The new American Express Gold Card has already created a buzz with their revised bonus categories and especially keeping their competition in mind, such as Chase Sapphire Cards, Citi Premier and other premium cards. We will give a quick review of these Amex Gold and Chase Sapphire Reserve/Preferred Cards and compare their rewards and perks.
Compare how the limited time Rose Gold Card look vs Sapphire Reserve in below video.
(Limited time, Rose Gold not available anymore)
Rewards
Amex has really upped its rewards program with its new re-designed product launch and sleek card. Yes, the new Gold and Rose Gold is simply stunning to look and feels really thick and sturdy. Amex Gold comes with higher rewards categories when compared to Chase Sapphire. Adding Supermarket to their reward category is an additional value when compared with Chase Sapphire Cards.
American Express Gold
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards points at US restaurants.
- 4X Reward points at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 per year in purchases.
- Earn 3X Reward points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
- Earn 3X points on travel immediately after earning your $300 travel credit. 3X points on dining at restaurants & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- Earn 2X points on Travel and 2X points on dining at restaurants & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
The Amex benefit of 4X on Restaurants and 4X on US Supermarkets capped at $25,000 per year is the game-changing reward category when compared with Sapphire. When you look at the average expense of any family, supermarket purchases could be anywhere between $400 to $600 per month. None of the sapphire products offer bonus rewards on grocery/supermarket, other than the Chase Freedom offering in any of their Quarterly rotating rewards. The only advantage to the Sapphire products is their Travel category, with there more extensive options such as all kinds of travel, including Hotel, Car Rentals, parking, tolls etc.
Sign-up Bonus Rewards
American Express Gold
- 40,000 Rewards points Link (Check under personal cards) after you spend $2,000 within the first 3 months. The current Standard bonus when applied directly, is 25,000 points after you spend $2,000 on eligible purchases with your new card within the first 3 months.
- $95 Annual Fee
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- $450 Annual Fee
Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards. The sign-up bonus on Chase Sapphire offers better value when compared with Amex Gold, especially when it comes to direct travel redemption of 25% with Sapphire Preferred and 50% with Sapphire Reserve.
Benefits/Perks
- Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with The Gold Card at participating partners. This can be an annual savings of up to $120. Enrollment required.
- Enjoy perks while you fly. Feel free to check your bags or enjoy an in-flight meal on us. Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $100 per the calendar year in statement credits when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your American Express® Gold Card account.
- Membership Rewards points can be transferred to some of their preferred partners at 1:1 or sometimes for more.
- $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year
- Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For example, 50,000 points are worth $750 toward travel
- 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Access to 1,000+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select
- Up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®
- No blackout dates or travel restrictions – as long as there’s a seat on the flight, you can book it through Chase Ultimate Rewards
- No foreign transaction fees
- 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For example, 50,000 points are worth $625 toward travel.
- No blackout dates or travel restrictions – as long as there’s a seat on the flight, you can book it through Chase Ultimate Rewards
Annual Fee
- $250 Annual Fee
Though the fee is $250, with $120 monthly statement credit which includes GrubHub and Seamless and $100 Incidental Airline credit, which can be redeemed on certain airline gift cards. The net fee is just $30.
- $95 Annual Fee
The fee is justifiable with their 1.25X rewards redemption, apart from that no credits. But Sapphire Preferred lets you transfer to travel partners same way as Chase Sapphire Reserve.
- $450 Annual Fee
With the $300 Travel credit, the net fee is effectively $150. The fee is justifiable with their 1.5X rewards redemption and credit for Global entry once every 4 years.
Calculation on some Sample Purchase Amex Gold Vs Chase Sapphire Cards
Verdict
Our verdict depends on the what kind of spending and travel habits you have. If you are medium to frequent traveler, Chase Sapphire Reserve definitely has lots of premium travel perks such as $300 travel credit, Priority Pass access, Global Entry, whereas the Amex Gold lacks those perks. When Chase Reserve card is combined with other cards such as Chase Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Cash, Ink Preferred or Ink Unlimited, you get 1.5X redemption for travel when all points are merged to Reserve. This is the key highlight of the Reserve.
But, if you are an average spend person with travel plans just for vacations without complicating with multiple cards, then Amex Gold is a clear winner. You can easily score more points with Amex Gold especially with their Restaurants and Supermarket bonus categories. Both can be redeemed through Airline or Hotel partners to get better value on their membership rewards.
You can probably even have both and merge points to a common hotel or Airline and maximize their benefits, like British Airways and enjoy traveling in American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific. Amex does offer bonus transfer rate from time to time while transferring to their partners. For example, recently they offered 40% bonus points when transferred to British Airways. You can book a Business Class ticket for 20,000 BA points for a domestic flight within the US or to Mexico via American Airlines. One sample redemption shown below for Chicago to Cancun via Business class, lie flat seat.
If you prefer redeeming the rewards for travel as cash at direct portal redemption, then Chase Sapphire Preferred offers 25% more value and Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 50% more value on travel when compared to Amex Gold.
Overall Amex wins with their new categories and good travel partner programs. Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred also provide quite competitive partners, but their bonus earning categories are limited to travel and dining, it is excellent when combined with other UR cards.
![[Expired] Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card – New Cardmember Offer 3% on every purchase](https://www.intellioffers.com/wordp/wp-content/themes/Extra/images/post-format-thumb-text.svg)
Earn 60,000 Bonus Points
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