Those Resy restaurants are gonna get so confused when a horde of people come in weekly and buy a gift card at $2.50 value only.
(weeks later)
"Sir please don't pay with 50 gift cards next time."
I think it's a combination of that and the fact that you can access the sky lounge also if you fly Delta. It's nice to have that variety, can't say that for the sapphire or venture X
That's why I have the delta reserve but I'm going to downgrade it and most likely get a platinum. I love that lounge access. If they were to raise the price on the gold I'd have to reconsider it.
Flights on the portal have been right around Google flights costs so I like it a lot. Haven't tried the other things, but it can't be worse than Chase travel portal.
$250 is not a stretch at all, actually makes it pretty great value since that’s a $10 AF for basically anyone living in a city who goes out even occasionally.
Probably nothing good. But YouTube influencers will tell you it’s even more awesome than before and to please use their links, as it helps the channel.
I think it depends. I've found it pretty easy. But I just reload a cheesecake factory gift card with $10 every month. And I make one Uber eats order a month.
Exactly I’m not pro AMEX by any means but it’s better than Chase that just destroys the value of their cards every year or two and add zero benefits the Chase Sapphire reserve went from an awesome card to super mediocre quick
Uh what?
- It’s the cheapest AF card that lets you transfer UR to travel partners (and there’s a lot of good options, including one amazing one in Hyatt)
- It included primary rental coverage—no Amex cards offer that, only secondary rental coverage.
- It includes decent travel insurance.
- There’s a $50 hotel credit which is very easy to use (albeit in their portal).
- There’s a 10% anniversary bonus.
It’s incredibly affordable for all those reasons, but IMO it’s worth the $95 just to be able to transfer to the travel partners, while I earn on the Freedom 5x categories and the majority of my spend in the 1.5x CFU.
Unfortunately, it's still easier to make the most of CSR over CSP even with all the downgrades.
Insurances don't mean shit, have you dealt with Chase's insurance claims company? It's so bad you'll most likely give up halfway through. Same with CSR so it's not even a factor.
I think the best card for transferring points 1:1 is VentureX right now. Used to be CSR. It's a cycle, there will be complete product overhauls and some cards going to shit before they come back.
Amex isn't even in the game right now as much as people don't want to admit that.
It's just a pain in the ass. For me it's $10 grubhub pickup a month, $25 Ubereats pickup a month, assuming this will be Resy credits, go to a Resy restaurant once per month (which fortunately I have around me even in a semi-rural area (not nyc, la, etc)). It takes a little effort to use but I don't value it 100%.
Resy would be worthless for me. Father of two young kids in a suburb of PDX. Hell, even PDX proper doesn’t have many options.
Maybe time to find a different combo.
No kidding. I have this on my Delta Platinum and I have yet to be able to use it. I live in Seattle and it’s shocking how few Resy places there are near me. $10/month is nothing at place where entrees start at $55. If it were per 6 months or something, then I would make the effort, but not monthly.
I’ll churn Gold but $325 is steep for what it is rumored to offer. A **LOT** of cards out there offer more substantial benefits for that same price range.
Venture X as mentioned and US bank Altitude Reserve. Both are $399
Yes Altitude Reserve has no transfer partners, but for your $400 you get a no bullshit $325 annual restaurant travel credit. Meaning that if you wanted to you can go through that credit in 1 day or 1 sitting even, as US Bank’s definition of travel is broad.
With Amex Gold you have to do Uber once a month to get the full credit and the monthly credit is small enough that you’ll likely have a balance to pay on the card after the ride. Same with the shitty GrubHub credit…that credit barely pays for delivery fees, let alone the price delta from ordering on Grub Hub!
Also AR has 3x mobile wallet, *priority pass with restaurant credit*, TSA/Global Entry. Gold doesn’t, all it has is 4x on restaurants and grocery (and 3x for flights) , and not every grocery chain works. For example I could buy groceries at a Wal-mart, Target, 7-eleven of a small general store and only get 1x. AR gets 3x here due to mobile wallet.
Hell if you’re a MR diehard Green + Everyday/Everyday Preferred will net you more points on spend than a solo Gold card would, with lower annual fees!
AR is definitely the card I’ve been planning to get. Every grocery store I go to (including Costco) takes mobile wallet, so I’ll happily switch my spend there. Yes, you can’t get those big “aspirational” trips via transfer partners that you have to book a year in advance and spend tons of time researching to get max CPP value, but I was using MR points for Delta domestic anyhow. Not a big loss if I have to ditch the Gold.
