What's the skinny on Gold Cards?

May 16, 2007 4:58 PM

Why would I get an American Express Gold Card?

What would I get, for the $125 annual fee, that I'm not getting with my current credit cards (which I keep no balance on)? Most credit cards offer some kind of bonus or reward, so I don't understand why this card is special.

posted by BuddhaInABucket to work & money (23 comments total)

From my experience a gold Amex doesn't give you much over other credit cards. Platinum has very nice benefits on the other hand (free companion airfare, fantastic concierge service, etc). That'll run you $400/year though. Very nice if you travel a lot with your SO though.
posted by chundo at 5:04 PM on May 16, 2007

I've gotten very good customer service on my Amex gold...

...but the odd thing is, I have a hunch customer service would be just as good with the green.
posted by gimonca at 5:32 PM on May 16, 2007

For me the key difference is that it is a charge card not a credit card. I do not trust myself with a credit card, for fear of running up a balance. The Amex doesn't allow me to, so I use it instead of a credit card. I like the rewards, I have been happy with the customer service, so I feel its worth the fee for me. If you are happy with your current credit cards then there probably isn't any compelling reason to switch. Perhaps you could find some comparison of reward schemes online, in case that makes a difference for you.
posted by Joh at 5:35 PM on May 16, 2007

A heightened sense of self-worth, possibly.

* I've had one, no disrespect intended.
posted by roger ackroyd at 5:37 PM on May 16, 2007

If nobody else will come out and say it, then I will. Among the
kind of people who find status in brand names and conspicuous consumption (i.e., most people, these days), a gold Amex has more status than a green one.

If you're into picking up gold diggers, bribing your way into the VIP amd being a dick to service industry workers, and you're not platinum or black card material, then the gold Amex is the next best thing.
posted by box at 5:40 PM on May 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

My daughter works in retail and had a some young ladies buy $5000 worth of clothes on a Titanium AmEx, apparently made from titanium. Who knew?
posted by trinity8-director at 5:55 PM on May 16, 2007

It means $125 is nothing to you, which implies a certain level of wealth. Same deal for the higher cards. They don't necessarily make the most sense, but the point is that they don't need to.

I'm sure Amex feels they are worth the money, of course.
posted by smackfu at 6:34 PM on May 16, 2007

If you're going for prestige you want AmEx Black aka the Centurion Card. It is, however, invitation only.
posted by who squared at 6:48 PM on May 16, 2007

Waaaaay back when, Amex was the gold card. Other credit and charge cards just gave you the capability to charge. Other credit card providers have caught up.
posted by mendel at 7:06 PM on May 16, 2007

Previously.
posted by amber_dale at 7:40 PM on May 16, 2007

Free roadside assistance. Special offers for sporting and other events.
posted by charlesv at 7:48 PM on May 16, 2007

Also, their rewards are awesome. My mom has a gold card and for my first time to New York, she got rooms for herself and my dad and my husband and me at The Four Seasons. Which was fucking sweet, yo. Free hotel room! Sort of.
posted by mckenney at 8:02 PM on May 16, 2007

If you don't travel a ton it has the best rewards program. If you travel a lot I believe there are cards associated with frequent flyer programs that are better bang for your buck. Also their customer service is awesome.

Having said that if you are not going to accrue a lot of points it probably isn't worth the money.

There was a quite entertaining .ppt put together by a bunch of board consultants that compared and contrasted different rewards programs, and AMEX Gold came out on top.
posted by JPD at 8:24 PM on May 16, 2007

The gold card has a few perks that other cards don't, but it's not much. You'd be better off opening a Blue and getting 15 months of 0% on purchases at no annual fee, at least financially.

I'm sure the concierge service is nice. They can supposedly get things done, but that may just be marketing. I'm sure the folks with Centurion cards get better service, but you've got to run so much money a year through a lesser card to even get a chance of an invitation to pay an exorbitant annual fee it wouldn't be worth it.

The Platinum card, otoh, has a couple of nice bennies if you travel a lot, like airport lounge access, but still probably isn't worth it.

FWIW, if you have another (credit) Amex, you've almost certainly got a standing invitation to a free year of the Gold card, if you'd like to try it out for whatever reason. I've had a banner on the top of my online account and constant email (and snail mail!) exhortations to take advantage of the things for a loong time now. Occasionally they'll offer me a Delta, Starwood, or Hilton HHonors card instead, but the free Gold for a year offer never goes away for long, and is far more persistent than the others.

I will say that Amex has excellent customer service, although I've never needed to call them. They give me an exorbitantly high credit line and the one time I accidentally exceeded my credit line before it was exorbitantly high, they just increased it instead of penalizing me and/or charging me an over the limit fee.
posted by wierdo at 9:01 PM on May 16, 2007

I should have also mentioned that while the rewards program is pretty nice, Citibank's Thank You network is better in some ways, especially since they have a gaggle of cards that give you more than one point a dollar and the points have a similar redemption value.

And, if that weren't enough, you have to pay an additional yearly fee to get the charge cards into the membership rewards program. Most, if not all, of the non-partner (Delta, Starwood, Hilton, etc.) credit cards give you membership rewards for free.

As easy as Amex is with the credit line increases, I'd say that their credit card products are better than the charge card products unless there's a specific benefit the charge card will get you that you want, which generally means a platinum card or higher. You're just as likely to have to call and beg with a charge card as a credit card, only with the credit card you know if you're near your limit or not. After all, "no pre-set spending limit" does not mean "no spending limit." If you rarely use your charge card, your spending limit will be rather low unless you specifically call and ask for them to authorize $x worth of charges.

Note that this doesn't apply to Corporate cards affiliated with large companies, which generally have monthly spending limits of $30,000 or more automatically.

So really, the specialness of the Amex Gold boils down to "Gold Card Events." As a company, there are many benefits (and a couple of downsides) to having an Amex card of any type. Looking at americanexpress.com at the Gold card vs. the rest of their cards will give you the definitive answer as to what benefits it gets you over their other cards.
posted by wierdo at 9:13 PM on May 16, 2007

When the governments collapse and we all have to choose our corporate affiliations, I'm joining the Amex team. You want to get on their good side now. Just saying.
posted by Caviar at 9:18 PM on May 16, 2007

I'm very happy with my Amex Gold. A few things that it gives you:

* Free roadside assistance. This is basically the same as free AAA coverage, which is what, $65 a year usually?
* Great rewards program. Points can be transferred to airline miles (most airlines, but not United), Hotel rooms, shopping gift certificates, whatever you want.
* Excellent customer service. Call them up if you have any problems and they'll help you. If you dispute a charge, they're on your side. If you buy a product and decide you don't like it, you can return it to Amex, even if the merchant won't take it back anymore.
* The best for travel. If you buy your flight using your card, it includes free travel insurance. Plus, if you lose your card while traveling, you can just go into an Amex office and they'll print you up a new one on the spot (I lost my card in Italy a year or two back, and this was a life saver).
* Charge card. You are forced to pay it off in full every month, meaning it isn't possible to accumulate debt. Granted, if you are unable to pay it off in full, bad things probably happen to you (I'm not really sure what.... probably broken kneecaps), but if you aren't the balance-carrying type, this card is great.

As far as other perks, I never find myself using the Gold Card events... they only have them in a few major cities, and even then it seems pretty useless.
posted by stilly at 10:40 PM on May 16, 2007

Seems most of the useful things mentioned here are available on cheaper cards, whether through Amex or through other card issuers.
posted by grouse at 1:33 AM on May 17, 2007

Their customer service is excellent. Do you deal with a lot of vendors with horrible customer service? Then you'll enjoy having at least one sane company to deal with.

The warranty-doubling thing got me a free iPod after mine croaked just out of warranty. I called 'em, told 'em it busted, they refunded the full purchase price of the thing, and I had another overnighted from Amazon. That's why I use the card for all warranty purchases.
posted by popechunk at 5:41 AM on May 17, 2007

Fidelity pimps a free co-branded Amex gold card as a perk. It's not advertised any more, you have to hunt for the application or talk to a rep on the phone. If you decided to upgrade to the platinum, Fidelity will pay $135 of the annual fee for you. This very long thread has details.
posted by meehawl at 7:16 AM on May 17, 2007

stilly's answer matches my experience. I pay $125 / year for a couple of perks (rewards program, insurances) and the belief that if I have a real problem, I will get real customer service. Although honestly their first tier phone people are pretty awful, so I may be a sucker.

My partner shells out the extra bucks for the platinum card. We use it for companion fare tickets; you buy one full fare business class ticket to Europe, you get one free. It's a great deal when it fits what you need to do, but it's not cheap. I thought we'd use the concierge service, too, but we never have.
posted by Nelson at 7:41 AM on May 17, 2007

Yeah, I should add excellent customer service to my first response. But I imagine that's just Amex in general, not specific to the gold card.

You will be amazed at the respect you get from them compared to other credit card companies.
posted by chundo at 8:21 AM on May 17, 2007

A friend has a platinum (I believe) and the service he gets is phenomenal. Tickets to sold-out events, and such. What really blew me away however was he once called them regarding an item he saw on TV (I forget exactly what it was). He had few details on what show, channel or time but was able to describe it in detail. AMEX was able to track the item down. Turns out it was not for sale at the time (he had seen some kind of prototype), but AMEX put him in touch with the items creators.
I'd get one if I had the cash to spare.
posted by evilelf at 10:05 AM on May 17, 2007