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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold announces big changes – here is what to expect

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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (or Amex Gold, as we call it, to save our typing fingers from strain) is arguably the most mainstream Amex product in the UK. It’s the one that gets the ‘mainstream media’ TV and poster commercials, and is seen as an entry point into the Amex world.

Amex has, however, never quite settled on a benefits package that works. It is incredibly easy to sell Amex Gold to new customers – the card is free for the first year and you get a huge sign-up bonus of 20,000 American Express Membership Rewards points, worth 20,000 Avios, plus two airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit.

(Apply here by 19th July and the sign up bonus is increased to a huge 30,000 points, worth 30,000 Avios or lots of other travel rewards stuff!)

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold announces big changes

After that, however, an annual fee kicks in and customers start to look for the long term value. I would love to know what percentage of cardholders pay for Year 2 and Year 3.

The representative APR is 88.8% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 31.0% variable.

Amex Gold is changing from 12th October

American Express has just announced a card refresh from 12th October.

The net result is hugely positive for those in their first free year. It is positive for most people who pay the fee for Year 2 onwards too, although it depends on what you spend and how you use the benefits.

Let’s look at what is changing.

The annual fee from Year 2 goes up from £140 to £160

I wanted to mention this first so you can judge the other changes in context.

You will receive FOUR free airport lounge visits per year, up from two

All Amex Gold customers currently receive two free visits per year to any airport lounge in the Priority Pass network.

This will increase to four from 12th October. Existing cardholders who have already used their two existing passes for their current year will receive another two.

This covers 1,300 lounges globally, including the Club Aspire lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5. Most UK airports which have a lounge will have at least one which is in Priority Pass.

The problem, of course, is access. Getting access to Priority Pass lounges was tricky before covid and – with many lounges closing for good during the pandemic – it has got worse since. If you are travelling at a peak time your chance of getting into a Priority Pass lounge at a major UK airport is low.

(No1 Lounges gets around this problem by letting you pay £6 to guarantee a slot in advance via this page of their website. This only helps if you are travelling from Gatwick, Heathrow Terminal 3 or Birmingham.)

If you can use the passes, and it is usually far easier to get into lounges outside the UK, then the extra two passes easily justify the £20 increase in annual fee.

The annual bonus is changing

At present, you receive a bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points – worth 10,000 Avios for example – when you spend £15,000 in your card year.

Irrespective of how quickly you spend £15,000, you don’t receive the 10,000 bonus points until 30 days after your renewal date.

This is changing from 12th October. Instead of a flat bonus, it will be tiered:

  • 2,500 points when you hit £5,000 of annual spend
  • 2,500 points when you hit £10,000 of annual spend (5,000 points cumulative)
  • 2,500 points when you hit £15,000 of annual spend (7,500 points cumulative)
  • 2,500 points when you hit £20,000 of annual spend (10,000 points cumulative)
  • 2,500 points when you hit £25,000 of annual spend (12,500 points cumulative)

Importantly, the bonus will be paid as soon as you hit each tier threshold. You do not have to wait until the end of your card year.

What happens during this transitional year?

On or around 12th October, all existing Amex Gold cardmembers will receive a bonus based on their spend to date in their current membership year.

It is important to note that, for a transition year, no-one will be worse off. Amex has committed that anyone who spends £15,000 in their current membership year will be guaranteed 10,000 bonus points, with an additional 2,500 if they hit £25,000 of spend.

Who wins and who loses here?

Do you spend under £15,000 per year on your Amex Gold? You’re a winner, because you previously received no annual bonus. You will now receive something, as long as you spend at least £5,000.

Do you spend exactly £15,000 per year on your Amex Gold at present, and then swap to other cards once you’ve guaranteed your 10,000 points? You will be worse off, because £15,000 of spend will now only get you 7,500 points.

Do you spend £25,000 or more per year on your Amex Gold? You’re a winner, because your annual bonus will now be 12,500 points instead of the current 10,000 points.

The only people who are worse off are those who currently spend between £15,001 and £19,999 per year. Your annual bonus drops from 10,000 points to 7,500 points, although once you hit £20,000 you are back up at 10,000 points.

You will receive Avis Preferred Plus status

I don’t put much value on car rental status, if only because it is offered via many different routes and few people rent enough to find it worthwhile.