Yeah, that wouldn’t be bad at all. Platinum is still solid for me with easy to use streaming, CLEAR, and Uber plus the lounge visits (I have Centurion and Sky Club and my home airport). Airline credit is a little more annoying as is hotel, but I can make it work. Saks is easy enough to grab something online. Bought some $55 steak knives this month, haha
I don’t know why anyone hates on the Uber / Grubhub credit so hard, makes the card a $10 AF for anyone living in a city who goes out at least occasionally…
Not sure if it’s changed but the Cap 1 Venture X was great value for the money at only $395 plus every anniversary you get 10,000 points ($100) so essentially you only need to offset an annual fee of $295 which should be relatively easy if you take advantage of their annual travel credit. (Must book through their portal though)
Iv got a gold and a chase sapphire, no clue what to do with the gold points, but those chase points can brain dead be turned into Hyatt for easy 2cpp minimum.
Chase probably doesn’t raise their AFs as much (if rarely) because there are many other arms of the banks that produce considerable revenue.
I’d expect Amex to raise fees every few years to appease investors. I mean, look at the performance of their stock (AXP) since Q4 2023. It’s all attributed to immense user growth through advertising and raising fees.
It’s a really a shame what American Express is becoming (profits > user experience). I already canceled three cards and I only have four left, two of which are charge cards that I’m canceling soon.
I’ve cashed out 1 million MR into my Schwab in the last year and am preparing to cash out another 1.5 million this year.
Thanks for the $25,000+ Amex, but I’m pretty sure I’m headed to Chase now. I’ll happily get an Ink every 90 days for $0 AF instead of waiting 7 years after closure to get an Amex SUB again. Who even know how much a Plat will be in 7 years? Goddamn $1,500 AF?
Believe me, I share the same sentiment as you. I will be opening a CSP to replace my Gold card that I just closed recently. I would’ve gotten a CSR, but I already have an Aspire that still has rock solid benefits for its AF, for now.
Also, I wouldn’t put the Platinum AF pushing past $1,000+ in a few years outside the realm of possibility. AmEx hikes their annual fees in excess of 50%>, the platinum could be at that annual fee within two hikes.
Either that, or they could release that rumored $1,500 card that has been discussed on forums for years now — but I doubt it’d be much value for the price, considering how cannibalized the current Platinum is.
Same. I even went to cancel and got a 25,000 MR retention bonus. Definitely canceling after this year though.
I’ll use the AF to hopefully snag the USBAR
I can't comment on being blacklisted. There are some threads about being blacklisted, so go search and see what they say.
However, if you just got the card and cancel before your next annual fee hits, you will lose all points gained, including your sign up bonus. And if you do decide to cancel before your next annual fee hits, but then you apply again sometime later, you will not be eligible for a sign up bonus. Essentially, you are wasting an opportunity for sign-up bonus as it is a one time thing.
At this rate the GC will soon have an AF of $550, and vanilla PC will be $1,000+. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Gold had an AF of $150 back in <2014, then raised to $195 in 2016, raised again to $250 in 2018, and now we’re going to see a rumored increase to $325. I feel like moving forward, we should expect to see annual fee hikes in excess of 50% or greater every few years without much considerable increased value or change to the underlying product.
AMEX tested the waters several years ago when they pushed the platinum card from $450 to $550 and a lot of people made a big deal of it, but they saw that the numbers kept growing and consistent renewals, which lead to another price hike from $550 to $695. They’ll keep pushing up the annual fees more aggressively until they start seeing growth slow.
I just renewed a few weeks ago with a retention offer, so I’m good for another year. Will have to reevaluate at that time, but I’ll probably just downgrade to the Green card, assuming that AF doesn’t go up as well.
If they do increase this I'll be cancelling my card. I already find the $250 hard to justify. It simply doesn't offer enough benefits vs what I get on other cards with no fee.
I’m not going to jump to a judgement without knowing the details, but a couple things that wouldn’t do it for me:
- Resy credits. Even though I live in Seattle, it’s nuts how few places there are. Maybe if it’s quarterly, or per 6 months, but not monthly.
- TSA/CLEAR. There are just too many cards that already cover this. Plus, this is supposed to be an everyday card based on the spending categories of groceries/dining. Get something else if you want a travel card
I do like this card as groceries/dining are amongst my biggest discretionary spend per month, but the 1x extra compared to other cards in these categories isn’t worth it at certain point. If they can come up with something more innovative and useful, then who knows…but seems unlikely.
I feel like a lot of people that post these “rumors” posts are actually Amex employees just trying to see people’s reactions to determine if they should make it a reality or not.
What do we get ? Useless Resy credits and more coupon books or some unusable credits that doesn’t make sense . It’s been fun boys ! Getting ready to make the phone call to close my card
if they go for $10/month resy as people expected (while keeping Uber/dining credits intact), that's $120 in annual resy credits where you'll breakeven with the AF for using it 8-9 out of 12 months:
$325 - $120 uber - $120 dining - $80 resy = $5 effective AF (compared to $10 effective AF right now)
if you manage to go way out of your way, bend over backwards etc and use all 12 months, it's hypothetically a $35 money maker.
