American Express are making a number of changes to their Premier Rewards Gold Card, people have been expecting these changes every since the AmEx EveryDay cards were released. These new changes will come into effect on June 1st, 2015.
Changes
Let’s have a quick look at the breakdown of these changes:
- Annual fee increased by $20 from $175 to $195, waived first year
- 2x Membership Rewards points at U.S Restaurants
- $100 Airline fee credit for incidental charges (e.g baggage fees)
- No foreign transaction fees
- “Personalized Travel Service”
The only negative change is the increased annual fee. This should be offset by most people with the $100 airline fee credit, but that will depend on how often you fly and if this will be able to be used for gift cards that can be resold or not.
Card Benefits
Let’s look at what the card benefits will look like in total after June 1st, 2015:
- Annual fee of $195, waived first year
- Standard sign up bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points after $2,000 in spend (more on how to get a larger bonus below)
- 3x points on all purchases made directly with U.S Airlines
- 2x points on all purchases made at U.S Supermarkets, Gas Stations & Restaurants
- 1x points on all other purchases
- $100 Airline incidental fee credit
- No foreign transaction fee
Keep in mind they removed the benefit where you would receive 15,000 bonus points if you spent more than $30,000 in card member year.
Card Sign Up Bonus
The standard sign up bonus of 25,000 points sucks. Thankfully it’s actually possible to get a sign up bonus of 50,000 points on this card (the minimum spend requirement is only $1,000 instead of $2,000 as well). If you’d like to learn how to get this bonus, please read this post. 
.
Final Thoughts
For me this doesn’t really change the card that much, it’s already possible to get 2x flexible points on restaurant purchases with Citi & Chase, the airline incidental credit is nice but it doesn’t make it worth paying the $195 annual fee. Some people will say that the airline incidental is “as good as cash”, but it really isn’t even if you can buy airline gift cards you’d need to sell these at a loss and it’s also a hassle and use of your time.
Positive changes are nice, but honestly I was expecting more from American Express when it came to this card. My personal plan for this card is to wait until the sign up bonus is at least 75,000 Membership Rewards points, get it for the first year and then cancel It’s definitely not a keeper.
What are your thoughts on these new changes? If you have the American Express Premier Rewards card, is this enough to get you to keep it? If so, why?
