The American Express® Gold Card falls somewhere in the middle when it comes to premium credit cards, and so does its annual fee ($250). While it doesn’t have as many lucrative travel benefits as top tier cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, it does have an exceptional rewards rate in everyday spending categories and a few statement credit offers that help cardholders get more value.
Some of the most important card factors to consider with the American Express® Gold Card include:
Rewards rates are incredibly generous when it comes to food and airfare. Cardholders can earn:
The following Amex Gold benefits also apply:
The fact the American Express® Gold Card earns points in the American Express Membership Rewards program is another major benefit. Points earned in this program are incredibly flexible and valuable, with a Newsweek valuation of an average value of 1.19 cents each and potential value up to 2 cents each (and potentially more) when used for premium travel redemptions.
Not only can you redeem Amex Membership Rewards points for merchandise or gift cards, but you can also use them to book travel directly on AmexTravel.com. Points also transfer to a range of Amex airline and hotel partners including British Airways, Delta SkyMiles, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy and more.
American Express considers its approval process to be proprietary information, thus it doesn’t list a minimum credit score listed for applicants to meet. However, it’s common knowledge that consumers are recommended to have a good credit score at a bare minimum to get approved, and that’s after other qualifications are met.
What does having “good credit” entail? If you look at the FICO scoring model, which is the most common type of credit score used by 90% of top lenders, you can see that scores fall between 300 and 850. From there, the following credit score ranges apply:
A good FICO score is any score of 670 or higher, and it may be possible to qualify for the Amex Gold with that score. However, a FICO score of 700 or even higher may increase your approval odds even more.
Other factors can apply as well, including having adequate income to qualify for a line of credit and showing a history of employment. Approval odds for the Amex Gold are best for those with a very good credit score and a high and steady income.
Finally, you should know that American Express has a “once per lifetime” rule that says you cannot earn the welcome bonus on their individual cards more than once. In reality though, a lifetime for American Express is around seven years. This factor doesn’t mean you won’t get approved if you qualify, however. American Express offers applicants the courtesy of informing them if they don’t qualify for a welcome offer before they process their application and add a hard inquiry to their credit reports.
If you don’t qualify for the Amex Gold, that doesn’t mean you’ll never qualify in the future. The fact is, you may be able to get approved for the card later on if your credit score or financial situation changes.
Consider these steps if you applied for the Amex Gold and didn’t get approved, or if you know you don’t meet the minimum credit score requirements right now.
With the consumer version of the Amex Gold, there is no preset credit limit.This detail means your spending limit is flexible, and adapts over time based on your normal spending habits and payment history.
The Amex Gold lets cardholders carry a balance with its Pay Over Time feature. In this scenario, interest charges are added to amounts borrowed until the balance is paid off. That said, not all purchases are eligible for Pay Over Time.
The $120 dining credit on the Amex Gold is given out in monthly statement credit increments of $10, and it applies when you use your card for eligible charges. That said, the dining credit only works with select eateries and food delivery services, including Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations.
The post What Credit Score Do You Need for Amex Gold? first appeared on Newsweek Vault.
2024-04-23T14:09:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd