AMEX Gold Card: New Benefits for the 60th Anniversary! Up to 100,000-Point Welcome Bonus

It’s hard to believe this card has already been around for 60 years—AMEX really has a long history here. For the 60th anniversary, there are a few small new perks, plus exclusive AMEX Offers worth checking out.

The new benefits are as follows:

• Book prepaid hotels through AMEX’s own travel portal and earn 5x points instead of 3x. This now lines up with the Platinum card.
• Complimentary Hertz Five Star status
• The $120 dining credit now also includes Buffalo Wild Wings and Wonder

In addition, there’s a series of exclusive 60th anniversary AMEX Offers. The rebate rates are pretty decent, though there don’t seem to be many especially useful ones. The free Uber One membership is worth considering if you don’t have the Platinum card.

The application link for the AMEX Gold has now been updated and shows “as high as 100,000.” In other words, you may be able to get as many as 100,000 points as the welcome bonus, but it’s not guaranteed. My guess is that it depends on the applicant’s profile, such as credit score, relationship with AMEX, and so on. But the old trick of using incognito mode to try to pull a higher offer may no longer work.

• Up to 100,000-point welcome bonus link

This is a very strong offer, and we’ve also added this card and its welcome bonus to our best credit card welcome offers list. Take a look and see if anything interests you.

• Best US Credit Card Welcome Offers (Personal Cards)

AMEX Gold Card Overview

Highlights

• Uber Credit $120: This card has added a $10 monthly Uber Credit, similar to the Platinum card. These monthly credits can be a bit annoying to use, but added benefits are always welcome. If you already hold other cards with similar credits, there may be some room to optimize. Uber Credit guide
• Dunkin Donuts credit $84: You get a $7 monthly Dunkin credit, and the Dunkin credit requires enrollment before use. (benefit link)
• Resy credit $100: $50 in Resy credit every half year; just book restaurants through Resy.
• $120 Dining Credit: This card offers up to $10 in monthly dining credits, usable at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Shake Shack, and Boxed.com. For a Grubhub/Seamless guide, see this article. It likely works as a reimbursement after use. If you never spend at those merchants, you could consider buying a $10 gift card in-store each month and selling it to someone who needs it.
• Restaurant 4x: Earn 4x MR points on restaurant spending, originally limited to the U.S. This is an extremely strong category—if you value MR at 1.6 cents each, that’s equivalent to a 6.4% return on dining. Now, restaurant spending worldwide earns 4x points. In Europe, Singapore, and Japan, many restaurants accept AMEX. Another advantage of AMEX is that there is no dynamic currency conversion (DCC) issue to worry about—you don’t have to stress over which currency to choose at checkout, unlike with Visa where choosing wrong can cost you a lot on exchange rates. You can earn 4x on up to $50,000 per year. For existing cardholders, this took effect starting January 1, 2025.
• Supermarket 4x: Earn 4x MR at supermarkets, equivalent to a 6.4% return, on up to $25,000 in spending (100,000 MR). If this is really the case, then EDP and BCP will have a hard time competing—$25,000 is an exceptionally high cap. Supermarkets also sell a wide range of third-party gift cards, such as Amazon, eBay, Lowe's, and Home Depot, so this card can effectively cover a large number of spending categories.
• No foreign transaction fee: AMEX cards have no foreign transaction fee. There’s also no DCC concern here—the conversion rate is the same whether you pay in the local currency or in USD, so you don’t need to worry about getting a poor exchange rate when paying in local currency like you sometimes do with Visa. No more worrying when booking flights on foreign websites.
• Charge Card: No preset spending limit (theoretically unlimited).
• The Hotel Collection (THC) benefits: Book hotels in THC through AMEX Travel and you may get a room upgrade, if available. If you book two consecutive nights, you can also receive a $100 credit that can be used toward dining, spa, and other incidentals at the hotel. THC is similar to FHR, though the hotels are generally less high-end, and there are options around just over $100 per night. Before deciding whether to book through AMEX Travel, it’s a good idea to compare other booking channels first. If the prices are similar, then it definitely makes sense to use the THC benefits. The Hotel Collection benefits overview
• Multiple card designs available: You can also switch to the white gold version. Just go to Account service and select “I want to change my Card's design,” and you should see the new card design.

