Just a few weeks ago, we warned travelers that an annual fee increase was looming on the fan-favorite American Express® Gold Card, writing: “Hiking the annual fee on the Gold Card to $325 or even $350 wouldn't surprise us in the least.”
We hate to say we told you so.
In a move first spotted by Danny Deal Guru, it appears Amex was testing the waters on pushing the annual fee from its current $250 (see rates & fees) up to $325 a year. That's the fee you'd previously find on a “qwww” page for the card – the kind of special link American Express regularly uses when testing product changes, preparing for new welcome offers, or extending bigger, targeted bonuses on select cards.
That page was pulled down shortly after Thrifty Traveler reached out for comment – and in a statement, an American Express spokesperson said the higher fee was “an error on an application page.” But here's a screenshot.
The spokesperson said any Gold Card Members who applied though this page will be charged the current $250 annual fee instead.
But was it really an error? That higher fee was also listed in the card's terms and conditions and once you clicked to apply, too. That doesn't seem like a random, one-off mistake or fluke.
If this does happen eventually, it should come as no surprise.
This is what American Express does: Raise annual fees, then add some convoluted benefits to justify the price hike. And it's been six years since Amex raised fees on the Gold Card.
Yet puzzlingly, no new benefits or statement credits were added to that special page – just the increased price tag. Amex may merely be testing what the final price point on the Gold Card should be … but this would run counter to Amex’s well-worn playbook of adding new perks – some better than others – in order to justify a fee increase.
If this feels all too familiar, that's because it is. Over the past year, American Express has repeatedly raised credit card annual fees under the cover of added, hard-to-use benefits. In just the last several months, they've done that with the entire portfolio of Hilton Amex cards and Delta SkyMiles American Express cards, too.
If there was any doubt whether this trend would continue, CEO Steve Squeri squashed it last month by promising more “product refreshes” – code for benefits while raising the annual fee – were in the works throughout the year. Squeri justified these changes: “Refreshes really do help to drive demand. It drives awareness and it drives more engagement with existing cardholders. It’s been a strategy that has worked very, very well for us.”
Notice he said it's “…worked very, very well for us.” For Amex … not necessarily for travelers and cardholders.
The problem for fed-up cardholders is that no matter how time-consuming it might be to track and use all the credits and benefits that come with Amex cards, these tactics work like a charm for the bank's balance sheet. Amex just keeps making more and more money, including pulling in 15% more in annual fees in the first quarter of 2024 compared to last year – largely powered by its increasingly expensive premium travel cards.
At $250 annual fee, the Amex Gold isn't exactly cheap now. But by earning an unlimited 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year) too, it's been relatively easy to justify that annual fee. Both categories make the Amex Gold a mainstay for travelers looking to pile up more Amex points.
The card also comes with a monthly $10 dining credit and an additional monthly $10 of Uber Cash. Both of these benefits add up to $240 annually as long as you use them up each and every month – any unused amount won't rollover to the next month.
Those benefits alone can easily outweigh the current annual fee. But assuming Amex does, in fact, raise the annual fee on the Gold Card, you'd have to think Amex will add something new to justify a higher price tag.
Read more: Amex Statement Credits Are Out of Control
Bottom Line
The writing has been on the wall for weeks and now it's on Amex's own site: Amex Gold Card annual fees are going up.
The credit card company has a dedicated page showing a $325-a-year annual fee, up from its current $250. If and when that increase takes effect is anyone's guess – and the final hike could change. But American Express is clearly testing the waters.