The best Amex Gold card benefits are trip delay insurance and baggage insurance. The American Express® Gold Card also has extended warranty and purchase protection, which are more common perks across American Express credit cards.

Amex Gold card Benefits

• Trip delay insurance
• Baggage insurance
• Extended warranty
• Purchase protection
• Lowest hotel rates guarantee
• Instant card numbers
• Global Assist (an emergency card  assistance hotline)
• An annual dining credit
• Free ShopRunner membership (for free shipping with participating online merchants; enrollment required)

Along with these benefits, the Amex Gold card has a $250 annual fee and gives rewards on all purchases. As long as you have good credit, the American Express® Gold Card is certainly a card to consider adding to your wallet.

To get the Amex Rose Gold card, you have to apply for the American Express® Gold Card and request a Rose Gold version. If you are already an Amex Gold cardholder, you just have to request a new card be sent to you in the Rose Gold shade. Requesting the color is quick and easy — simply call the number on the back of your card to get connected with a customer service representative and let them know you would like to exchange your existing Amex Gold card for the Rose Gold version. Alternatively, use the online chat function from your online account.

No matter what shade you choose, you can get all of the Amex Gold card's incredible benefits, from high earning rates to a huge initial bonus of 60,000 points once you spend $4,000 in the first 6 months. You also receive annual Uber Cash benefits, as well as monthly statement credits when you dine at certain restaurants. The Amex Gold card also offers extensive ongoing rewards: 4 points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 spent per year), 4 points per $1 at restaurants worldwide (plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.), 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.

All of those excellent rewards do come at the cost of a $250 annual fee, so it's important to weigh the worth of those rewards against the cost of the card. The Amex Gold card requires good credit or better (a credit score of 700+) for good odds of approval. You can also check for pre-qualification online. Keep in mind that pre-qualification indicates that you have good odds of approval, but it does not guarantee it.

The Amex Gold card dining credit gives cardholders up to $120 per year in statement credits for purchases with Grubhub, Shake Shack, The Cheesecake Factory, and other participating merchants. The first $10 in qualifying purchases made each month will be covered by the Amex Gold card dining credit. Keep in mind that you must enroll your card to use this benefit and receive the credit. Dining credits post to the account within 6-8 weeks after qualifying purchases are made.

Key Things to Know About the Amex Gold card Dining Credit

• What it is
  Cardholders earn up to $10 in monthly statement credits (annual savings of up to $120) when ordering from participating partners.
• Participating partners
  Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine,com, Milk Bar, and select Shake Shack locations (excluding Shake Shack locations in ballparks, stadiums, airports and racetracks).
• How to get it
  The primary cardholder or an authorized account manager must enroll in the benefit for the account to be eligible for the credits. You can enroll online, through the Amex mobile app or over the phone.
   
  Online: Log in to your account, click “Rewards & Benefits” then “Benefits.” Find the box that says “$120 Dining Credit” and click “Enroll Now.”
   
  Through the mobile app: Download the Amex mobile app and log in using your credentials. Tap “Explore All Card Benefits” from the “Membership” menu and tap on “$120 Dining Credit.”
   
  Over the phone: Call (800) 528-4800 or the number you see on the back of your card. When prompted, say “dining credit” and then give your card number. You will then be connected to a live representative who should be able to help you with your request.
• Eligibility
  Once the Amex Gold card is enrolled, purchases from both the primary cardholder and authorized users qualify for the dining credit, but all cardholders on a single account must share the limit of $10 per month in credits.
• When you get it
  Dining statement credits typically post to your Amex Gold card account 6-8 weeks after an eligible purchase is charged.

It's also worth noting that, apart from the dining credit, the Amex Gold card also offers lots of rewards, especially on travel and dining purchases.

Amex Gold card Rewards

The Amex Gold card dining credit is worth it, when properly utilized. Combined with the rewards cardholders earn on purchases, the dining credit can help offset the Amex Gold card's $250 annual fee.

The Amex Gold card has no preset spending limit, which means the spending power is determined on a month-to-month basis, depending on the cardholder's previous spending habits, income, payment history and other factors. This does not mean that consumers are able to spend limitlessly with a no preset spending limit. Amex Gold cardholders are given a flexible spending capacity, rather than a specific one.

More info about the Amex Gold card NPSL

While not having a preset spending limit (NPSL) can offer you some flexibility, it can be difficult in emergency situations. You can know roughly what you're able to spend based on past months, but with most NPSL cards, you never know exactly when a future purchase will be declined. 