Avis Preferred Plus offers a complimentary upgrade when available, as well as a dedicated phone number for reservations and customer support.

All other Amex Gold benefits remain

Nothing is being taken away from the Gold package. Your £120 of Deliveroo credit and hotel benefits via The Hotel Collection will continue. I’ve updated our article on key American Express Gold credit card benefits here.

Conclusion

Everyone wins from this new Amex Gold benefits package, I think.

  • New cardholders win – they get four airport lounge passes during their free first year and will hit annual spend bonuses more quickly
  • Existing cardholders who use the lounge passes will win – they get two more passes for an extra £20 fee
  • Existing cardholders who spend under £15,000 or over £20,000 win – they will get a higher annual bonus than they do now

Virtually no-one loses out, except those who spend between £15,001 and £19,999 and who don’t use the lounge passes. Those people can adapt, however, by either pushing more spend onto Amex Gold or moving some away.

Remember that these changes kick in from 12th October so there is nothing to do yet.

You can apply for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold here. Remember that, at present, the sign-up bonus is increased to 30,000 points – worth 30,000 Avios – and the card is free for the first year.

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Category

American Express Gold card

Comments (156)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Paul says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:05

    Hmm I fear I meet your description of who loses out here, I rarely use the two existing passes so an extra couple really doesn’t excite. I do reach the £15k for the bonus, maybe a smidge higher but certainly won’t be making the £25k needed for me to be any better off with the new rules. Bit annoyed by the fee increase, it’s not been that long since the last.

  • Ian M says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:18

    Any chance of a refresh of the Platinum card? It’s frustrating that the earn rate on the gold card is better than the Platinum, now even more so

  • JDB says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:20

    The fee increase was inevitable after Plat and BAPP but the bonus earnings reduction given new cards on the market seems bizarre. I trust Amex will now also be honest enough to rename it the (s)crap metal card.

    I can see that there could be merit in adding a further bonus at £25k spend, but to reduce it at £15k to 0.5 MR / £1 vs. 0.66 and still keep it at 0.5 at £25k is a negative. Maybe to protect the poor earning rate on Plat? At some stage relatively recently Amex also stealthily reduced the stacking on foreign currency airline spend from four points to three. Cutting the official earnings rate looks all the more ridiculous when it appears that if you call to cancel at anniversary they will give you 10k MR retention bung.

    The supposed sop of two extra PP + Avis is of no interest to me (and the consensus seems to be that PP is pretty rubbish) and I think most people spending £25k usually have lounge/car hire benefits from elsewhere.

    There was an interesting thread in the forum recently about reasons to keep the PRG after Y1 and it does seem quite specialist, but it worked really well for a number of us with specific spend patterns but it was a bit of a marginal call.

    The PRG was one of the few Amex cards that tied people in by having the £15k/10MR only awarded on anniversary. I am sure some will appreciate that it now pays as you go along, but it does now confirm, beyond peradventure, in case we had any doubts that Amex in the UK (unlike in other territories) is only interested in disloyalty and churners who are showered with points paid for with all these increased fees by the majority of ‘traditional’ loyal cardholders.

    I don’t understand that strategy, nor can it be sustainable, but presumably it is guided by some perverse bonus/reward policy. The rewards though are more likely to be reaped by Barclays than Amex.

    Anyway, I shall oblige Amex’s desire to stuff the loyal by cancelling 3 x PRG at anniversary or sooner as it seems, in the only good news, that they might pay the 10k MR early. It will be the first Amex we have have ever cancelled.

    • AJA says:
      22 Jun22 June 08:15

      I get the rewarding churners statement over rewarding long term card holders. But Amex has tried to stop that by introducing the need to give up the Amex card for two years to get the SUB. I realise that you can get around this by applying in a certain order or by applying for the Platinum (if you currently have the BAPP) but eventually that will only work for those who have a large enough family and are able to give each other supplementary cards in the interim. Personally I think even that strategy may backfire as the number of new customers will diminish.

      The rise in card fees was inevitable especially with inflation being so high.

      It’s also obvious that card benefits will eventually see an erosion of their attractiveness, BA and other airlines and hotels do it all the time.

      I’ve never had a Gold card or indeed any MR earning card as I’ve been a long time holder of the BAPP because it just works for me, even today with the higher annual fee. Unfortunately i discovered HfP too late and missed out on the “golden era”, pun intended.

