Last edit by: roberto99
Faq amex: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/campaigns/gold-card/gold-update-faqs.html
For existing and new cardholders
For new cardholders (Oct 4 2018 and after)
For existing cardholders (Oct 3 2018 or before)
For existing and new cardholders
- Changes below are effective immediately
- 4x US grocery (25k/calendar year), 4x US dining* (*pervasive reports that many dining transactions are not coding as 4x, including but not limited to those from Square or Toast-based POS systems. Scroll down in thread for more reports and information.)
- $120 dining credit ($10 monthly in certain restaurants)
- No change
- $100 calendar year airline reimbursement
- Other
- $250 AF (see below for existing cardholders)
- No 2x gas (removed, see below for existing cardholders who have it till Oct 2019)
- Metal card (contactless)
- Rose gold card - limited edition until Jan 9 2019
- Regular gold card
For new cardholders (Oct 4 2018 and after)
- You may be able to find targeted/referal 50k/$2k, but first AF is not waived
- Signup bonus: You get 20% off restaurant up to $500 restaurant spend (3 month)
- You do not get 2x gas (only for existing cardholders, see below)
For existing cardholders (Oct 3 2018 or before)
- AF will change to $250 for anniversary dates after April 1 2019
- 2x gas will be removed after Oct 2019
- You can chat/call for the gold/rosegold metal card. AU card will get whatever primary cardholder is getting, cannot be different
Premier Rewards Gold refresh: 4x USA dining, groceries, $10/mon dining credit. $250.
#166
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,001
So now I've got one data point on each side. I think I can make the min spend no problem with totally legit spend... it's just I can't make it in 20 days which is when I'll be at Disney. I would LIKE the Disney points to earn 4x instead of 3x with Chase, but I'll skip it if it's too risky. I'll put a lot of dining spend on the Amex Gold during the trip (probably $500 to $1000 at least) and I've got a $400 theme park ticket for Universal Studios to book today or tomorrow, so again, I'll hit the $2k in 90 days no problem, just trying to figure out now how greedy I can be :P
#167
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,196
So now I've got one data point on each side. I think I can make the min spend no problem with totally legit spend... it's just I can't make it in 20 days which is when I'll be at Disney. I would LIKE the Disney points to earn 4x instead of 3x with Chase, but I'll skip it if it's too risky. I'll put a lot of dining spend on the Amex Gold during the trip (probably $500 to $1000 at least) and I've got a $400 theme park ticket for Universal Studios to book today or tomorrow, so again, I'll hit the $2k in 90 days no problem, just trying to figure out now how greedy I can be :P
A data point would be if he stated that he purchased a gift card while trying to meet MSR and the purchase did not count toward MSR.
#168
Join Date: Oct 2007
Programs: AA, WN, UA, Bonvoy, Hertz
Posts: 2,493
Yes, I believe that Disney is one of the most popular gift cards bought through these promotions. Try hard to find an overlapping grocery store gas points promotion (they should already be at 2x, but 4x has been happening at Kroger a lot due to sales issues. Albertsons/Safeway has now started an alternative use promotion for the points which may be attractive to some).
#169
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
as someone said, amex is not paying for these credits, so definitely partners will expand especially at small dollar figures, may see $5 and $25 tiers (and not monthly : like plat saks $50 twice a year)
i buy gift cards for other reasons, but would not use them for meeting spending requirements of signup bonuses
i buy gift cards for other reasons, but would not use them for meeting spending requirements of signup bonuses
#171
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,949
Keep in mind that doing it this way will generate a new account number with new last 4 digits. (In fact, it's the way to get Amex to change your last 4 digits in case you have a problem with 2 Amex cards having the same last 4 digits and not being able to tell them apart on receipts, etc). If that's what you want, great. If you definitely want to keep the same account number, don't do it this way.
#172
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,001
as someone said, amex is not paying for these credits, so definitely partners will expand especially at small dollar figures, may see $5 and $25 tiers (and not monthly : like plat saks $50 twice a year)
i buy gift cards for other reasons, but would not use them for meeting spending requirements of signup bonuses
i buy gift cards for other reasons, but would not use them for meeting spending requirements of signup bonuses
#173
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,001
I am confident that the list of restaurants on the $10 benefit will expand. I actually expect the IKEA-like assemble yourself food vendors will also quickly link in to the deal since their marketing spend is massive.
Yes, I believe that Disney is one of the most popular gift cards bought through these promotions. Try hard to find an overlapping grocery store gas points promotion (they should already be at 2x, but 4x has been happening at Kroger a lot due to sales issues. Albertsons/Safeway has now started an alternative use promotion for the points which may be attractive to some).
Yes, I believe that Disney is one of the most popular gift cards bought through these promotions. Try hard to find an overlapping grocery store gas points promotion (they should already be at 2x, but 4x has been happening at Kroger a lot due to sales issues. Albertsons/Safeway has now started an alternative use promotion for the points which may be attractive to some).