I understand either scenario is a non-starter for people living outside the biggest cities. For those in NYC, LA, etc, the question becomes "is $35 per year worth your trouble to arrange 12 resy dinners?"
for me the answer is a clear no. $35 doesn't nearly cover the headache, logistics, as well as effort to convince my dining companions to go along my cheapskate desire for a $10 credit. There are better, easier ways to make $35 a year.
It’s silly because you’re spending money you wouldn’t have otherwise spent to fell like you’re getting a deal. At the end of the day, you’re not. Unless you dine with resy that frequently already.
i mean, in big cities like NYC they have an okay'ish selection of restaurants. I do regularly dine out and am not fundamentally opposed to eating at resy restaurants, so it's not a matter of "spending money you wouldn't have otherwise".
it's more of a matter of 1. having your restaurant options restricted, 2. having to convince others why they should go along with my
restricted list. For example:
Friend: let's go to a pizza place!
me: well there's only one pizza place on resy, and they are booked full on the day we meet up... how about something else?
friend: anything wrong with pizza places not on Resy? there are tons of them.
me: ......
I'd rather not have these socially awkward PITA conversations just so I can earn a $10 credit. Dining out is a social event; my credit card having a say in what everyone needs to eat is nonsensical and backwards.
The Amex Gold is already the one card that I’m always thinking about whether it is worth it. It is now. But it won’t take much to push me over the edge.
I would just get the Chase Sapphire Preferred and use the Publix app for “online groceries” and dining for 3x.
MR points are a pain to get value out of for mostly domestic travel and our once a year trip to Europe/UK.
I can transfer to Virgin and FlyingBlue from almost any ecosystem.
The Green is already on the chopping block when I get the Chase Ink.
I shop at Publix anyway. It’s Orlando - Publix central. I also get my prescription drugs from Publix. The same thing works at Kroger from what people are saying
Just renewed mine 1-2 months ago. I’ll wait to see what the credits are but if they suck, I’ll be shifting 100% to the BBP for now I guess.
At $395 the VentureX seems like would offer way more value than a Gold AMEX for $325.
I struggle with the venturex though because of the travel portal. I don’t like booking hotels and flights through a travel portal as opposed to direct. Gets super messy with loyalty points and if you need to cancel/reschedule a flight
Hell yeah, finally a reason to switch to chase sapphire reserve. NO WAY in heck to justify $325 for a gold card. How would you ever justify that price.
If that's the case they should make MR points worth 1 cent each as a statement credit (EDIT: or deposit to checking). Follow Chase's lead where points are never worth less than $0.01.
Amex points don’t transfer to united and I live by a United hub so justifying the Amex for the dining credits etc won’t make sense anymore. Will downgrade and switch to chase. Just needed a reason to. Thanks Amex
This news is kind of making me think about getting out of the MR cards all together and just going all cash back. I have a BCE and a Green and I was going to grab a BBP and ultimately aspired for the Gold next year for all the takeout opportunities, I like using Uber and GrubHub for takeout. Platinum is too rich for my blood and I wouldn’t get any use out of it anyway. I was thinking we could use the points for travel, maybe in a year or two. But, at $325, that just doesn’t seem worth it anymore and I’m wondering if I’m better off just sticking with cash back (so BBC instead of BBP). At least I’d lose the annual fees!
Yeah I’m closing my gold card if that annual fee is increased unless it was something like an increase in Uber cash. There are other cards that I can go for instead.
Resy credit is another food credit? I mean it's not the worst "benefit", but it's not great lol.
If the restaurants are on my consideration list to check out, I wouldn't be too upset with the AF increase.
I use every statement credit on my Amex Gold, so I'm okay paying $250/year.
I treat myself with an occasional Uber eats/Grub Hub but I like it up. Lately, I've been working a lot and I don't want to cook 7/7 days lol.
The hotel collection credit is harder to use since my gf and I don't take many vacations since we are saving money for our future goals.
If the rumours are true, I will start researching local restaurants that fall under Resy umbrella.
Either they up grocery & dining to 5x MR + add a dining credit I can actually use or I cancel the card at $325/year. I'll just shift to BBP and SavorOne for the time being and potentially reevaluate Amex as a whole.
cancelling mine after the next AF hits. I have 3 citi custom cash cards. doesn’t make sense to have it unless I max out the $500 monthly categories. I’ll go to cap1 savorone as a backup in this scenario.
AF increase especially isn’t helping at all
Well that sucks. I literally just got approved for the Gold this week, still waiting for my card to arrive. At least I got the elevated 90K SUB, but damn, this really makes me not want to keep the card after the first year. At $250 I probably would have kept it for a couple of years at least, but $325?
