While the Gold card had one of the best credit card launches of 2018, and its popularity has risen significantly, it does have its problems. As much as American Express wants to say that many more places accept Amex (and that’s true) every year, there’s still a ton of places that don’t. This problem becomes worse when traveling internationally.
Even so, one of the biggest complaints about the Gold card was that it only earned 1x back on restaurants outside of the U.S. Assuming you did find a place that accepted American Express, you wouldn’t even want to use it, because you would be earning 3 less points than you would back in the U.S. That aspect alone makes it a non-starter for those that travel internationally, and you may as well use the Citi Prestige or either of Chase’s Sapphire cards instead. It looks like American Express has been listening to the criticism, and they are responding with some changes!
The Change
American Express has made a move to reward the Gold card users by earning 4x back on international restaurants! This is up from the 1x back previously earned from international restaurants.
Keep in mind though, the supermarket category is still limited to those located in the U.S!
Gold Card Summary
The Gold Card comes with a $250 annual fee that is not waived in the first year. For that annual fee, here are the reward categories that the Gold card offers:
- 4x: Restaurants, U.S. supermarkets ($25,000 limit)
- 3x: flights booked directly with airlines
- 1x: everything else
The Gold card also comes with some credits which include:
- $100 airline fee credit (upgrades, luggage fees, etc)
- $120 dining credit (split into $10 a month) at Grubhub, Seamless, Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Shack Shack, and boxed.com
Final Thoughts
Overall, this is a general improvement on the card. Before this change, it was pretty useless to travel with this card, which is interesting because it rewards its users with points on flights. Of course, it still may be hard to find places that take American Express internationally, but at least you can earn a ton of points if you do.
Are you now carrying the Gold card with you when you travel? Let us know below!
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