I got the American Express Gold card in 2026
I feel like I’m a little late to the party, but better late then never. I decided to finally pull the trigger on the American Express Gold card. Above is a picture of me holding the card in all its glory after having just pulled it out of the envelope. This card is absolutely beautiful in appearance.
It’s both loved and disliked by many. On paper it’s phenomenal, but in practice it’s definitely not for everyone. I’m still oozing excitement from getting it, so let’s jump right in.
About the card
This is American Express' mid-tier travel rewards card, and is often known as being ‘the food card’.
Overview
$325 annual fee
4x points per dollar at restaurants, including takeout & delivery (up to $50,000 per year)
4x points per dollar at US grocery stores, but not wholesale clubs (up to $25,000 per year)
3x points per dollar on flights booked direct or on AmexTravel.com
2x points per dollar on pre-paid hotels and other eligible travel on AmexTravel.com
Sign-up bonus: Up to 100,000 points after spending $6,000 within the first 6 months
Credits
$120 Uber Cash per year (up to $10 montly)
$84 Dunkin’ Credit per year (up to $7 monthly)
$100 Resy Credit per year ($50 bi-annually)
$120 Dining Credit at participating partners only (up to $10 monthly)
Other Perks
No foreign transaction fees
Unlocks AmexTravel’s ‘The Hotel Collection’ and provides a $100 one-time credit + room upgrade
Car rental loss & damage coverage (only if the whole rental was purchased with the card)
Baggage insurance
Purchase protection (up to $10,000 per year per ‘covered purchases’)
Why you’d want this card
If you’re someone who enjoys eating out at restaurants, getting food delivered, or buys a lot of groceries at your local supermarket, this is your card! I recently went to Mexico City on vacation withing I had this card; I imagined all the precious points I could be racking up while enjoying delicious authentic cuisine at excellent dining establishments.
You get a slew of credits that can be used specifically for food and cuisine, which is really nice. I’m personally excited for the Resy credit. It’s basically a free meal or two twice a year.
Things that could be better
The travel perks included in the Amex Gold are a little underwhelming and makes it feel like it’s having a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a food card? A travel card? The low travel multipliers make it feel like American Express was searching for anything they could add to the card to give it more sellable value.
I also don’t like that the food credits are fragmented across the year so that you can only use small portions at a time of the entire yearly credit. Even though it guarantees even credits year-round, it’s harder to keep tabs of when you’ve used them.
Finally, and this may just be a personal gripe, I’m a bit sour that the grocery multipliers do not work at Sam’s Club or any other wholesale club, since I often get a large portion of my groceries there.
The Amex Gold gift card hack
Some people have successfully been able to purchase certain gift cards at grocery stores, getting 4x points for those gift cards since they were purchased at an eligible grocery store. I haven’t tried this (yet), so I can’t confirm or deny if this is true. I will definitely need to try it out.
It’s important to be mindful that the cap for the 4x grocery multiplier stops working after you’ve spend $25,000 that year, so using that limited spend for gift cards could affect what you have left for your actual groceries for the rest of the year.
My plan and my regrets
The goal will be to use this card as much as I can without changing my spending habits to see if it is worth it, and to see if I can truly take advantage of what is offered. If the card proves to fall short of expectations, at least I can grab the sign-up bonus and cancel after a year.
On the topic of sign-up bonus, I do carry a light regret. The publicly available sign-up bonus is currently for up to100,000 points after $6,000 of spending in the first 6 months. I had been in American Express pop-up jail for a while (another post on that later). After trying for several months, I was offered 60,000 points instead of 100,000. Instead of holding out, I decided to bite since I didn’t know if I would ever get an offer again. If you are in a position to hold out for a better bonus, definitely try to.