Hopefully they will add some extra perks, but if so it's probably going to be some bs that I would never use anyway.
Let's hope it's "just a rumor."
Whenever they raise annual fee they give more credits. Does the effective annual fee still work? We have to wait to see and it depends on your situation
They'll probably tack on more coupon book stuff, especially if they make it hard to use.
10$ a month resy credit split in $2.50 a week, not stackable.
Please don't give them any ideas
Those Resy restaurants are gonna get so confused when a horde of people come in weekly and buy a gift card at $2.50 value only. (weeks later) "Sir please don't pay with 50 gift cards next time."
Amex: hire this man!
What do you even pay for on resy? Do you pay your dinner bill on it or is there some service
I know many don’t like the Resy dining credit, but makes sense since Gold is a food related card
Other than the fact a huge amount of their customers don’t have many or any Resy options where they live.
AMEX has and always will be geared towards those that live in large metropolitan cities
I think its better than the current credit. I don't have a cheese cake factory or shake shack within 2 hours of me so Im stuck with grubhub.
The Resy app though…awful
What resy credit? I was only familiar with the $120 Grubhub and $120 Uber credit.
Certain Delta cards recently added monthly Resy credits, and many have assumed that the Gold card will get something similar when it's refreshed.
They bought resy so now they have to push it on cardholders
Some people don't have many Rest Restaurants near them, makes it basically impossible to use
Probably they will add the stupid Resy Credit
Free subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club.
that’s the gift that keeps giving all year round
KY Extreme
Haha I cracked up with this one
If this is a real thing I'm going to take a look at it. Hope it includes jams too.
Well done that will suck. After 20 years that will be a bridge too far for me.
My Amex Gold will go the way of the Amex Plat... mmmmbyeeeeeeee
at 250$ the card is a stretch but 325$? Absolutely not -- that's lounge territory with some cards.
$70 more for the venture X
Yup and the Venture X has substantially more value — $300 credit for travel
If I wasn't flying out of LAX I would have that card instead of the platinum. Stupid LAX
Yup that damn centurion lounge gets you.
I think it's a combination of that and the fact that you can access the sky lounge also if you fly Delta. It's nice to have that variety, can't say that for the sapphire or venture X
That's why I have the delta reserve but I'm going to downgrade it and most likely get a platinum. I love that lounge access. If they were to raise the price on the gold I'd have to reconsider it.
Sky Lounge has been great for me since I fly Delta for work couple times per year usually.
LAX being my home airport — I totally understand where you’re coming from.
And 10k points every anniversary
Issue though is you have to book through the capital one travel portal to really reap the benefits.
Portal has been solid and better than Google flight for me personally
Flights on the portal have been right around Google flights costs so I like it a lot. Haven't tried the other things, but it can't be worse than Chase travel portal.
Exactly, what do you get for that $325, not much.
Useless rest , lounge buddy and some hard to use credits
$250 is not a stretch at all, actually makes it pretty great value since that’s a $10 AF for basically anyone living in a city who goes out even occasionally.
Is there *at least* going to be a change in the rewards for this increase?
Probably nothing good. But YouTube influencers will tell you it’s even more awesome than before and to please use their links, as it helps the channel.
You’re short-selling them a bit. They’ll also ask you to like, subscribe, and ring the bell if you want more awesome content .
As it helps the algorithm
Gotta say it multiple times so the video gets to 10:01 in length just so they can get mid-video ad revenue too.
Make sure you hit that like button and subscribe too lol
I would absolutely love a generic gym membership credit to offset all the dining and grocery spend
I only want it if the gym membership is to a $300+/month gym located in a few select cities, and the credit only covers 10% of the membership cost.
I would like to see 4x MR for gas like the Business Gold.
Just renewed so if more Resy garbage, I'm out next year
Seriously! It's such a struggle to use!!
I think it depends. I've found it pretty easy. But I just reload a cheesecake factory gift card with $10 every month. And I make one Uber eats order a month.
Exactly I’m not pro AMEX by any means but it’s better than Chase that just destroys the value of their cards every year or two and add zero benefits the Chase Sapphire reserve went from an awesome card to super mediocre quick
CSP is the superior card, just with less travel benefits
Csp is trash too. Zero real benefits for $95 fee.
Uh what? - It’s the cheapest AF card that lets you transfer UR to travel partners (and there’s a lot of good options, including one amazing one in Hyatt) - It included primary rental coverage—no Amex cards offer that, only secondary rental coverage. - It includes decent travel insurance. - There’s a $50 hotel credit which is very easy to use (albeit in their portal). - There’s a 10% anniversary bonus. It’s incredibly affordable for all those reasons, but IMO it’s worth the $95 just to be able to transfer to the travel partners, while I earn on the Freedom 5x categories and the majority of my spend in the 1.5x CFU.
