choose which card you want when you apply for a new card, and if you are an existing Amex Gold Card holder you can actually request a replacement White Gold card if you want one.
And to be honest, I think the new Amex White Gold card looks pretty good!
Now if you’re not happy about the increase in annual fee there and want to change your card, there are a few things you can do.
The first option would be to call an Amex customer representative and ask for a retention offer.
And although nothing is guaranteed, If you are lucky enough to receive a retention offer from Amex it is possible to receive either bonus points, statement credits, or a reduction of the an annual fee.
Now If this is unsuccessful, you could choose to downgrade your card to the Amex Green card, which still offers the ability to earn a decent amount of Membership Reward Points from a wide variety of categories.
It is also substantially cheaper on an annual basis with an annual fee of just $150, that $175 less than the Amex Gold cards annual fee.
Updated Statement Credits
So thankfully Amex Included a couple of new statements credits to the Amex Gold card to help make up for the increased annual fee.
The first one is a $100 Resy Credit, and with this you will essentially receive a $50 credit two times each year for a total of $100.
And to make use of this credit all you need to do is use the Gold card to pay for your meal at any U.S. Resy restaurants.
Just note that you must first enroll through your card before you can effectively receive this credit.
The second new credit that has been added to the Amex Gold card is an $84 Dunkin’ Credit.
With this you will receive up to $7 each month to use at any Dunkin’ location in the US.
And just like the Resy credit, enrollment is required to actually receive the credit.
So just these two new credits alone are worth $184 each year, which is more than enough the make up for the $75 increase in the annual fee.
And thankfully neither of these credits should be too hard to take advantage of.
Now the other two statement credits that still come with the card are just about totally unchanged.
There is the same $120 Uber credit that can be used for either Uber Rides or Uber eats.
And this is provided to you in $10 allotments each month.
Then there is a slightly updated $120 Dining Credit.
So with this, you will still receive the same $10 credit each month throughout the year, the only thing that has changed is Shake Shack and Milk Bar will no longer be an option to use the credit at, but Amex has now included Five Guys as an option, and with over 1,500 locations across the US, there is a pretty good change you will be able to find one to use the credit at.
And just like before you can still use this credit at either Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly or Wine.com
So all of the credits that are now available with the Amex Gold card are worth $424, which is a decent amount value, and with the new annual fee of $325, it is possible to see a return of $99 in actual value, if you manage to utilize all of the credits effectively.
Earning Points Slightly Changed
Now the Amex Gold card still offers the ability to earn a tons of Membership Rewards Points from quite a wide variety of categories.
The only change that has been made by Amex, is that you will now be limited to a total spend of $50K in purchases at restaurants worldwide.
If you manage to spend more than this in a calendar year, the points earning for Restarunt purchases will go from 4x points down to 1 point per dollar spent
Now, whilst its a little annoying having any type of restriction on your points earning ability, to be fair the $50k limit works out to be a around $4,166 each month, which is quite a lot of money for anyone to spend eating each month.
So just to go over the points earning ability of the Amex Gold card, it is possible to earn 4x points at restaurants world wide up to a total spend of $50k each year.
Along with this it is also possible to earn 4x points at US based supermarkets up to a total spend of $25k each year.
It is then possible to earn 3x points on purchases that are made directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
Hotel bookings made through AmexTravel.com will then earn 2x points, and everything else will earn 1 point per dollar spent.
So thankfully not much has changed with the points earning ability of the Amex Gold card.
It is still offers the potential to earn a lot of points across a wide variety of spending categories.
Enhanced Sign-up Bonus
Now the Amex Gold card is offering a slightly enhanced signup bonus until the 11th of November.
So it is possible to receive the usual 60,000 Membership Rewards Points once you spend $6,000 on the card within the first 6 month of opening the account.
Along with this, it is also possible to receive 20% back in statement credits for purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first 6 months of card ownership.
And this is limited to a maximum credit of $100.
So with Amex Points being worth around 1 cent per point, the 60,000 point bonus is worth $600, then if you add the possibility of receiving $100 back from dining out, you are looking at a sign-up bonus worth around $700.
And just remember that Membership rewards points can be worth a lot more than 1 cent per point when you transfer them to specific travel partners.
New White Gold Card
So another addition that has been added to the Amex Gold card is a limited editionWhite Gold Card.
Now currently this is a limited run which is a bit annoying, but it is possible that they may reintroduce it on a permanent basis much like they did with the Amex Rose Gold.
The Amex Rose Gold card was first introduced as a limited option back in 2018 and 2019, but was eventually offered on a permanent basis due to popular demand.
So like I mentioned at the start of the video, if you already have a Gold card you can request a replacement card and choose any color you like (although I’ve no idea how many Amex White Gold cards they have on offer)
And if you are applying for an Amex Gold card for the first time you will have the option to choose which color you want.
Final Thoughts
Ok so that covers pretty all of the new changes to the Amex Gold card, and whilst its never a good thing when the annual fee of any credit card increases, thankfully Amex has been thoughtful enough to add a couple of news benefits that help offset the annual fee.
And using any of the 4 credits weather it the $120 Uber credit, $120 Dining credit, $100 Resy credit or the $84 Dunkin’ Credit shouldn’t be to hard.
So as much as I don’t like increased annual fee, the updates to the Amex Gold still make it a desirable card that can provide you with significant value.
And if you like to learn all about the Best American Express Business cards on offer today, check out this article here.