      I also think Amex is struggling with the competition and the fact that it is the least accepted card. The reality is the heavy advertising is a clear signal of this.

      You are plainly upset. Not sure cancelling solves anything other than potentially starting the 2 year clock for a fresh SUB that you complain about.

      • Chabuddy Geezy says:
        22 Jun22 June 08:51

        I am assuming Amex still have the interchange cap on cobranded cards like the BAPP. They have probably done the numbers and spending £10K on the gold is unrealistic for most customers. If they can encourage incremental spend on the gold card with the new bonus structure it will be more profitable for them

        • Peter K says:
          22 Jun22 June 09:32

          @AJA
          What is to be gained from JDB cancelling the gold card? 3 x £160 is what is gained! Then give it a few months, reapply and get a free first year again!
          @Chabuddy it’s currently £15k spend to get the bonus, not £10k. To be fair, I’d find the new format would encourage me to spend more on the gold card, if applying now for it.

        • RussellH says:
          22 Jun22 June 10:24

          I cancelled my last PRG card back in April. I would still have cancelled because I do not believe in paying fees for credit cards – it never works for me.
          I would never have got near spending £15 000 in a year, so that was never a factor.
          But the possibility of bonus points at £5 000 spend point is a definite plus, and the Priority Pass improvements also – we have never been turned away from a lounge.
          I have never lived anywhere that Deliveroo deliver to, and that is highly unlikely to change, and in any case, I would much rather go out to a restaurant than have food delivered. But you can donate the Deliveroo credit to charity and I did that.
          All in all, for me it is a significant, if small, improvement, and I shall probably go for another PRG in a year or so, even though I shall never be able to earn an SUB as I have a Rewards Amex and a BA Amex which I plan to hang onto anyway.

    • Jon Walker says:
      22 Jun22 June 09:50

      Is it possible to get a link to this thread “There was an interesting thread in the forum recently about reasons to keep the PRG after Y1 and it does seem quite specialist, but it worked really well for a number of us with specific spend patterns but it was a bit of a marginal call”. I’ve tried searching but can’t find it and I’d be interested in how marginal this is as my intention was to drop from the platinum to gold on the basis of the points bonus giving 1.6MR/£.

  • Sussex bantam says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:30

    I’m not sure “(almost) everyone’s a winner” is the correct conclusion to these changes.

    I would guess that there are quite a lot of people who spend 10k now to trigger the bonus and have enough airline status for the PP to be of little value. For those people the fee has gone up £20 and they have to spend another 10k before they see any improvement to justify this.

    I’m in that camp and I imagine I’m not alone

    • Sussex bantam says:
      22 Jun22 June 08:28

      Spend £15K – not £10K obviously That would be silly.

  • revlou says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:33

    A metal card and/or improved travel insurance, even if the fee had gone up further (say ~£195) would have been a lot more interesting. I can’t really get excited about the announced changes.

    • dougzz99 says:
      22 Jun22 June 07:56

      You actually put value on a metal card?

      • Rob says:
        22 Jun22 June 08:09

        Odd that the metal card wasn’t part of the package given that it is now rolling out across Europe.

        In general I agree with Doug and find them a pain due to weight and the fact they tend to fall out of wallets if held upside down (plastic cards aren’t heavy enough to get enough traction to easily slip out).

        • Youllnever says:
          22 Jun22 June 09:51

          Probably held off due to the fact that the card’s first year is free.

        • Justin says:
          22 Jun22 June 11:19

          I totally agree. Although I love the look and feel of the Platinum Charge card, it can be a nuisance! I, like you it seems, have experienced it easily sliding out of my wallet at times. Plastic cards, like the lightweight Gold Rewards card, have no such issue.

          Additionally, since so many people pay on smart phones now (such as ApplePay & GPay), I would’ve thought it would lessen the allure for those wanting a metal card.

          I certainly would be quite annoyed if the Gold Card’s fee went up again by over 20% for such a silly ‘benefit’.

          • Rob says:
            22 Jun22 June 13:07

            It still might happen, to be fair. These change guidelines were sent to existing cardholders who wouldn’t necessarily be told the card was going metal since they may not get a new one for 3 years. It’s not inconceivable that it goes metal for new joiners.