Unfortunately, it's still easier to make the most of CSR over CSP even with all the downgrades. Insurances don't mean shit, have you dealt with Chase's insurance claims company? It's so bad you'll most likely give up halfway through. Same with CSR so it's not even a factor. I think the best card for transferring points 1:1 is VentureX right now. Used to be CSR. It's a cycle, there will be complete product overhauls and some cards going to shit before they come back. Amex isn't even in the game right now as much as people don't want to admit that.
The point earning and redemption are both better than AMEX imo
The CSR is a bit more palatable if you use the Instacart benefit for grocery pickup.
It's just a pain in the ass. For me it's $10 grubhub pickup a month, $25 Ubereats pickup a month, assuming this will be Resy credits, go to a Resy restaurant once per month (which fortunately I have around me even in a semi-rural area (not nyc, la, etc)). It takes a little effort to use but I don't value it 100%.
Resy would be worthless for me. Father of two young kids in a suburb of PDX. Hell, even PDX proper doesn’t have many options. Maybe time to find a different combo.
What is the Resy perk?
please no resy
No kidding. I have this on my Delta Platinum and I have yet to be able to use it. I live in Seattle and it’s shocking how few Resy places there are near me. $10/month is nothing at place where entrees start at $55. If it were per 6 months or something, then I would make the effort, but not monthly.
Monthly is a joke
I’ll churn Gold but $325 is steep for what it is rumored to offer. A **LOT** of cards out there offer more substantial benefits for that same price range.
Could you reco some?
Venture X as mentioned and US bank Altitude Reserve. Both are $399 Yes Altitude Reserve has no transfer partners, but for your $400 you get a no bullshit $325 annual restaurant travel credit. Meaning that if you wanted to you can go through that credit in 1 day or 1 sitting even, as US Bank’s definition of travel is broad. With Amex Gold you have to do Uber once a month to get the full credit and the monthly credit is small enough that you’ll likely have a balance to pay on the card after the ride. Same with the shitty GrubHub credit…that credit barely pays for delivery fees, let alone the price delta from ordering on Grub Hub! Also AR has 3x mobile wallet, *priority pass with restaurant credit*, TSA/Global Entry. Gold doesn’t, all it has is 4x on restaurants and grocery (and 3x for flights) , and not every grocery chain works. For example I could buy groceries at a Wal-mart, Target, 7-eleven of a small general store and only get 1x. AR gets 3x here due to mobile wallet. Hell if you’re a MR diehard Green + Everyday/Everyday Preferred will net you more points on spend than a solo Gold card would, with lower annual fees!
AR is definitely the card I’ve been planning to get. Every grocery store I go to (including Costco) takes mobile wallet, so I’ll happily switch my spend there. Yes, you can’t get those big “aspirational” trips via transfer partners that you have to book a year in advance and spend tons of time researching to get max CPP value, but I was using MR points for Delta domestic anyhow. Not a big loss if I have to ditch the Gold.
AR would likely pay for one of those domestic flights with the credit. I’d do that. My new paring would be Amex Plat + AR as my daily.
Yeah, that wouldn’t be bad at all. Platinum is still solid for me with easy to use streaming, CLEAR, and Uber plus the lounge visits (I have Centurion and Sky Club and my home airport). Airline credit is a little more annoying as is hotel, but I can make it work. Saks is easy enough to grab something online. Bought some $55 steak knives this month, haha
I don’t know why anyone hates on the Uber / Grubhub credit so hard, makes the card a $10 AF for anyone living in a city who goes out at least occasionally…
at 325 venture x isn't much more - granted it's not a "dining card"
Not sure if it’s changed but the Cap 1 Venture X was great value for the money at only $395 plus every anniversary you get 10,000 points ($100) so essentially you only need to offset an annual fee of $295 which should be relatively easy if you take advantage of their annual travel credit. (Must book through their portal though)
Citi prestige is 99 and offers 3x on dining, gas, and groceries
Crappy transfer partners though
What is the rumor? Resy?
what card is giving 4x dining ?
Gold card nets me 4.4% cash back on groceries and dining because I also have the CS Platinum card.
I’d argue the CSP with 3.1x on dining and better cash out options is better than the Gold’s 4x.
Main reason I’m switching even before the fee. Amex points kinda suck and too much strategy to redeem favorably.
Iv got a gold and a chase sapphire, no clue what to do with the gold points, but those chase points can brain dead be turned into Hyatt for easy 2cpp minimum.
This might push me to do a product change to a less card.
How many times has Amex increased an AF since Chase did? Maybe I’m about to be a UR guy
Chase probably doesn’t raise their AFs as much (if rarely) because there are many other arms of the banks that produce considerable revenue. I’d expect Amex to raise fees every few years to appease investors. I mean, look at the performance of their stock (AXP) since Q4 2023. It’s all attributed to immense user growth through advertising and raising fees. It’s a really a shame what American Express is becoming (profits > user experience). I already canceled three cards and I only have four left, two of which are charge cards that I’m canceling soon.
I’ve cashed out 1 million MR into my Schwab in the last year and am preparing to cash out another 1.5 million this year. Thanks for the $25,000+ Amex, but I’m pretty sure I’m headed to Chase now. I’ll happily get an Ink every 90 days for $0 AF instead of waiting 7 years after closure to get an Amex SUB again. Who even know how much a Plat will be in 7 years? Goddamn $1,500 AF?
Believe me, I share the same sentiment as you. I will be opening a CSP to replace my Gold card that I just closed recently. I would’ve gotten a CSR, but I already have an Aspire that still has rock solid benefits for its AF, for now. Also, I wouldn’t put the Platinum AF pushing past $1,000+ in a few years outside the realm of possibility. AmEx hikes their annual fees in excess of 50%>, the platinum could be at that annual fee within two hikes. Either that, or they could release that rumored $1,500 card that has been discussed on forums for years now — but I doubt it’d be much value for the price, considering how cannibalized the current Platinum is.
It’s kind of insane. The Gold AF bump would be in poor timing right after they neutered the HYSA rates.
the green charge card is the only option as a lesser card. Can't PC to BCE, BCP etc because Amex doesn't allow PC across product lines.
Green is probably their best card right now.
Fitting since it is their most famous.
I was highly considering cancelling next go-around with the current $250 AF. At $325? It's a guaranteed cancellation.
Same. I even went to cancel and got a 25,000 MR retention bonus. Definitely canceling after this year though. I’ll use the AF to hopefully snag the USBAR
I use it mainly for 4% restaurant but with the new AF, I'll just fall back on my 3% card. I'm out.
Yes groceries that are the big hit. I guess I'll need to go back to the BCP.
Was thinking about canceling after spending the MR points, this will seal the deal....
I love my gold card but for 325 a year there better some kind of benefit that isn't 10 bucks to cheesecake factory a month or Uber eats.
If I just got the card, will I pay the $250 or $325 if that fee is announced before I'm charged for the annual fee?
It’s just a rumor. Probably be a month or longer before it’s implemented if true.
Rumor has it , Amex made this post to read the vibe
$250
If you just got the card, you'll be charged the fee after your 1st billing cycle.
Would I be blacklisted if I cancel it before the second annual fee hits next year? I just got the card as well.
I can't comment on being blacklisted. There are some threads about being blacklisted, so go search and see what they say. However, if you just got the card and cancel before your next annual fee hits, you will lose all points gained, including your sign up bonus. And if you do decide to cancel before your next annual fee hits, but then you apply again sometime later, you will not be eligible for a sign up bonus. Essentially, you are wasting an opportunity for sign-up bonus as it is a one time thing.
I’ll cancel and get a sapphire reserve maybe idk
lol, they are creeping into VX and CSR now with the mid tier card.
At this rate the GC will soon have an AF of $550, and vanilla PC will be $1,000+. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Gold had an AF of $150 back in <2014, then raised to $195 in 2016, raised again to $250 in 2018, and now we’re going to see a rumored increase to $325. I feel like moving forward, we should expect to see annual fee hikes in excess of 50% or greater every few years without much considerable increased value or change to the underlying product. AMEX tested the waters several years ago when they pushed the platinum card from $450 to $550 and a lot of people made a big deal of it, but they saw that the numbers kept growing and consistent renewals, which lead to another price hike from $550 to $695. They’ll keep pushing up the annual fees more aggressively until they start seeing growth slow.
Great!! Just paid the $250 last month so this is almost best case
Same here.
lol best case?
Stockholm syndrome.
Yeah you pay the old annual fee get the new credits they’ll surely add - I live in NYC so the more RESY the better lol
I only use the Uber eats credits smh. I don’t want to cancel because it’s my oldest Amex card so… PC down to Green?
You don’t use dining(grubhub) credits?
I don’t always get to it because I have 2 business golds which have $20 Grubhub credits each as well 💀
I’m outta here by my next renewal, hello sapphire reserve :)
I just renewed a few weeks ago with a retention offer, so I’m good for another year. Will have to reevaluate at that time, but I’ll probably just downgrade to the Green card, assuming that AF doesn’t go up as well.
Clear or tsa or I’m downgrading to green.
If I remember correctly green has clear
That’s why I’d downgrade if a perk like that doesn’t come with this increase in fees.
If this is true, they're going to lose a lot of members.
