Do I want a gold card?

March 15, 2006 3:13 PM

Do I want an American Express Gold Card?

I pay off my balances every month, and have for over seven years.

Right now I have a blue card that pays me cash back, and an Amazon card I use for Amazon purchases. I rarely use cash, and spend about $30,000 a year on my credit cards, including ten or so round-trip plane tickets a year and some business expenses. I make a comfortable income, but am not rich by any stretch.

AmEx wants to promote me to a gold card, free for the first year, $90/year afterwards. They've been mailing me monthly with this offer. Are the benefits really worth my while, or is it a pure rip off for people who want faux prestige?

posted by commander_cool to work & money (22 comments total)

I consider any credit card with an annual fee to be a ripoff, but the real question is what are the relative interest rates on the cards. If the gold card rate is substantially lower, then it might be worth it. On the other hand, you could always just call them up and talk them into lowering the rate on your current card.

If all they're offering is an extended credit line and you're happy with what you've got, I recommend not getting the other card.
posted by camcgee at 3:25 PM on March 15, 2006

OH my-- what you hav ethere is a couple of freqent flyer trips a year possible.

The Gold card isnt really prestige now anyway is it?? I think the black one is the only one that will make folks take notice.

I say get a FF miles card. Think of where you would most like to go every other year or so and look in to has the best reward program for that country/airport, etc.

There are some great FF websites that explain best cards and how to gt the most for your miles...

Even with your ten or so trips you could get into a nice club at airport for long delays for a little piece and quiet, etc...
posted by beccaj at 3:27 PM on March 15, 2006

the real question is what are the relative interest rates on the cards

If he pays off his balance every month this is irrelevant.
posted by underwater at 3:28 PM on March 15, 2006

camcgee, the American Express "classic" cards like the green and gold are charge cards, not credit cards. There is no interest rate per se, as they must be paid off every month. I think American Express is just wanting to make more money off of the eventual annual fee, especially since he's getting cash back right now on his Amex Blue.

If one really wants the "exclusive perks" like concierge service there are other fee-free cards like the Visa Signature branded cards out there.
posted by zsazsa at 3:33 PM on March 15, 2006

I've whined to them about the fee--threatened to cancel the account--and had it waived before, but that was a while ago, and I don't know how many times you can get away with that. But I'm with beccaj, with that much action on your card you can get lots of miles with the right card. What are the great FF websites?
posted by tula at 3:35 PM on March 15, 2006

It's been a long time since I even thought about this but a Gold Card is a charge card (like the Green), not a credit card (like the Blue. Although checking now I see that purcashes over $200 can be paid on an extended payment plan.) On preview… ugh.
posted by Dick Paris at 3:35 PM on March 15, 2006

camcgee, the American Express "classic" cards like the green and gold are charge cards

In that case, it definitely sounds like a rip off.
posted by camcgee at 3:36 PM on March 15, 2006

I have one of these which has an $85 annual fee (also waived in year one). I spent a little more than you last year, but I think I earned something like 2 free round-trip tickets worth of frequent flier miles. And, by requesting it, I have no pre-set spending limit (there is a credit limit, but I can go past that amount and the excess is treated like a charge card) and an APR under 10%.
posted by mullacc at 3:38 PM on March 15, 2006

I don't think American Express Gold suggests prestige to anyone with an awareness above that of a grapefruit, but American Express has classically had more of a reputation of being on the side of the consumer in case of charge dispute than Visa and MasterCard. It's been a while since I had to dispute a charge on my Amex Business Gold, but I must say that the two times I did, they listened, said they would take care of it, and they did. No further grief, just a follow-up by letter with the resolution. But did I get good service because it was a business card, or because it was a Gold Card, or just because they were American Express? No way for me to say. Others' experiences with Amex doubtless vary. Like with any major card or bank, you can find real haters out there.

With my Amex Gold there are automatic discounts from various merchants, a credit line, and other rewards. Go to the American Express site if you haven't already and see what they offer for the level card you want to get. For example, mine offers a 5% FedEx discount, which might be appealing.

Back when I actually used the card a lot, my membership fees were always waived. In fact, I was auto-upgraded to Gold from the regular green without requesting it. But either they are less accommodating nowadays or else I fell below the magic level, because I've been paying a membership fee for the past several years. In fact, I was billed my $75.00 membership fees this month, so either they're going to raise it next year or else they are charging you more than other Gold cards.

At $30K per year, you're running a decent amount of charges through your cards. If you're really interested, call up a Amex sales drone and see if you can get a better deal. One would think they'd be happy to waive ongoing membership fees at a guaranteed charge level of, say, $10K per year, but perhaps the perks have tightened.

Incidentally, Amex offers a deal where you can roll over charges above a certain level to the next month. The level is $300 for my card.
posted by mdevore at 3:41 PM on March 15, 2006

commander_cool, I most certainly make a less comfortable income than you based on your credit card spending alone, and I keep getting the exact same gold card offer from AmEx. I have good credit and have been a cardholder for a while, so that may contribute to my qualifications, but hopefully that helps address the prestige aspect. I discounted it as a gimmick on the very fact that they were willing to offer the card to me... (and until they're offering it for free, I'm certainly not signing up).
posted by VulcanMike at 3:44 PM on March 15, 2006

I have the AMEX Rewards Plus Gold Card. Like it for a lot of reasons, most of which I'll never turn from unless something goes very bad in the future. I'm also allowed to link my corporate AMEX green, which makes things nice. Some of the things I like are:

- I get 1 point/mile per dollar, this includes big box discounts like Wal-Mart which are generally discounted in other reward programs.
- AMEX swaps work out well, are consistent, and nice. I'm pretty enthused on how to maximize points amongst programs, sometimes doing many swaps before the final "purchase" so this is a plus for me.
- They accept returns on like new goods that are not returnable to the vendor. This got me $300 back recently for a PDA I didn't want after three months.
- Buyers protection, if I find a cheaper price advertised than I paid I send it to them, they credit the difference.
- Accidental damage protection for 90 days.
- Good car rental insurance, covering loss of use now if I read my last bill correctly.
- Global Assist over 50 miles, has saved some towing/locked out bills.
- Amazing website for tracking expenses, at least for me. It has nice drill down, immediate payment, and just feels a lot more professional than the other sites I use. Also I can review my corporate expenses in the same page.
- Easiest disputes I've found. They allow you do online disputes and for my level of things do not require a legal document like other cards I've used. This is nice when the mail order place doesn't credit your return and it's only $12.00 but you don't want to spend 20 minutes on the phone.
- Somehow the charge card nature makes me feel better. You pay it off all every month, you just do.
- Splits my wifes card into a difference number, this way we can track purchases and it's not easy to hide in the numbers which is good for financial planning.
- Nice statements. Additionally, I never get one of those cash advance checks with my statement like other cards send, which I somehow hate.
- I'm sure easily ungradeable to platinum after a while if you'd like the lounge access.

I figure I pay off the $150 fee with my first $15,000 in purchases, after that it's 'bonus' which I certainly like when combined with all the protections I get with the card. $30,000 would get a airline ticket a year, with some caveats, but then again other cards would too. Really think AMEX comes down to if you need the service, if you feel its service, and if you can get over the idea of paying for a charge card. Bottom line, I like mine a lot.
posted by sled at 4:46 PM on March 15, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

You certainly should. My experience is similar. I never carry a balance, and pay with credit card whenever possible; with MasterCard (free but with reward points) for all on-line shopping, with AmEx (free but with the same points) at Costco which only accepts Amex(in Canada) and with Visa gold card ($120/yr with travel points) for all other purchases where a credit card is accepted. Over the past 6 years, I have scored a blender, a toaster, two digital cameras, an espresso machine, two flights to Paris, collision damage waiver on 2 car rentals in Europe, a windshield replacement on one of those cars in England (cost -over $600) and as of now I have enough points for 6 flights to Europe. So there's no doubt that the rewards can be substantial.

That said, I find there are many businesses locally (Vancouver, BC) that do not accept AmEx at all. I have found the same in Europe. I get gold card offers from AmEx several times a year, but would only ever consider the (almost) universally accepted Visa or MasterCard for my choice of Gold card.
posted by Neiltupper at 5:02 PM on March 15, 2006

The Gold Card has no prestige but it has good convenience, exeptional customer service (especially on frauds / disputes), and good rewards program under the Rewards Plus banner. The Amex website for account management is also, as mentioned above, by far the best of any online account management I've ever used.