AMEX Card Benefits

• AMEX Offer: Amazon spend 20, get 20 back; Walmart 15-5; cell phone bill 75-10. Generous AMEX often sends cardholders great deals that let you earn cash back while spending. See also: Recent great AMEX Offers, Past great AMEX Offers roundup, AMEX Offer guide
• Small Business Day: Every year, AMEX credit cards can participate in Small Business Day promotions, where spending at designated merchants earns extra rewards. For details, see: Small Business Day promotion overview
• High credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives significantly higher limits than other banks.
• 3x credit limit increase: On AMEX cards, after day 61 of holding the card, you may be able to request an increase to triple your original limit through the website.
• Free ShopRunner membership: Enjoy free 2-day shipping at many online stores. See details here: official link
• Extended warranty: Items paid in full with an AMEX card automatically get an extra year added to the manufacturer’s warranty.
• Free credit report info: Cardholders can check their EX credit bureau credit score for free. See: Comparison of free credit scores

Cons

• This is a charge card, so the statement balance must be paid in full after each billing cycle; otherwise the interest can be extremely high.

Points Program Overview

• Points Value: The average value is 1.5c/p, so 100 MR = $1.5 (Points Value & Analysis)
• Direct Redemption: Redeem travel through amextravel.com at 1c/p (without a premium card); redeem eligible flights through amextravel.com at 1.54c/p (with Business Platinum); redeem for cash in an investment account at 1.1c/p (with Schwab Platinum).
• Points Transfers: Transfer 1:1 to ANA miles (good for round-trip US-China flights and round-the-world tickets); transfer 1:1 to British Airways miles (good for China-Japan routes and short-haul domestic US redemptions); transfer 1:1 to Air Canada miles (good for US-China business class awards and infant tickets); transfer 1:1 to Delta (good for business class, and can also redeem any Delta flight at 1c/p).
• Points Features: All MR points earned by one person are pooled into a single account and can be used directly. As long as you still have at least one MR-earning card open, all MR points will remain valid; be sure to use them up before closing all of your cards. Nearly all MR-earning cards allow you to transfer MR points to airline miles or hotel points. MR points can be transferred to airline or hotel accounts in an authorized user's name.
• My Take: The most common use of MR is transferring to airline miles, mainly ANA, Air Canada, Delta, and British Airways. Delta can help cover SkyTeam options; ANA and AC can selectively cover Star Alliance options; BA can be used for some oneworld awards. Among these, ANA is especially valuable for US-China economy, business, and first class awards. AC and Delta are also good for covering domestic US flights, while BA is best for nonstop domestic US flights. Hotel transfers are a weak spot for MR, and none are really worth transferring to. As for booking hotels or flights directly through AMEX Travel, you usually only get 1 cent per point in value, so I generally do not recommend it. Cash back and gift cards also max out at only 1 cent per point. Therefore, the final valuation is 1.7c, mainly considering the broad airline partner coverage, mostly instant transfer times (ANA takes 2-3 days; others are instant), and the value of these airline miles. The weaknesses are that MR is not very useful for hotel redemptions, and direct airfare bookings do not provide strong value either.
• Detailed Analysis: Membership Rewards Guide >>

My Take

After Chase and Citi took a share of the premium card market, AMEX responded by making benefits increasingly complex. The Platinum added Saks and Uber credits, and PRG added dining credits. Personally, I think simpler benefits are better for most Americans. Also, for a card like PRG that was originally aimed at business travelers, adding 4x at supermarkets feels a bit down-market, while the limited number of eligible dining merchants is still a weakness. But for savvy credit card users like us, that 4x supermarket category is probably tempting enough to make many people want to keep the card. As for whether the benefits offset the annual fee, that depends on whether you can make good use of the airline credits and dining credits.

Application

This card is relatively easy to get, and in general, about a year of credit history is often enough for instant approval.

• AMEX official application status check link
• For the same AMEX credit card, the public welcome bonus is generally available only once (once-per-lifetime restriction)
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-528-4800, 877-399-3083, 866-314-0237) to speed up credit card approval or request a review of a denied application.
• AMEX limits you to 4 credit cards and 10 charge cards total.
• You can apply for a total of two AMEX credit cards every 90 days, excluding charge cards.
• After you submit your application, a pop-up may appear telling you that you are not eligible for the welcome bonus. In that case, it is usually best not to continue with the application (detailed analysis)
• More about applying for AMEX credit cards

Application Link

• AMEX Gold Card