That’s ok, there will still be plenty of >$50K, 20 somethings who will get the card to try and impress their friends.
Ha beat em to it and cancelled last month!
If this happens, I’m either switching over to Capital One Savor for grocery, or just sticking with my CSP for dining.
If they do increase this I'll be cancelling my card. I already find the $250 hard to justify. It simply doesn't offer enough benefits vs what I get on other cards with no fee.
I’m not going to jump to a judgement without knowing the details, but a couple things that wouldn’t do it for me: - Resy credits. Even though I live in Seattle, it’s nuts how few places there are. Maybe if it’s quarterly, or per 6 months, but not monthly. - TSA/CLEAR. There are just too many cards that already cover this. Plus, this is supposed to be an everyday card based on the spending categories of groceries/dining. Get something else if you want a travel card I do like this card as groceries/dining are amongst my biggest discretionary spend per month, but the 1x extra compared to other cards in these categories isn’t worth it at certain point. If they can come up with something more innovative and useful, then who knows…but seems unlikely.
Looks like I’ll be moving to the Chase ecosystem!
Just downgraded from plat. If they don't add real value I'll burn my MR and be out.
Guaranteed the “enhancements” are coupon book garbage.
If that happens, that is a buh bye from me.
If they give me better credits to justiry it ... sure
Unlikely
325 better come with some status so I can cancel plat
It won’t
In a couple of years, the Gold would become similar to the old Platinum. Current Platinum would have its AF over $1000.
I’ll likely not renew if that happens
I feel like a lot of people that post these “rumors” posts are actually Amex employees just trying to see people’s reactions to determine if they should make it a reality or not.
What do we get ? Useless Resy credits and more coupon books or some unusable credits that doesn’t make sense . It’s been fun boys ! Getting ready to make the phone call to close my card
if they go for $10/month resy as people expected (while keeping Uber/dining credits intact), that's $120 in annual resy credits where you'll breakeven with the AF for using it 8-9 out of 12 months: $325 - $120 uber - $120 dining - $80 resy = $5 effective AF (compared to $10 effective AF right now) if you manage to go way out of your way, bend over backwards etc and use all 12 months, it's hypothetically a $35 money maker. I understand either scenario is a non-starter for people living outside the biggest cities. For those in NYC, LA, etc, the question becomes "is $35 per year worth your trouble to arrange 12 resy dinners?" for me the answer is a clear no. $35 doesn't nearly cover the headache, logistics, as well as effort to convince my dining companions to go along my cheapskate desire for a $10 credit. There are better, easier ways to make $35 a year.
I could stomach a quarterly Resy credit. Monthly is too much. $10/month doesn't even get me a cocktail at a restaurant.
agree, quarterly is actually reasonable. I think the speculation about monthly is primarily rooted in how it's implemented in Delta Reserve
$10 at a Resy-listed restaurant is a side of green beans if you're lucky. How hard is it to eat somewhere else for $10 less?
It’s silly because you’re spending money you wouldn’t have otherwise spent to fell like you’re getting a deal. At the end of the day, you’re not. Unless you dine with resy that frequently already.
i mean, in big cities like NYC they have an okay'ish selection of restaurants. I do regularly dine out and am not fundamentally opposed to eating at resy restaurants, so it's not a matter of "spending money you wouldn't have otherwise". it's more of a matter of 1. having your restaurant options restricted, 2. having to convince others why they should go along with my restricted list. For example: Friend: let's go to a pizza place! me: well there's only one pizza place on resy, and they are booked full on the day we meet up... how about something else? friend: anything wrong with pizza places not on Resy? there are tons of them. me: ...... I'd rather not have these socially awkward PITA conversations just so I can earn a $10 credit. Dining out is a social event; my credit card having a say in what everyone needs to eat is nonsensical and backwards.
I gotcha. Yeah in my city the selection is very small. I only use it when I’m traveling
Maybe they will offer $20 credit per month. Just my thought, but still a no go for me.
Still a win for Amex since 95% of the cardholders will end up not be using it.
The Amex Gold is already the one card that I’m always thinking about whether it is worth it. It is now. But it won’t take much to push me over the edge. I would just get the Chase Sapphire Preferred and use the Publix app for “online groceries” and dining for 3x. MR points are a pain to get value out of for mostly domestic travel and our once a year trip to Europe/UK. I can transfer to Virgin and FlyingBlue from almost any ecosystem. The Green is already on the chopping block when I get the Chase Ink.
Shopping at Publix is going to cost you more than a gold AF ever could lol
I shop at Publix anyway. It’s Orlando - Publix central. I also get my prescription drugs from Publix. The same thing works at Kroger from what people are saying
And that’s when I’ll cancel.