Probably the best reason to use the Gold Card is to make yourself eligible for the Platinum card if you eventually start doing heavy international travel, or the Black card if you start doing very heavy travel and entertainment (you have spend about $100k a year to be eligible for the Black card). The business / first companion tickets and some of the other travel benefits of the Platinum card are very handy, and the Black card has some truly exceptional concierge services and gets you a lot of the free hotel upgrades and other toss-ins that the Platinum card used to get you.
posted by MattD at 5:18 PM on March 15, 2006

I don't have an AmEx gold card anymore, but I used to get a waiver every year just by calling and asking for it.
posted by Kwantsar at 5:22 PM on March 15, 2006

Had Gold, went Platinum. I got a Gold Card because they let you get tickets to events. They have a special relationship with a number of venues, including MSG in New York. I got my Gold Card specifically to get Wrestlemania 20 tickets at MSG. Turned out that WM20 was the one event in the Garden all year that they didn't set aside tickets for Gold Card members. So, yeah, the events.
posted by sachinag at 6:14 PM on March 15, 2006

Couple of years ago, I used the Amex to buy some items online. When that site was compromised and Amex found out, they notified me, told me what was going on, shifted my account to a new number and sent me a new plastic card--very quickly and without any prompting from me. Very proactive.
posted by gimonca at 7:54 PM on March 15, 2006

NB that I said "faux prestige." I'm well aware that there's no actual prestige associated with a Gold Card.

I understand that adept use of frequent flyer miles is worth more than raw cash, but there's something like 14 trillion miles out there, and there's bound to be hyperinflation. Plus my parents always end up schnorring my frequent flyer miles from me. If you want to do the miles thing, I recommend this post.

What remains unclear is whether I lose the cash back. Is my cost just the annual fee (which apparently can get waived), or am I losing the dollars, also?
posted by commander_cool at 9:12 PM on March 15, 2006

American Express has, quite possibly, the simplest and most fair dispute policy I've ever had to use.

I tried to dispute a charge on a Citibank Mastercard. I had to fill out letters, forms, phone calls, responses... It took weeks. I had to dispute a charge on my AmEx card. I logged into their website, clicked "dispute," answered a few questions online, and that was it. No mailing anything, no phone calls.

I don't carry a AmEx charge card anymore. When I did, I ran EVERYTHING on it. I earned a gazillion points. After changing banks, it didn't make as much sense to keep charging away on the AmEx card, and I just use my Visa check card now days.
posted by jeversol at 10:05 PM on March 15, 2006

You won't get cash back on the gold card -- it's a different scheme. If you get the gold card, make sure you enroll in Membership Rewards (actually, I think MR Plus), which gives you one point per dollar you spend. Those points can be converted to miles on several different airlines, or will get you other goodies once they add up.

I've had an Amex card for ages, and although I'm not a fan of annual fees, the services Amex provides are great -- and get better the higher up the 'prestige' ladder (note the use of quotes) you get. Plus, it's always fun to look scruffy in a store, then pull out a card and watch the faces of salespeople hit the floor, a la Pretty Woman...
posted by littleme at 10:18 PM on March 15, 2006

So, do you even need to have great credit to get a charge card? I never knew that amex was a charge card and not a credit card.
posted by orangeshoe at 11:00 PM on March 15, 2006

Amex Starwood is better. $30 annually, better points conversions (airlines, hotels, vouchers), better warranty and price protection. Same good customer support.

One problem with "charge" cards is that they use your highest balance as your "upper credit linmit" when reporting to agencies. Therefore, an Amex charge card can often appear to be around 70-80% utilised to credit report agencies, and that is a bad thing that can lower your credit score. Of course, its impact varies according to how many other items (positive and negative) are on your credit report. Also, Amex has offered installment payment plans for its "charge" cards since the 1960s, so they are really only charge in name only.

Here's a review of the Amex's Membership Rewards plan from WebFlyer. They like it a lot, but they like Starwood more.
posted by meehawl at 6:08 AM on March 16, 2006

Oh, one more thing about Amex's "no set spending limit". This is rubbish. Once upon a time I'd had one of their upper tier cards. One month because of a variety of circumstances I spent over $50K on the card and paid in full by the end of the month. Nevertheless, this triggered some kind of "financial review" and next months I got weird calls on my celphone from some Amex "reviewers". I had these Amex drones calling me on my cellphone while I was travelling, far away from any internet service. The card was suspended. Literally several dozen orders I'd placed with the card were cancelled by the merchants when the card was and I had no way of finding this out until later when I returned.

Anyway, Amex wanted me to send them 5 (!) years of tax returns and bank statements. I cancelled that card on the spot. I think Amex sometimes thinks it is a law unto itself - that it can charge way above most other cards, report "faulty" limits to credit agencies that lowers its customers' scores, and then demand complete financial access to its customers. But yes, it does have pretty good customer service... as long as you don't go over your "no spending limit".
posted by meehawl at 6:16 AM on March 16, 2006