American Express makes it easier to plan for future purchases, though. If you're unsure whether a large purchase will be approved or not, simply use the Check Spending Power tool in your online account or mobile app. 

Alternatives to No Preset Spending Limit

If you'd rather get a card with a set credit limit, some good rewards card options from Amex include the Amex Cash Magnet Card, Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express and the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.

To access your Mastercard account online, open a web browser and navigate to your credit card issuer's website to log in with your username and password. It's important to note that Mastercard doesn't issue credit cards, so you cannot use the Mastercard website to log in to an existing Mastercard account. The Mastercard website only has an “Access your account” feature designed to connect you to your card's issuer.

After you're logged in to your Mastercard credit card account online, you can schedule a payment, view or download monthly statements, and redeem rewards. You can also review account information such as your current balance, minimum payment amount, payment due date, credit limit, available credit, current interest rate, and more. In addition, you can initiate a balance transfer online if balance transfers are available on your Mastercard.

The Amex Gold card annual fee is $250. This card's annual fee is higher than the average annual fee among new credit card offers right now. It's not the only fee you need to worry about with the American Express® Gold Card, either.

Amex Gold card Fees

• Annual Fee: $250
• Cash Advance Fee: 5% (min $10)
• Foreign Transaction Fee: 0%
• Max Late Fee: $40

Keep in mind that an annual fee is a common charge with high-tier rewards cards. This card offers 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first 6 months. Plus, you can earn 4 points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 spent per year), 4 points per $1 at restaurants worldwide (plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.), 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.

So, American Express charges an annual fee for this card to help offset the cost of these perks.

The Amex Gold card airline credit isn't available anymore. The benefit was dropped for both existing cardholders and new applicants as of 2021. However, there are several American Express credit cards that still offer airline credits.

Here's how the Amex Gold card airline credit worked:

When this benefit was still available, you had to choose a qualifying airline in order for the Amex Gold card airline credit to apply. To view the list of qualifying airlines, you had to log in to the airline fee credit enrollment page from your online account and made your selection from the dropdown menu. You could choose an airline any time during the first year your account was open. After that, you could only select or change airlines each January. If you didn't change airlines by January 31st, Amex automatically applied the airline fee credit to the previously chosen airline.

The first $100 in eligible charges each year were automatically credited to your account within 2-4 weeks of qualifying purchases being made. Authorized users were eligible for the airline credit, but the entire account was limited to a single $100 credit every year. Credits used to appear on the primary cardholder's monthly statement as “AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement.” The Amex Gold card airline credit used to reset every calendar year, but unused credits did not roll over from year to year.

No, the Amex Gold card does not offer lounge access. Unlike the Amex Gold card, The Platinum Card® from American Express has a true airport lounge benefit as one of its standard perks.

When to Prioritize Lounge Access

Though the Amex Gold card does not have a traditional lounge access benefit, it's also a lot cheaper than most cards that offer this benefit. The Amex Gold card's annual fee is $250 while, for example, the American Express Platinum card's is $695.

That said, if you're an extremely frequent traveler and use airport lounges on a regular basis, it's worth getting a credit card with free Global Lounge Collection access. It would cost thousands of dollars to buy unlimited access to all of those lounge brands individually.   

The credit score that you need for the Amex Gold card is 700, at a minimum. That means people with good credit or better have a shot at getting approved for this card.

Other American Express® Gold Card approval requirements:

You should note that while your credit score is an important factor, there are plenty of other things that will impact your chances of being approved for the Amex Gold card, too. Some other key criteria include your income, existing debt load, number of open accounts, recent credit inquiries, employment status, and housing status.

If you excel in other areas, you might be able to get approved with a slightly lower credit score in some cases. But it's best to wait to apply until you meet the Amex Gold card credit score requirement. You can check your credit score for free on WalletHub.

Yes, the Amex Gold card is a metal credit card. New Amex Gold card applicants don't need to specify that they want a metal card, either. This is the standard design for this card. The metal Amex Gold card doesn't work any differently than a plastic card, though it will be more durable.

What you should know about the Amex Gold card:

It's worth noting that regardless of its name, the Amex Gold card is not made of gold. But it is worth quite a bit in ongoing rewards. Cardholders can earn a welcome bonus of 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first 6 months. Plus, this card offers 4 points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 spent per year), 4 points per $1 at restaurants worldwide (plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.), 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. 

There are also annual credits for dining and Uber charges. All these perks together help offset the Amex Gold card's $250 annual fee.