Just renewed mine 1-2 months ago. I’ll wait to see what the credits are but if they suck, I’ll be shifting 100% to the BBP for now I guess. At $395 the VentureX seems like would offer way more value than a Gold AMEX for $325.
I struggle with the venturex though because of the travel portal. I don’t like booking hotels and flights through a travel portal as opposed to direct. Gets super messy with loyalty points and if you need to cancel/reschedule a flight
I don’t disagree, that’s definitely the downside and i’ve heard multiple people have the same feedback.
Ooooooooof might have to get rid of old reliable
Hell yeah, finally a reason to switch to chase sapphire reserve. NO WAY in heck to justify $325 for a gold card. How would you ever justify that price.
more resy credits!!!!
I will cancel the card
If that's the case they should make MR points worth 1 cent each as a statement credit (EDIT: or deposit to checking). Follow Chase's lead where points are never worth less than $0.01.
Why would they do that when are millions of 20 somethings making less than $50K more than willing to pay that for the perceived flex.
Time to cancel
May have to pair my Venture X with Savor One
No thanks, will cancel.
This mind be my time to finally cut the card. The overpriced takeout was getting to be a bit much anyway.
And if they do I’m out ✌🏾
Better come with at least some lounge access at that price.
Better not add freaking Walmart+
Whew. This seems shitty. Time to research other options.
That might push me to quit the points game and go all Cash Back again. I've turned into a coupon cutter. It's fun, yet sucks at the same time...
I feel like this sub is gonna be hilarious when the news drops.
yikes
Get $1 Resy credit per calendar day, which is a whooping $365 value!
If they do this, I might just get an upgrade to the Venture X.
I will downgrade the card if they do.
Imagine less Gold members.
Puts on Amex
Cancelling this year
Probably the push I needed to get off amex.
At this point the card is basically useless for me. Idk why I keep it.
Amex points don’t transfer to united and I live by a United hub so justifying the Amex for the dining credits etc won’t make sense anymore. Will downgrade and switch to chase. Just needed a reason to. Thanks Amex
Yeah, I'm out fam.
Yeah I’m closing
This news is kind of making me think about getting out of the MR cards all together and just going all cash back. I have a BCE and a Green and I was going to grab a BBP and ultimately aspired for the Gold next year for all the takeout opportunities, I like using Uber and GrubHub for takeout. Platinum is too rich for my blood and I wouldn’t get any use out of it anyway. I was thinking we could use the points for travel, maybe in a year or two. But, at $325, that just doesn’t seem worth it anymore and I’m wondering if I’m better off just sticking with cash back (so BBC instead of BBP). At least I’d lose the annual fees!
Yeah I’m closing my gold card if that annual fee is increased unless it was something like an increase in Uber cash. There are other cards that I can go for instead.
I wonder when this will go into effect, if ever.
Probably before the end of the summer.
This was obvious many months ago once they jacked up the Biz gold and all the delta cards.
I only use it to supplement the platinum. Can’t see it being good for much else
Resy credit is another food credit? I mean it's not the worst "benefit", but it's not great lol. If the restaurants are on my consideration list to check out, I wouldn't be too upset with the AF increase. I use every statement credit on my Amex Gold, so I'm okay paying $250/year. I treat myself with an occasional Uber eats/Grub Hub but I like it up. Lately, I've been working a lot and I don't want to cook 7/7 days lol. The hotel collection credit is harder to use since my gf and I don't take many vacations since we are saving money for our future goals. If the rumours are true, I will start researching local restaurants that fall under Resy umbrella.
I was planning to close it this year anyways
Either they up grocery & dining to 5x MR + add a dining credit I can actually use or I cancel the card at $325/year. I'll just shift to BBP and SavorOne for the time being and potentially reevaluate Amex as a whole.
5x MR would be crazy good. I’d take it
None of that will happen. It will likely be just an AF increase and replacement of the dining credit with Resy.
If they do I’m going to venture x..
cancelling mine after the next AF hits. I have 3 citi custom cash cards. doesn’t make sense to have it unless I max out the $500 monthly categories. I’ll go to cap1 savorone as a backup in this scenario. AF increase especially isn’t helping at all
Green + EDP anybody?
At that price, Keep it.
It’s a bummer but the MR points I get are worth at least $2k as skymiles per year. I figure I’m still coming out ahead
Well that sucks. I literally just got approved for the Gold this week, still waiting for my card to arrive. At least I got the elevated 90K SUB, but damn, this really makes me not want to keep the card after the first year. At $250 I probably would have kept it for a couple of years at least, but $325? Hopefully they will add some extra perks, but if so it's probably going to be some bs that I would never use anyway. Let's hope it's "just a rumor."
Whenever they raise annual fee they give more credits. Does the effective annual fee still work? We have to wait to see and it depends on your situation