          • Justin says:
            22 Jun22 June 14:00

            @Rob

            To clarify, my comment was about a 20% increase on top of the upcoming £160 fee (a suggested £195 fee).

            I do agree that it may happen this time/fee increase. There’s certainly a lot of evidence it may. For example, Sweden, Finland, & Norway have all gotten the metal Gold Card variants. Additionally, The Platinum Card did become metal during its last price hike in 2019… so it certainly could happen this time with the Gold Rewards Card too – especially since it has that new design refresh (which for me, happened over a year ago for my supp card holder).

            Sadly, the new annual fee doesn’t seem that great to me since Priority Pass is a bit useless where I am. The extra 2,500 points (on top of the usual 10k MR) is nice, but not sure I would personally say it’s worth the extra £20 for my potential use of points (I typically value them at the £4.50 per 1k points statement credit rate – although I don’t use them for this). The last time I spent points is when the Business cards (or Platinum) had the double MR value promotion over lockdown for which I was able to utilize several thousand pounds worth of MR credit!

            I will appreciate the fact that bonus points are applied sooner! However, as stated, Priority Passes are pretty useless to me and I’d rather the ability to add another 1 or 2 FREE supp Gold card holders!

        • dougzz99 says:
          22 Jun22 June 12:31

          I got a gold sup in my name for my Plat as I dislike the metal card so much.

    • Rui N. says:
      22 Jun22 June 08:33

      Paying to get a metal card?!?!

      • Andrew J says:
        22 Jun22 June 13:21

        It’s one of the reasons I keep Platinum. But style over substance is my mantra in life.

  • Jonathan says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:36

    I think Amex could do with making both the green ICC US Dollar and Euro cards (MR earning) free for those who hold an Amex Gold / Platinum.

    It’d encourage people to use their cards abroad wherever possible. Many of us have a designated card for non sterling spend only

    • Rob says:
      22 Jun22 June 08:12

      True but I think Amex isn’t this joined up and each card is run as its own separate business – comping people who have other Amex cards on a different P&L makes no sense to them.

      • Jonathan says:
        22 Jun22 June 08:25

        Perhaps they should look at things a little more carefully, and see what people want, as a credit card issuer that has lots of cards around that target frequent travellers, they seem to ignore that their hefty 2.99% non sterling transaction fee wipes out any rewards offered.

        I’ve seen that many of cards issued by their US arm to those customers are offered 0% non US Dollar spend, not all cards though, but many that would almost certainly be recommended on here if they’d be available

        Amex says in their TV adverts ‘American Express, realise the potential’

        • John says:
          22 Jun22 June 09:18

          I often see British tourists using their BA amex overseas, so either they’re dumb or they don’t care… I recently paid the 3% but only because it perfectly finished off my Hilton offers.

          If they reduced the forex fee even to 1% rather than 0% (and bearing in mind the Amex exchange rate is already loaded by 0.5-1% over interbank, but roughly on par with visa/mc) I’m sure they would still make lots of money and I would be a lot more inclined to use amex overseas

          • Rob says:
            22 Jun22 June 11:17

            If you’re on expenses then using it abroad makes sense.

            If your foreign spend is only £1-2k per year then a lot of people will pay the FX – offset by Avios and spend towards the 241 – rather than get a 2nd card. This is not necessary illogical.

          • John says:
            22 Jun22 June 12:33

            Well you need a second card for when amex isn’t accepted, and it’s less accepted in the euro area. Anyway I was actually talking about the free BA amex which is what I’ve seen overseas a lot, never seen a BAPP used outside the UK although the point about the 241 makes sense

        • SH says:
          22 Jun22 June 18:08

          Absolutely agree especially since US Plat has no FX fees

  • colinc57 says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:46

    I forget, are guests charged separately for lounge access or can they use the free passes when accompanying card holder.

    • Rob says:
      22 Jun22 June 08:11

      Guests are free but come out of the annual allocation of the main cardholder, so a family of 4 could now do 1 lounge visit per year.

  • Geoff says:
    22 Jun22 June 07:48

    “On or around 12th October, all existing Amex Gold cardmembers will receive a bonus ….”

    Not quite all – I don’t think I will get anything. My year ends on 5 Oct so my <£5k spend this year will not get the new bonus and on 12 Oct my new 'current year' will only be 7 days old!

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