The *amex gold* is one of the best all-around travel credit cards on the market. Foodies swipe it everywhere and it's a go-to at grocery stores – all to earn more valuable Amex Membership Reward points. Other perks and benefits can make it well worth the $250 annual fee (see rates & fees).
But it's remained largely unchanged for six years. So it feels like changes to the Gold Card are looming … and in the world of credit cards, change is rarely a good thing.
American Express has made clear that more “product refreshes” – code for adding hard-to-use benefits while raising the annual fee – are in the works. And after making big changes (including a major price hike) to the Business Gold earlier this year, it's a safe bet that the trusty personal Amex Gold Card is on deck.
That begs the question: Is the Amex Gold Card really due for a facelift? And, if so, what's on tap for diners' favorite travel card?
Read more: A Full Review of the American Express Gold Card
Learn more about the *amex gold*
An Annual Fee Increase is Coming
The writing is on the wall: The Amex Gold Card is bound to get more expensive. And we're betting that happens soon.
At $250 a year, it's not exactly cheap. But it's been at that price point since 2018, when Amex last overhauled the card and pushed its annual fee from $195 a year up to that current $250 rate.
Six years is an eternity in the world of credit cards – particularly for Amex, which has a well-worn playbook of raising annual fees every three to five years on its cards. Whether it happens this year or next, an annual fee increase is coming for you, Gold cardholders.
How high will it go? Consider this:
- Amex recently raised the annual fee on its small business twin, the *biz gold*, from $295 to $375 (see rates & fees)
- As part of a broader overhaul of all its Delta co-branded cards in February, American Express hiked the yearly fee on the *delta skymiles platinum card* from $250 – identical to the Gold Card – up to $350 (see rates & fees)
Hiking the annual fee on the Gold Card to $325 or even $350 wouldn't surprise us in the least. This is what Amex does: Raise annual fees, then add some convoluted benefits to justify the price hike.
“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,” CEO Steve Squeri told investors last month.
Read more: Amex Statement Credits Are Out of Control
If and when Amex raises the annual fee on the Gold Card, it begs the question: Who is Amex trying to compete with? The card would be much more expensive than some of the basic travel cards from other banks … and starting to approach the cost of those same banks' premium travel card offerings with presumably fewer travel benefits.
Add More (& Better) Travel Perks
Let me ask you a question: Is the Amex Gold Card really the best travel card out there? Heck, is it even a travel card really?
Compared to lower-priced competitors from Chase, Capital One, and even Wells Fargo that cost just $95 or so a year, the Amex Gold Card is already on the expensive side. And yet it has fewer travel perks than those cheaper alternatives.
Really, the Gold Card's only “travel” aspect is the incredibly valuable ability to transfer your Amex points to partner airlines and hotel chains. That means you can use Amex points to book a Delta One business class flight for 50,000 points or a roundtrip to the Hawaiian Islands through Air Canada Aeroplan. And since Amex is the sole bank that partners with Delta, you could book a dirt-cheap domestic flight using SkyMiles or hop on the next great SkyMiles flash sale.
But other than maximizing those points and earning 3x points on flights booked directly with the airline (plus airfare booked through American Express Travel), that's really this card's only “travel” angle. Amex could do more.
When I think of travel perks, I expect card benefits like a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck membership credit, Priority Pass lounge access, and money-saving travel credits to be included with my travel card. Even $95 annual fee cards like the *chase sapphire preferred* and the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Visa® Card come with an annual $50 hotel credit and $50 airline credit, respectively. Amex, meanwhile, took away the Amex Gold's $100 airline fee credit in 2021.
Consider this: If you roll into the airport with only an Amex Gold Card, you'll find yourself shoeless with all of your electronics out as you wait in the general security screening line. You would be waiting longer than many other travelers who can bypass all of this and get through quicker just because they have TSA PreCheck. Though several $95 annual fee credit cards come with a fast-track security benefit like PreCheck, Amex Gold travelers are left in the dust.
Even the inferior sibling of the Amex Gold, the American Express® Green Card, comes with a $189 credit to cover the annual cost of a CLEAR® Plus membership. It also comes with an annual $100 LoungeBuddy credit that gets you single-use access passes to some airport lounges. All that for just a $150 annual fee!
The addition of more travel-focused benefits – and maybe some additional lifestyle benefits, too – seems like a safe bet. It would certainly make it better, not to mention a stronger competitor against cheaper cards from other banks.
Lean More into Dining, Too
The Amex Gold Card tops our list as the best dining card. And the points you'll earn when eating are a big reason why.
Cardholders earn an unlimited 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide. From five-star Michelin restaurants to your favorite fast food spots or simply stopping for coffee, you'll earn 4x points for every dollar you spend. It's a big expense for many Americans, and the Gold Card is a great way to maximize it.
Want to cook at home instead of eating out? The Amex Gold Card also earns 4x points per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets up to $25,000 each year (1x points thereafter), making it a go-to for buying groceries, too. Both categories make the Amex Gold a mainstay for travelers looking to pile up more Amex points.
The card also offers a monthly $10 dining credit for charges at GrubHub, The Cheesecake Factory, Wine.com, Goldbelly, Milk Bar, and participating Shake Shack locations. Plus, there's 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 the $250 annual fee. But change seems inevitable based on what Amex has done lately.
Don't be surprised if Amex swaps out those $10 monthly restaurant credits with credits for Resy instead. American Express acquired the restaurant booking platform Resy in 2019 and has slowly been integrating the platform into its cards and services ever since.
That's just what they did when they revamped the *delta skymiles platinum card* and the *delta reserve card*, adding $10 and $20 monthly Resy credits, respectively. The Gold Card seems like a natural fit for a similar credit … maybe even something larger.
That said, not everybody has access to Resy restaurants – they're primarily in the largest metropolitan areas. But that's the entire point: By making them harder to use, Amex ensures many cardholders let them go to waste while still touting some great new money-saving benefit on paper.
We'd much rather see a far more versatile dining credit, like the $25 a month you get to use at any restaurant with the *bonvoy brilliant*. But we're not holding our breath.
What's Next? And When?
Read my lips: The annual fee of the Amex Gold Card is going to increase sometime soon.
Amex has promised to “refresh” 40 of its card products in 2024 – though that number includes cards in Mexico, Asia, Australia and beyond. Unfortunately, few are more ripe for Amex's handiwork than the Gold Card. It's just a matter of when that fee increases … and by how much.
Amex likes to play games with its customers by constantly increasing fees, removing useful credit card perks, and adding other monthly, quarterly, or even annual statement credits that may or may not be difficult to use. It's the same playbook Amex has used to update many of its credit card products over the years.
Will Amex lean harder into the dining benefits the card already provides? Will they add more travel-specific benefits to help it compete with offerings from other banks?
We don't know the answers to those questions just yet. But change is in the air.
Bottom Line
The Amex Gold Card is a great credit card with useful perks and earns valuable Amex points to book flights on the cheap.
But after recent comments from Amex's CEO, it seems all but certain that the card will increase its annual fee and add some new benefits in the near future.