billu777

I need your advice. I have an American Express Gold Card which has a 250$ annual fee. I dont use it that much to make it worth the 250$ fee. I have about 35k points. I called AE to request to waive off the fee but they refused. My questions are:

Whats a good no fee rewards AE card to switch for the gold card?

Do I have to use up all 35k points with the gold card before I change to another card? If yes, whats the best way to use all the points?

Thanks a lot for your advice

jags86

Did you speak to retention or a front line rep? If you didn’t speak to a retention rep hop over to the retention thread wiki and call the right AMEX department. You should wait until you’re actually charged the $250 to call.

You need to open a new Membership Rewards card before closing the gold card to retain your points. You don’t need to do anything to combine points, AMEX will do it automatically.

The two free options you should consider are the AMEX Blue Business Plus or AMEX Everyday.

billu777

thanks, I called the number at the back of my card. The annual fee was charged in June. Is it too late to call for this year?
thanks

jags86

You are past the period where you can receive an annual fee refund for cancelling the card, so it makes sense to keep the card until next June. You can call and ask for a retention offer now but you may be less likely to receive one because they aren't on the hook for returning your $250. You can always try again next June once the fee hits again and if you aren't happy with the offer at that time, you can close the card.

billu777

thanks for your advice. I am new to this, so when I call retention dept, what do I say- do I threaten to close the card or ask for retention offers?
also, if I have to keep the card till next June, what is the best way to use the MR points? What gives the best value?
thanks

jags86

No need to threaten. The retention people are really nice in my experience. When I call I simply point out some feature of the card that has changed or some situation of mine that has changed that has made it hard for me to justify paying the annual fee. For example, last year when I called about the Gold card I said that I was disappointed that they took away the roadside assistance. For you it may be that you can’t use the travel credit because of COVID or whatever. If they don’t give you something worth keeping the card, then cancel.

You can check here to see what you can do with your 35,000 points. https://global.americanexpress.com/rewards/calculator

Of course, transferring points to a partner usually gets you best value, but with travel the way it is, you may not have a need for that. If you’re done with AMEX you might as well grab $350 in gift cards but if you want to continue with AMEX just not with the Gold card, I’d suggest you open another card and hold onto the points until you can transfer them to a partner that makes sense for you.

billu777

Thanks
I called the retention department and mentioned about not being able to use the airline credit due to covid and also the card not being worth the annual fee of 250$ to me but the rep simply aplogized and said he couldnt do anything. So, I have transferred the MR points to Etihad guest miles which will be valid for 18 months.
Now, I am thinking whether to close the Gold card ( I have had it since summer 2018) or change it into another Amex card with no or minimal annual fee. Which would be better in terms of not affecting credit? If I decide to get another card instead of Gold card, which Amex card would you recommend that has least annual fee and best rewards? Thanks

mia

Gold is a charge card. You can only downgrade to another charge card, such as Green ($150 fee). American Express does issue free credit cards, but there is no downgrade path from charge to credit. If you want one of the credit cards, you need to apply.

billu777

thanks. So, if I close the Gold card, will it be a big ding on the credit? I have read that closing the account is never a good idea.

mia

This is an over simplification. Closing an account removes the credit line from your total pool of available credit, and this can change the calculation of your "utilization" factor (percentage of available credit used), but because Gold is a charge card there is no fixed credit line, and the effect should be minor, assuming you do have other card accounts.

LAX

If you had wanted another Amex card, you could have gotten one without AF that allows you to keep your MR points. In general, unless you have a need to use airline miles or hotel points for redemption relatively soon, it's not a good idea to bank them as miles or points because they usually get devalued much faster than MR points.

LAX

billu777

thanks. What is one Amex card without annual fee with MR points? They only gave me the option of Green card which has 95$ annual fee. Also, they said they dont do product change etx, so I will have to close the Gold card and open a new card with them.

mia

This question was answered by jags86 before you asked ....