American Express Card Holders

I continue to receive offers to become a Gold AmEX card holder. In many ways, the offers and deals you get as an AmEx card holder seem very appealing. Since you have to pay off the card in full each month, I figured I could use it for the types of purchases I am currently making with my debit card and earn points.

My question is: is the annual fee ($125 per card, $35 for each additional card on the account) worth it? How often do you earn rewards? How long does it take to earn enough points to fly to say Florida or Europe (our most common destinations). I would say that between DH and I we would probably put about $1,000-1,500 a month at most on the card.

ETA: do you find that many stores do not take AmEx?

Just wondering if it's worth it to pay for a credit card....

Thanks!

Message edited 10/10/2009 6:38:24 PM.

Re: American Express Card Holders

I don't have a gold card, I have the Amex Starwood/SPG card and I earn hotel points. My points add up fast and they can also be converted into airline points, so to me it's the best of both worlds. My annual fee is also less.

I rarely have a problem running into merchants that don't accept Amex.

Re: American Express Card Holders

I used to work at Amex doing direct mail solicitations to get new card members. There are 2 different card products that Amex offers.

The card you are taking about is a charge card. You have to pay it off in full each month, and they have several different levels, which have different annual fees and services associated with them.

They also offer lending (credit) cards. These are the cards most other lenders offer, where you can carry a balance month to month but need to pay interest on the balance. Some of them don't have annual fees. Most of the cards are co-branded with another company and you usually get some sort of loyalty points (Costco, Delta, Hilton, etc) but they have some that are their own and offer other benefits (like the Blue card).

You can use either the charge or lending cards when they have deals to order tickets in advance of the general public or whatever. I can't think of a time when I couldn't use the card around here. A few times online, but it's pretty rare.

This page should help you decide which card product is right for you.

Message edited 10/10/2009 6:51:15 PM.

Re: American Express Card Holders

We have the Gold card and we LOVE it! I earn over 1000 points almost every single month! The best card ever and totally worth the annual fee! I have never yet came across a store that did not accept AMEX.

Re: American Express Card Holders

I have the Hilton Honors Amex. There is no annual fee and the rewards points are great. We never pay to stay in hotels when we travel. The only place I have found that doesn't take Amex is Christmas Tree Shops. Sometimes some small restaurants don't take it. And on vacation overseas in France we weren't able to use it in many places.

Re: American Express Card Holders

We have an American Express Platinum card so I can't help you with the Gold Card but in my (our) mind, it is totally worth it! The only stores I have found that do not take the AmEx is my dry cleaners, my nail salon and Amazing Savings

Re: American Express Card Holders

Re: American Express Card Holders

I would never pay a credit card annual fee unless it was the Amex Black Centurian card (so I can at least LOOK like I have money).

If you are looking for a great credit card with excellent rewards, I love recommending the Charles Schwab Invest First Visa. 2% cash back on EVERYTHING. No frills. No stupid point systems. No limits or caps on your rewards. Just cash credited to your account every month.

You can't find a better card with better cash back.

Re: American Express Card Holders

Re: American Express Card Holders

There are PLENTY of other rewards cars without annual fees that would be good. You may get discounts and stuff with the gold card but it would only be worth it if you actually would go to those places often enough to make up the $125. I would really consider how much it would save you before signing up.

A Disney card gives discounts and benefits if your'e actually at Disney and you can earn points towards Disney vacations and merchandise for every dollar you spend. You also get 6 mos interest free on vacation purchases.

There's also an Amex Blue Cash card that gives you cash back and I don't think there's a fee for that. I would get a card from somewhere you shop often (Babies R Us if you have small children, BJs card if you go there, etc.).

Re: American Express Card Holders

anyone ever get rewards using this card? specifically airmiles?

Re: American Express Card Holders

We have a Delta Reserve with an annual fee that is a bit higher. It's worth it for us. DH travels quite a bit and has access to airport lounges, first class upgrades and we have free companion ticket rewards. We have access to the concierge and can get entertainment tickets and reservations anywhere we want. (They sent us a bottle of champagne once at a restaurant in NYC! And I got great seats for the Brad Paisley concert next week!) And we get miles for our purchases that we redeem to visit family OOS. The annual fee had paid itself off about three months after paying it.

I haven't found many places that don't take Amex. We pay most of our bills on it - I just paid for heating oil on my Amex. We were just in Italy and France and I was surprised of the number of places that took it there too.

Re: American Express Card Holders

We have a few Amex Cards. Almost everywhere accepts them.

We do get the rewards program. I know there use to be promotions with different airlines- as low as 30,000 points to London and some other cities in Europe. Overall, they average about 50,000 points per person to Europe. Not sure for Domestic how many points.

I know we were able to book a trip for Nov and use our amex reward points as cash to pay the American Express Travel Bill on our credit card statement. I am lucky we have our own personal cards...plus i have one for work and then transfer all the point toour personal card. : ) I am not sure if all the Amex cards offer this though - I think it is only Platinum cards

We originally chose Amex- b.c with the Platinum card there was a Airline Program.
You pay a premium membership fee a yr....but we were getting buy one domestic airline ticket get a free companion. You were allowed up to 4 companion tickets a yr for free. So we traveled enough that this promotions saved us enough to make up for the yrly membership. However, they stopped this program as of this yr. I hope they bring it back b.c this was the reason we love this card.


Let me know if you have any other questions.

Message edited 10/13/2009 8:37:11 PM.

Re: American Express Card Holders

We have the Amex Blue card and I use it for everything. It's really the only card I use on a regular basis. Haven't found a store yet that doesn't take it.

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My DH has a platinum and I was an additional card holder. But the platinum fee is $475/$175 each additional so recently I switched to the Gold for my additional card (fee is only $45).
I LOVE it. I have used my pts for miles (JetBlue), but find that sometimes its better to just pay for tickets/hotels directly from AMEX travel using the reward points. I also love the benefit of advanced ticket sales to many concerts/shows (Gold card events)---seats are almost always GREAT!!