American Express Gold Card Review

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 on purchases with Grubhub, Shake Shack, and other participating merchants. When a purchase from one of these merchants posts to an Amex Gold card  account, a statement credit up to $10 per month will cover it. Keep in mind that you must enroll in the benefit to receive the credits. Dining credits post to the account within 2-4 weeks after qualifying purchases are made.

Here's how the Amex Gold card dining credit works:

• 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 either enroll online or by calling the number on the back of your Amex Gold card. Once enrolled, qualifying purchases from both primary cardholders and authorized users qualify for the Amex Gold card 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 an Amex Gold card 2-4 weeks after an eligible purchase is charged.

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.

The Amex Gold card annual fee is $250 per year. Amex Gold card's $250 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 Fee: 0%
• Max Late Fee: $40

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 American Express® Gold Card credit score requirement is 700 or higher. That means people with good credit or better have a shot at getting approved for the Amex Gold card.

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 card. New Amex Gold card applicants don't need to specify that they want a metal card, either – it's standard.

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 get an initial bonus of 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first 6 months. Plus, this card gives 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 airline charges, which, together, help offset the Amex Gold card's $250 annual fee.

The American Express Gold Card customer service number is 1-800-528-4800. The number on the back of an Amex Gold Card works, too.

Another way to get in touch with a customer service rep is by logging in to your Amex Gold account online. Once logged in, look for the “Chat” button in the bottom corner of your home screen to start a live chat with a customer service rep.