Last week American Express announced a complete overhaul of the Premier Rewards Gold card. The old card, which carried a $195 annual fee offered 3X points on airfare, and 2X points on dining, supermarkets, and gas stations, and 1X points on all other purchases. That card came with a $100 airline of choice credit which dropped the effective annual fee to just $95. Keep in mind Amex waived that fee for the first year.The new Gold card from American Express, which now carries a $250 annual fee, offers 4X points on US dining and supermarkets, 3X points on airfare, and 1X points on all other purchases. American Express does not waive the first annual fee for the new metal (Rose) Gold card. However, the new refreshed card comes with the same $100 airline credit and an additional $120 dining credit. Amex offers the dining credit in $10/month installments. These credits help drop the effective annual fee to just $30.
With all of that in mind and with all of they hype surrounding this card, it’s no doubt that A LOT of people are going to apply for the card. I suspect many don’t have much experience with American Express cards and how Amex handles the annual credits. For that reason, I think it’s important to go over a few things that you should do after applying for the card to make sure you’re maximizing your value from the new metal (Rose) Gold card from American Express.
Create An American Express Account Online
I get it, this one is fairly obvious, but it’s important for two reasons. First, by setting up an online account you can set up bill pay reminders and auto-pay options. I specifically mention this because the American Express Gold card is a charge card and not a credit card. Given that it is a charge card you must pay your balance in-full each month. Now, you should be doing this already, but it’s imperative that you pay your balance in-full each month with this card.
By creating an online account you can also activate many of the other benefits offered by this card that make it so appealing. It’s worthing nothing though that you must activate all of the $220 in credits you receive from the card before you can use them. So if you fail to activate the dining credit for example you will not get the $10/month credit.
Finally, by creating an American Express account online you will have access to American Express Offers. Amex offers are essentially coupons saved to your credit card. When you use your card on a qualifying purchase at a qualifying merchant you receive either cash back or extra Membership Rewards points. The only catch with Amex Offers is that again you must activate each offer to receive the benefit.
Setting up an online account is extremely easy. Simply find card approval email from American Express and there is a hyperlink inside. That hyperlink automatically populates your application reference number. From there, simply type in your personal information to activate the account. Once activated you can proceed with this checklist.
Activate The New $120 Dining Credit
Unlike the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, annual credits from the American Express card aren’t exactly automatic. Instead, to receive the $10/month dining credits you must first enroll in the benefit. Once enrolled the credits should apply to qualifying charges automatically.
To enroll, first visit your new card’s benefits page. Toward the to of the page you’ll find a tile which highlights the $120 dining credit. At the bottom of that tile you’ll find the enroll button.
After selecting the enroll button you’ll find a brief overview of the benefit which explains how the benefit works and a list of participating merchants. For now, the benefit is only valid on select dining purchases. Currently, participating merchants include Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Cris, and Shake Shack.
Toward the bottom of the page you’ll find another button which you have to click to confirm enrollment in the benefit. Next, you’ll reach a separate page on which once again you must confirm your enrollment.
After properly completing your enrollment in the new $120 dining credit you should receive an email from American Express confirming your enrollment.
This email again highlights the features of the credit.
Activate The $100 Airline Fee Credit
Similar to the $120 dining credit you must first enroll in the $100 airline fee credit. This credit is much “harder” to use than those credits offered by competing cards for a few reasons. For starters, unlike other cards you must first enroll in this benefit. Doing so is easy and takes just a few moments. Again, start at the top of your card’s benefits page and locate the $100 airline credit tile. After clicking on the enroll button you’ll reach another landing page which explains how the benefit works.
On this page you’ll quickly notice two things. First, this benefit is only valid for one airline each year. Unlike other cards that offer a “travel” credit, this benefit is specifically an “airline” credit. Likewise, you’ll quickly notice that this benefit does NOT cover airfare. Got it. That is arguably the most misunderstood aspect of these American Express Airline of Choice credits. The $100 credit only covers certain qualifying airline fees such as checked bag fees and award ticket co-pays. Usually the credit does not cover airline lounge access or upgrades, but that varies by the airline.
So, when deciding on an airline for the year make sure to select something that you’ll actually use. I for example selected American Airlines because I will no doubt be able to use the $100 credit this year. Again, after clicking on the enroll button you’ll find another page which asks you to confirm your airline and confirm that you’ve read the terms and conditions.
After submitting your selection you’ll again find an email in your inbox confirming your selection.
The email also contains a list of qualifying airline fees.
American Express Offers From The New Metal Gold Card
After enrolling in the dining and airline credits I suggest you head over to the American Express offers page to see a listing of qualifying offers. Amex Offers can be found toward the bottom of the account home page.
At the bottom of the account page you’ll find a listing of current Amex Offers. At the bottom of the listing you’ll find an option to “view all” which gives you access to view all of the offers currently offered on your new card. I won’t highlight each offer currently offered on my card, but the above screenshot should give you an idea of what you can expect from Amex Offers. Occasionally Offers include opportunities to earn extra Membership Rewards points and often the Offer includes some kind of statement credit after meeting a minimum spend.
These offers are always changing so I try to check the Offers page at least once a week to see the most up to date listing of offers. One offer that jumped out at me today was the opportunity to earn one additional MR point on all qualifying Grubhub/Seamless purchases.
Given that I’m most likely going to use Grubhub/Seamless to earn back my monthly dining credit I might as well earn extra Membership Rewards points for any additional spend over the $10 credit. What I’m not sure about yet is if Amex codes Grubhub/Seamless as dining and therefore already offers 4X points. Earning 5X points on delivery wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Activate Your Complimentary ShopRunner Membership
I wrote about ShopRunner a few weeks ago. Essentially ShopRunner is a service that gives you free 2-day shipping at qualifying retailers. I don’t shop online too much but for those that do this benefit will no doubt save you a lot of money. Most online retailers offer free standard delivery, but it’s so nice getting things two days after ordering them.
While I won’t go out of my way to activate this benefit immediately, it’s something that I will make note of and use the next time I place an order.
Final Thoughts
I’m still quite impressed by the new Metal American Express (Rose) Gold card. The card offers a ton of incredible benefits which makes it competitive with other premium cards on the market today. While the card comes with a $250 annual fee, much of that fee is offset by annual credits. However, the annual credits aren’t automatic as they are on other cards. So, if you do apply for the card I recommend activating these benefits immediately. There is nothing worse than missing out on value simply because you forgot to click a button.
Featured Image Courtesy of American Express