I wish the Kroger owned store (Fred Meyer) near me counted as grocery with Amex, but they could it as a warehouse store or something. So I'll have to head over to Safeway and buy the gift cards and then once the min spend is past buy some VISA/MC gift cards every couple months and use those for grocery shopping at Fred Meyer... I'll mix in some monthly bills and stuff to try and look more "normal", and I won't manufacture spend with the gift cards, I don't need to be hitting 25k on the bonus every year... if I spend $400 to $500/month on grocery then that's all I care to get bonus from, especially if it lets me fly under the radar with Amex.
#174
Join Date: Oct 2007
Programs: AA, WN, UA, Bonvoy, Hertz
Posts: 2,493
I wish the Kroger owned store (Fred Meyer) near me counted as grocery with Amex, but they could it as a warehouse store or something. So I'll have to head over to Safeway and buy the gift cards and then once the min spend is past buy some VISA/MC gift cards every couple months and use those for grocery shopping at Fred Meyer...
Also, you are a perfect candidate for the new J4U Safeway rewards program for non-fuel purchases. They currently are running a few specials on high value store-branded items for just 1 reward that are worth more than $2.50 (which is the max value of a single gas reward). So, you can get at least another 5% back this way (without even considering the credit card reward). This makes those gift cards a pretty interesting deal.
#175
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
someone else mentioned grubhub/etc having some restaurants that do carry out
#176
Flyertalk Posting Legend Moderator: Credit Card Programs, American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Diners Club, Signatures.
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 49,037
We do not have this level of specificity. If American Express' algorithm finds something it doesn't like about your qualifying spend it will withhold or retract the bonus. When you contact American Express the front line customer service agents will manually review your spending, and may offer an explanation, but it will be a guess. They do not actually know what triggered the algorithm. They can submit the claim for review by specialists who will make the binding decision, but cardholders do not communicate with those people.
#177
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Boston
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 272
We do not have this level of specificity. If American Express' algorithm finds something it doesn't like about your qualifying spend it will withhold or retract the bonus. When you contact American Express the front line customer service agents will manually review your spending, and may offer an explanation, but it will be a guess. They do not actually know what triggered the algorithm. They can submit the claim for review by specialists who will make the binding decision, but cardholders do not communicate with those people.
#178
Flyertalk Posting Legend Moderator: Credit Card Programs, American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Diners Club, Signatures.
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 49,037
Plastiq only accepts American Express for specific types of transactions. I would not expect a problem if used as permitted.
#179
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,001
Very interesting to everything said. I don't have my physical gold card yet and it's not showing up in my Amex online accounts yet, but I did get a splash page when logging into the Amex account mentioning the new gold benefits and to explore more about them, so things still seem to be on track! I'm also happy about the airline credit being calendar year and not card year! That's a nice little perk to go with the AF waived for the first year! I'll have to go research Alaska Air's track rate with getting refunded for certain value gift cards :P
Delta has been working great on my Platinum, but I usually find myself needing to take at least one AS flight (that's $80 to $120) every year so splitting the benefits might be nice.
I don't have any local Kroger brand stores other than Fred Meyers... I'm in Washington state, I don't think Kroger has any stores in my state or even the Pacific Northwest besides Fred Meyer. I could pick up some when I travel... but that would mean buying like $2000 worth at once like two or three times a year... and that might make the algorithm tingle more than just buying $400 or so every month. I know I could avoid the $5.95 ($6.95?) fee... but I still would be coming out ahead even if I factor in the cost of the VISA/MC fee, and really more important is building up the MR for me rather then the max % return I'm getting. This year I found myself like 4,000 points short of being able to transfer for an award ticket, but it wasn't worth the cost of transfer and then buying those miles from Delta, so I bought the ticket using out of pocket cash. If I had been earning 4x on grocery all year I would have been well over the amount I needed and spent points rather then $250 cash. Either way, excited to get the gold and 50k... I totally missed out on the 100k platinum offer by like 2 weeks when I applied a couple years ago and only got the 60k offer >.<
Delta has been working great on my Platinum, but I usually find myself needing to take at least one AS flight (that's $80 to $120) every year so splitting the benefits might be nice.
I don't have any local Kroger brand stores other than Fred Meyers... I'm in Washington state, I don't think Kroger has any stores in my state or even the Pacific Northwest besides Fred Meyer. I could pick up some when I travel... but that would mean buying like $2000 worth at once like two or three times a year... and that might make the algorithm tingle more than just buying $400 or so every month. I know I could avoid the $5.95 ($6.95?) fee... but I still would be coming out ahead even if I factor in the cost of the VISA/MC fee, and really more important is building up the MR for me rather then the max % return I'm getting. This year I found myself like 4,000 points short of being able to transfer for an award ticket, but it wasn't worth the cost of transfer and then buying those miles from Delta, so I bought the ticket using out of pocket cash. If I had been earning 4x on grocery all year I would have been well over the amount I needed and spent points rather then $250 cash. Either way, excited to get the gold and 50k... I totally missed out on the 100k platinum offer by like 2 weeks when I applied a couple years ago and only got the 60k offer >.<
#180
Flyertalk Posting Legend Moderator: Credit Card Programs, American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Diners Club, Signatures.
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 49,037
Alaska Airlines discussion here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...orts-only.html