Summary - We recommend the American Express Gold Card to those who pay their bills in full and would like to earn reward points from the Membership Rewards program. This card will also appeal to frequent flyers of airlines that are part of the Membership Rewards program as you can transfer points you have earned into frequent flyer miles.

Rewards - With this card you will earn one reward point for every dollar that you spend on the card. You can earn unlimited points and they do not expire. If you book any travel with Amex travel website, you will earn double points. These points can be exchanged for airline tickets, hotel bookings, gift cards, merchandise and even charities. Like I mentioned before, you could also exchange points for frequent flyer miles and frequent guest points.



Other Cool Features - There are a couple of other cool features that make this card stand apart. Firstly, cardholders will often get alert to great travel deals (the call this Gold Card Destination). And because American Express sponsors many theaters and concerts, you can often get to book seats at these events before they become available to the public (they call thsi the Gold Card Events).

Annual Fees - The annual fee is $125. You get get up to 5 additional cards for a flat $35 annual fee. After that, you will be charged a fee of $35 for each additional card above five.

Before we form an opinion of this card, let us compare it with a couple of it's peers. The unfortunate thing is that there are hardly any charge cards around. So the best comparison will really be with American Express own Zync Card (which is really a starter card) and the new Premier Rewards Gold Card.

The American Express Zync Card was introduced as a starter card for young adults and it comes with a lower annual fee ($25). While the Gold Card allows you to earn double miles when you book a travel item with Amex travel website, the Zync Card allows you to earn double points on a variety of items which you can choose (they call it packs). For example, you can choose the "connect pack", you allows you to earn double points on wireless bills. If you choose the "social pack", you earn double points at restaurants.

The Zync Card's reward program is the Membership Rewards Express versus the regular Membership Rewards program. The difference is that with the regular Membership Rewards program, you can transfer points into frequent flyer miles for their airline partners and frequent guest points as well.

Therefore, the Gold Card is more suited for folks who travel and are likely to transfer points to frequent flyer miles while the Zync is more for folks who just wants to start out with Amex, but does not want to pay the higher annual fees associated with the Gold Card.

But a more important comparison I think, should be with the Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express®. This card was recently introduced by Amex and it is very similar to the Gold Card, except for the fact that you can earn triple points when you buy any airline ticket (whether with Amex or on your own). For folks who travel a lot, the Premier Rewards Gold Card will be a better alternative to the regular Gold Card (though it comes with a higher annual fee of $175).
 

Right at the top of the chain of Amex's charge card is the Platinum Card. The Platinum Card's annual fee is $450. But it comes with a lot of perks that can easily pay for that. They both earn the same points and have the essentially the same reward program in terms of airline and hotel partners. But to compare these two cards will take up another post. But fortunately, we have compared the Amex Gold Card and the Platinum Card.

My Experience - The American Express® Gold Card was the very first credit card that I got out of college. One of the reasons why I got the card was that the company I worked for gave me a corporate card (from American Express off course). Any travel or entertaiinment spending that I put on the corporate card earned me Membership Reward Points. So I thought that it was a good idea to get a personal card to earn more points.

Though there is an annual fee on the card, what I liked about the card is that the points that I earn can be used to fly on many airlines. Back then, the way to do it was to transfer points into air miles. These days, American Express has their own travel site (which is actually powered by Travelocity) where you can book your travel and you can either pay by cash or use your points. As I was comparing the reward program to others, it was pretty clear that Amex has more partners in their program than other reward programs.

Verdict - There are many reward credit cards out there with no annual fee. However, none will have the sheer number of different rewards that are available through the Membership Rewards program. Frequent flyers who are members of a few programs and those who want to enjoy the perks that come with this card will find the American Express Gold Card appealing. For those who are true frequent flyers, American Express also has the Premier Rewards Gold Card (it has a slightly higher annual fee of $175), which allows you to earn triple points when you buy an airline ticket with the card.

There is also the element of prestige associated with this card. If you are in the business of servicing and dealing with high net worth individuals (whether you are a high-end commercial real estate investment banker or a private banker), having this card (rather than a regular card) is almost a must have.

References
American Express - Our Story Part 3