Amex Gold Annual Fee Increase

But, but, but it has white gold now! Amex loves to wrap higher fees in a new card design, don't they? As with most card “refreshes” there will be some winners and some losers, but there are almost always higher fees. That is no different with this Amex Gold annual fee increase (going from $250 to $325) . Sure, they added some more coupons to their coupon book, but they hope you don't really use it. Amex wants that sweet, sweet breakage after all. This is a money grab, no doubt about it. That doesn't mean the informed user can't come out ahead though. Let's take a look at the details of these changes.

The Amex Gold Card “Enhancements”

Here are the “enhancements” that Amex Gold annual fee increase of $75 will get you (now $325). The higher fee will be on your next cardmember anniversary but the extra perks start now:

• New $100 Resy Credit
  • Get up to $100 in annual statement credits ($50 semi-annually) after using an enrolled American Express Gold Card on eligible U.S. Resy restaurants, Resy.com, and in the mobile Resy app.  
• New $84 Dunkin’® Credit
  • Get up to $84 per year ($7 per month) in statement credits after using an enrolled American Express Gold Card to pay at more than 9,000 Dunkin’® locations nationwide.  
• Updated $120 Dining Credit
  • Starting today, American Express is adding Five Guys, with over 1,500 locations nationwide, to the $120 Dining Credit that includes Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory®, wine.com and Goldbelly, making this even easier to use with access to more locations.  
    • Shake Shack and Milk Bar have been removed

On one hand, people constantly complain about the effort needed to maximize all of these coupons. Is it worth the mental effort to chase even more of these? Imagine if you have an Amex Platinum and Gold card. You probably spend hours every year just trying to maximize these perks. Wouldn't it be nice just to pay like $150 for the annual fee and not have to do anything?

On the other hand, if you maximize these perks then you can cover your annual fee plus some. For some readers that will be pretty easy, and for others it will be near impossible. It totally depends on where you live, or where you travel.

Breaking Down The Value Of These Credits

Let's take a look at each of these changes with the Amex Gold annual fee increase one by one.

Resy Credit – $50 Semi Annually

Confession time, I have never used a Resy credit. Every time I have checked their lineup there hasn't been anything that enticed me in my area. I could load them to use while traveling, but I don't like the idea of credits dictating where I go on my trips. For others, mostly in coastal cities, these are pretty easy to use.

I will say the fact that they are in $50 chunks semi annually makes these a bit easier to swallow. If it had been like $10 a month it would have been near worthless. I imagine many people can use at least on of the $50 credits each year, even if there is nothing in their immediate vicinity.

Dunkin Donuts Credit – $7 A Month

Just like Walmart with the Amex Platinum card, nothing screams luxury like good old Dunkin! And $7 a month, what a weird amount. The problem with Dunkin Donuts is that they are in the majority of states, but not all states. People, on the West Coast especially, may find this credit hard to use. The good thing is you should be able to load the Dunkin app for $7 each month and that will hopefully trigger the credit. You can then save it for when you are at an airport, or city, where they have a Dunkin Donuts. The problem is they are once again dictating our selections a bit while traveling. The Dunkin app will hopefully help people maximize this portion of the changes though.

Dining Credit Change

I have to imagine Shake Shack was the second most popular option overall for people (behind Grubhub) when using this credit. While Five Guys is also pretty popular, whether or not you like this depends on your dining habits. I always HATED trying to squeeze $10 on my card every month with this perk.

New Dining Cap

There was another under the radar change with this refresh. There will now be a yearly dining cap for the Amex Gold card. You can only earn 4x on dining on up to $50,000 in spend per calendar year. This won't be an issue for 99.9% of people though, so it is kind of a moot point.

Amex Gold Annual Fee Increase: ToP Thoughts

While I think most people will come out ahead with the Amex Gold annual fee increase and “enhancements” it will take a little work. If the Dunkin app workaround is successful it will make it possible with minimal effort.

That isn't the thing that annoys me though. I am so tired of tracking credits and having these credit card companies influencing our spending habits, dictating where we shop, eat and go. All while they are keeping most of the cost of the credit, since it is mostly fronted by their partners. If you cared about your customers you would make a simple dining credit that works anywhere, or just charge less for the cards and offer no credits. They want to play both sides though. Here we are offering you value (at almost no cost to us) but are really hoping you don't use it. That way we get to keep the increased annual fee we told you these things were worth. So very tired of it all.

Let me know what your thoughts are on the Amex Gold card changes over in the ToP Facebook Group. We will have a fully updated review of the card for you tomorrow.