A few weeks back, I wrote about my recent credit card cancellation spree. More prominently, I wrote about how my relationship with Amex has largely soured, owing to annual fee increases on almost all of my cards, only to be offset by largely meaningless credits at ‘partner’ merchants. It seems like another Amex card is now about to meet the same fate.
Amex Card Changes: Gold Card ‘Refresh’
As per Doctor of Credit, these changes are slated to go live very soon. The Amex Gold card used to be a fantastic card when I first got it in 2011. It used to be called the Premier Rewards Gold card back then and had an annual fee of $95. Amex then increased the fee gradually to $250. With this new refresh, Amex is upping the fee to $325.
Also Read: Are credit card devaluations simply going unnoticed?
Amex Card Benefit Updates
Over the last few years, my biggest pet peeve with Amex has been the addition of monthly, bi-annual and quarterly credits with partner brands, accompanied by a significant increase in annual fee. This latest annual fee is an increase of 30%.
| Card Name | Year I first opened the card | Annual Fee when I opened the card | Annual Fee Now | Percentage Increase in annual fee between then and now |
| Amex Platinum Card | 2014 | $450 | $695 | 55% |
| Business Platinum Card | 2017 | $450 | $695 | 55% |
| Hilton Aspire Card | 2018 | $450 | $550 | 23% |
| Hilton Business Card | 2019 | $95 | $195 | 105% |
| Business Gold Card | 2019 | $295 | $375 | 27% |
While we still don’t have 100% confirmation about these changes, the fact that the Amex test server has the updated details means that there’s a very high probability that these changes are on the horizon.
- Welcome bonus of 60,000 Membership Rewards points + 20% back up to $100 at restaurants
- $100 Resy credit (split 50-50 semi-annually)
- $7 monthly credit at Dunkin
- 4x points on dining to be capped at a maximum of $50,000 annually
- $10 monthly dining credit to lose Shake Shack and Milk Bar, to be replaced by Five Guys
- $10 Uber credit remains the same
Similar to previous card changes, Amex will now offer a ‘White Gold’ card with a new design.
Using the new benefits
If you look at the credit cards that I’m currently carrying, the Amex Gold card isn’t one of them. I dumped the card during the previous annual fee increase to $250. P2 still has the card and there’s every chance she’ll dump it when the next $325 annual fee hits.
I largely see these credits as a net negative when compared to the annual fee increase:
- To use the Resy credit, the restaurant where you like to eat should be available on via the Resy app when you want to dine. Otherwise, the benefit loses a lot of value.
- The dining credit is gradually becoming a junk food credit. We don’t visit Dunkin or Five Guys, so there’s very little value to be gained from these credits as well.
- The 4x points cap is a nothing burger. It doesn’t really affect us as we never hit the $50,000 threshold on dining spend in a year.
The Pundit’s Mantra
One Amex card after the other, we’re seeing the same pattern. Increase the annual fee, redesign the card and then offer credits with partner brands. Similar to a lot of changes to previous Amex card products, I plan to sit this one out.
Since we largely consider these changes as a net negative, we plan to dump the Amex Gold card when P2’s $325 annual fee is charged during the next cycle. We continue to trim our Amex card portfolio, focusing on lower or no annual fee cards like the Blue Business Plus card or the Amex Everyday Card, with a laser sharp focus earning a decent amount of points on everyday spend.
On the other hand, we continue to target limited time welcome bonus offers, whenever they come up, like the current offers on Amex’s co-branded Hilton credit cards, which are ending next week.
What’s your take on these proposed changes to the Amex Gold card? If you’re a current cardholder, do you plan to renew the card again when the $325 fee hits next? Tell us in the comments section.
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I don’t understand your comment about the 4x points for restaurants. That’s a legit perk, up from 3x points now, right? Unless I’m misunderstanding something, the $50,000 is not a threshold you have to meet, it’s a yearly maximum spend for receiving the 4x points. What I don’t know is if (in the unlikely event that) you actually spend $50K on restaurants, does it drop back to 3x points after that? 1x points? or no points for restaurant spend at all? In any case, that threshold doesn’t matter to me, I’m never in my wildest dreams gonna spend $50K in a year on restaurants. So 4x points for the dollars I DO spend is pretty nice.
