USA personal Gold Card refresh 2024
 

Apparently an upcoming refresh to the Gold card was mentioned on Amex’s earnings call today, and now the details have been leaked:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/rumor...fresh-details/

Changes appear to be:

- New AF of $325
- 4x on dining limited to $50k/year
- Monthly $7 Dunkin Donuts credit (so random)
- Semi-annual $50 Resy credit

Wow. Not living near the city, these are horrible changes since almost none of these credits can easily be used. No value added whatsoever for those folks, and $75 more to boot. I don't have this card because I haven't been eligible for a bonus, but if I had it, I'd be canceling it for sure.

Change is always bad with Amex, etc. They need to satisfy the analysts and activist a- so every year we will see takeaways.

Personally I can live with $50k dining but the resy credit is even worse than the grubhub credit which itself is fairly useless. The value prop is rapidly disappearing.

We just downgraded from Plat-> Gold but will seriously have to reconsider next year depending on how we value bonus points. I get 3x dining on many cards and 3x grocery with Citi so it's really just an extra 1/point per $1.

Trust me, even for many of us who live in the city… no desire to spend $7 a month at Dunkin Donuts… (and this is coming from someone who is not from, but did spend 7 years living in, New England)

I'm still getting just enough value out of the Plat to keep it (helps that I have the Schwab card and get $100 credit per year for that), because more of the credits are a little more accessible to rural people (though there are some that aren't). I use the streaming credit, the airline credit, and I use the FHR credit to take my wife out for a "night in the city". I get some from the Saks credit (but not fully, for multiple reasons) and a little from the Uber credit now that we have a few places on Uber Eats for takeout nearby (again, not nearly full value). I get a little use from the Walmart+ credit, but really, not much at all, but greater than zero since we no longer have Amazon Prime.

But in our situation, the ONLY real reason to get the Gold as a Platinum holder (since I can't get a SUB) is the 4X on groceries and dining. But we have a Chase Sapphire giving us 3X on dining, and get 2X on groceries with my BBP. The delta in multipliers is nowhere near $325, even if I put a small value on the Uber credit on the Gold.

Not a huge fan of a Resy credit but if Amex is planning on merging Tock into Resy, and the credit works similar to the Delta cards, I can see it having more utility.

I had the AMEX Gold card. I also had the Platinum Card (which I downgraded to Green). The Gold Card had great point earning for restaurants and groceries, but was lean on perks. For the $250 annual fee, I thought the 2 monthly hoops (Grubhub and Uber) to pass through to maximize value was something I didn't want long term. A rumored higher annual fee of $325 with an added monthly Dunkin Donuts credit (an additional hoop to pass through) is not enticing me. I'm not going back to Gold, LOL. The Green card has a lower annual fee at $150 (for now), and fewer hoops to pass through to break even. I make use of CLEAR, and that yearly credit is easy to obtain. Bonus points earning are less on dining and the Green card has no bonus on groceries, but the travel and transit bonus categories are nice.

If Gold cardholders can stomach the higher annual fee and are happy with the monthly credits, then the Gold card is worth it. If not, the sky isn't falling because there are other good card options.

Not one person likes monthly credits but they are tolerated because people value the other perks/benefits.

Amex Plat is a perfect example because it is the only options for Amex airport lounge access (well, there are cards with higher AFs LOL) So I tolerate the montly coupon book nonsense because I value the lounge.

What perks does Amex Gold provide that you can't get elsewhere? None that I can see. Monthly credits are not perks they are simply a way to recoup your AF (we can all easily buy uber or grubhub or whatever directly as needed). Many other cards bonus restaurant spend, and to a lesser extent groceries. Gold will see massive attrition unless they make it special for something. At this price point it's getting close to Cap1, which now has lounges.

More people should effectively have a negative annual fee with the rumored refresh, even if you don't use the Dunkin credit.

Rumored annual fee: $325
- $120 Uber
- $120 dining credit
- $100 Resy credit

Current annual fee: $250
- $120 Uber
- $120 dining credit

That assumes that Resy is readily available where you live. For those of us who don't live in major markets, Resy tends to not be a thing.... As it is the dining credit is so random.... I'll be sticking with Platinum or dropping down to Green.

Not mentioned earlier, the rumor is that Shake Shack and Milk Bar will be removed from the dining credit… and Five Guys will be added.

I know this isn’t the Platinum Card… but Dunkin and Five Guys really seems to fit into Amex’s target demographic ;-)

There are some restaurants on Resy that sells gift cards that code as if you're at the store, but not sure if it's worth the trouble.

Agreed. While I don't like more coupons, Resy being semi-annual isn't that bad. NYC is my most frequent work travel destination, so there would be no shortage of places to use it. If the rumors are true, that $50 semi-annual credit is money good in my mind. Loss of Shake Shack in favor of 5 Guys is a bit annoying.

My Gold renews in Sept so if they announce this soon I imagine I'll probably get one more year under the old fee, since Amex usually doesn't charge renewals the new fee for 3-4 months after they announce it.

Not thrilled about the potential refresh, particularly the rumored removal of Shake Shack and the addition of Dunkin'. AMEX is really enjoying the breakage from the coupon book. Resy could be interesting but I am not overly excited.

The main reason that I have kept the card is 4x on dining and groceries but have pivoted my US dining spend to 3x UR on Freedom Flex.

For a higher class demographic, US Platinum cardholders get Walmart+