Several years ago I switched from the Platinum Card to the Amex Gold, mainly because the primary benefit for me was the Centurion lounges, and they had all become unusably crowded with families and kids, you couldn’t even find a place to sit. I switched to Chase Sapphire Reserve for my “expensive” card and have made great use of the Priority Pass restaurant benefit. But now that they’ve killed that benefit, I am thinking about cancelling Chase and going back to Amex Platinum (Schwab), as I think Amex has largely solved the lounge overcrowding issue by limiting guests, and the Platinum card also provides Delta Sky Club access in addition to all the other benefits. That option seems even more likely if the Gold Card is going up to $325.
What I meant that the 50k annual cap doesn’t really make much difference to me in terms of value prop since I never spent that much on dining in a single year anyway. Agree about the Centurion lounge part, I have my Schwab Plat mainly for the Centurion access and FHR, which I use frequently.
I have the Delta Sky Miles AMEX gold card. Last year the annual fee was $99, and I just called them – it is going up to $150 which I will be billed next month. To me it’s worth it as I use my miles on Delta (3 times to the U.K.) and they give you $200 flying credit for the first $10,000 you spend in one year.
P.S. I live near Atlanta which is the Delta hub, so always fly Delta or its partner Virgin Atlantic.
The key there is ATL. It makes a ton of sense to carry a co-branded airline credit card if you are at a hub.
How cheap are people that would get rid of a card over a $75 annual increase? That won’t even cover one restaurant meal. This is what I hate about many of the bloggers. They are cheap scam artists that likely can’t afford the card unless they bleed it for every cent then whine if, God forbid, they actually have to spend money to get some benefits.
Personally I love my Amex Gold, Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards. I have 8-10 others but those are my main ones. Spending $1500-$2000 in AF is nothing given what all they provide me. Guess we are just in different financial situations but what do I know, I’m just an old retired 1%er
I don’t think it’s a matter of being “cheap,” but rather a matter of usefulness. As long as the 4x in restaurants continues to work (and the $50k cap won’t affect me), as well as the 4x at supermarkets, I’ll keep it. I agree however that the credits at Dunkin’ and Five Guys are useless (to me). I use Resy a lot, so that benefit will work for me.
OTOH, Amex is driving me nuts with their incessant requests to “upgrade” to the Platinum card, when I see that as an actual DOWNGRADE in earning power.
They’re two different products serving different customer segments. The Gold card is good for earning points, Platinum is more about benefits and elite status. Still the 5x on airlines is a great benefit with the Platinum.
Money means a lot to some people, while others just seem to be able to throw it around and think nothing of it. I have been with American Express for over fifty years and have gotten several different AMEX cards during that time. However, now I only have a Marriott Bonvoy and the Gold card I haven’t been traveling much the past few years, so the Bonvoy card (which gives me a free night at Marriotts that do not charge over 40,000 points a night. So, if I do not use it, that is $120 to $200 of value I lose. Dining out using the card is of value and helps me rack up points I can use for various airlines travel.
So I say to members if the increase is worth it to you, keep the card and if not find a cheaper AMEX card with a cheaper annual fee, just give their card back and go to another card company.
That’s precisely why I dumped the Gold card but have carried the Sapphire Preferred for a long time and still do. Still has the $95 annual fee with a $50 annual hotel credit, with 3x on dining.
As much as I don’t like the possible changes to the Gold card, it actually might be a good time for me to dump the Platinum card since I’m getting less value out of that compared to the rumored Gold changes.
That will leave me with BBP, Gold and Green for Amex
CFU, CSP(possible reupgrade to CSR), and Ink Business Cash for Chase
Bilt for rent
Great that the Gold card still works for you, I’m still keeping my Schwab Platinum card.
I got the Plat for lounge access and it worked fairly well with my home airport of BOS and Delta Skyclub or the PP lounges, but I’ve since moved away and my new local airport doesn’t have any lounges (It is also 15min away compared to 1hr with variable traffic going into downtown Boston)
I haven’t been able to visit a Centurion lounge, nor ever get a room upgrade with the Hilton gold status either so it’s been a debatable point of keeping it after the AF increase.
That makes sense. For me, centurion lounge access is great, but FHR is something that I use multiple time each year, which is one of the main reasons I keep the card.
Ahh.. that’s another thing, I’ve always found the FHR properties to be way out of my budget range. I’ve used the Hotel Collection properties a few times, but I can’t seem to use it every year since they always aren’t available where I travel to. Grabbed a place in Las Vegas and NYC, but not too much luck in Japan since I’m usually outside of the big cities.
I’d agree partially. Non-US FHR properties (especially in the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and SE Asia) are often a steal, if you travel shoulder or off-season, you can get qualifying FHR properties in the $150-200/night range.I travel a lot to these three markets so it makes a ton of sense for me.