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I see a lot of articles stating that when you have to start paying the fee for Amex gold (2nd year+) it’s not worth the £160. But if you spend over £5k in a year, triggering a minimum reward points bonus of 2,500, doesn’t that cover the fee and then some?
Am I missing something here? Is there a another fee-free card that offers a bonus (not the sign-up kind) for spending minimum amounts?
2500 MR are not worth £160 even in the most fantastic redemption possibility.
2500 MR are not worth £160 even in the most fantastic redemption possibility.
No, but spending £25k a year on it to get 12,500 bonus points does move the needle. Besides, most of the fee is offset if you genuinely make use of the Deliveroo £120 credit.
But if £1 spent is worth 1 membership point, and 1 membership point is worth 1 avios, then haven’t you effectively gained 2,340 avios without having to spend £2,340?
See how much does it cost you to buy 2340 avios: https://pgt.shopping.ba.com/resources/pricing-buy
2500 MR are not worth £160 even in the most fantastic redemption possibility.
No, but spending £25k a year on it to get 12,500 bonus points does move the needle. Besides, most of the fee is offset if you genuinely make use of the Deliveroo £120 credit.
Indeed, and I did pay for it when the it was cheaper (£140) and the bonus was given at £15k (still undecided if I’ll keep paying for it).
But I was replying to the OP valuation of 2500 MR points.Ah, thanks. I didn’t know about this.
2500 MR are not worth £160 even in the most fantastic redemption possibility.
No, but spending £25k a year on it to get 12,500 bonus points does move the needle. Besides, most of the fee is offset if you genuinely make use of the Deliveroo £120 credit.
Sunk cost fallacy. Don’t pay £140 fee and you’d get similar, possibly greater, rewards on a different credit card.
You’d also no longer have the imperative to use Deliveroo specifically twice a month in order to ‘make back’ the fee, potentially giving up on better offers elsewhere in order to do so.
It’s important to count the benefits compared to what you would actually do if you no longer had the card, rather than if you had no reward payment card at all.
If I’m going to do this spending anyway, and reliably hit over £5k per year, is it still not better value than a fee-free card with the same amount of expenditure, conversion of £1 to 1 avios, and no spending bonus?
Apologies if I can’t maths well…
Formula for calculating the spend you would need to make back the fee and start profiting from the card:
(Card fee – Cost of benefits that are useful to you) / Decimal cash-equivalent reward rate
For Gold for me: (160 – 120) / 0.01 = £4000 annual spend.
I don’t use Deliveroo, but since I can donate the Deliveroo credits to charity, I consider it a useful benefit that offsets the card fee.
This is a separate consideration to whether you think the reward rate is good compared to other cards (WillPS’s opportunity cost point above). I use Gold for non-GBP spend and BAPP for GBP spend, for example.
I use Deliveroo 2-3 times a month anyway and spend a lot in proportionate terms on flights which attracts 2 points per £1. For me it is a useful card to have in my line-up. The offers are pathetic compared to Platinum though.
2500 MR are not worth £160 even in the most fantastic redemption possibility.
No, but spending £25k a year on it to get 12,500 bonus points does move the needle. Besides, most of the fee is offset if you genuinely make use of the Deliveroo £120 credit.
Sunk cost fallacy. Don’t pay £140 fee and you’d get similar, possibly greater, rewards on a different credit card.
You’d also no longer have the imperative to use Deliveroo specifically twice a month in order to ‘make back’ the fee, potentially giving up on better offers elsewhere in order to do so.
It’s important to count the benefits compared to what you would actually do if you no longer had the card, rather than if you had no reward payment card at all.
Sunk cost fallacy doesn’t apply when you can get a pro rata refund any day of the year 🙂
And I used the word ‘genuinely’ because some of us are lazy enough to use Deliveroo with or without the Amex rebate!
I use Deliveroo 2-3 times a month anyway and spend a lot in proportionate terms on flights which attracts 2 points per £1. For me it is a useful card to have in my line-up. The offers are pathetic compared to Platinum though.
I wonder if you get fewer/less good offers on your gold because you have a Plat as well? I don’t have a Plat but my wife does (no Gold) and my Gold offers are almost always better and more numerous. We each have a BAPP and get remarkably different offers.
I rarely use my Gold in the UK, essentially only in response to offers, but use it very heavily abroad which could also possibly make a difference.
Sunk cost fallacy doesn’t apply when you can get a pro rata refund any day of the year
This is probably the most important comment thus far, until someone finally decides to mention that you can re-apply for the gold card after cancelling and get it free for another 12 months.
I use Deliveroo 2-3 times a month anyway
Stay at the Intercontinental Barclay, but get takeaway from the local curry house.
The duality of HfPrs 🙂I use Deliveroo 2-3 times a month anyway and spend a lot in proportionate terms on flights which attracts 2 points per £1. For me it is a useful card to have in my line-up. The offers are pathetic compared to Platinum though.
I wonder if you get fewer/less good offers on your gold because you have a Plat as well? I don’t have a Plat but my wife does (no Gold) and my Gold offers are almost always better and more numerous. We each have a BAPP and get remarkably different offers.
I rarely use my Gold in the UK, essentially only in response to offers, but use it very heavily abroad which could also possibly make a difference.
That could be it. I now use Gold for all UK day to day spend and flights; Platinum only when using in conjunction with an offer (and often abroad).
That could be it. I now use Gold for all UK day to day spend and flights; Platinum only when using in conjunction with an offer (and often abroad).
Why would you ever use Platinum over Gold abroad? You’re still paying the 3% markup without getting double points.
I use Deliveroo 2-3 times a month anyway
Stay at the Intercontinental Barclay, but get takeaway from the local curry house.
The duality of HfPrs 🙂Local curry house? How very dare you haha! In central Manchester we get Deliveroo options that are both high brow and low brow.
I don’t use Deliveroo, but since I can donate the Deliveroo credits to charity, I consider it a useful benefit that offsets the card fee.
I didn’t know this was an option! Will make sure to do this twice a month, as I rarely use Deliveroo and it’s a good cause.
Thank you also for the formula. If I’m donating my Deliveroo credits, and also using the card to make direct purchases with airlines for those sweet, sweet 2x points, I think it makes the fee worth it.
The only issue is I’m in a village currently not served by Deliveroo, but I’ll use a family member’s address as a dummy one. Bit of a faff, but worth it.
I wonder if you get fewer/less good offers on your gold because you have a Plat as well? I don’t have a Plat but my wife does (no Gold) and my Gold offers are almost always better and more numerous.
Not OP but I’ve been using Gold as my main card for 9 months now. I’ve only got 20 offers on there, 19 if you get rid of the Deliveroo one, and it’s quite disappointing. Thought it was this way because of the free first year but oh well, might have to ring Amex CS and make them dig for the reason. Used to get told to wait a few more months before.
I’ve been using Gold as my main card for 9 months now. I’ve only got 20 offers on there, 19 if you get rid of the Deliveroo one, and it’s quite disappointing. Thought it was this way because of the free first year
I think we had about a hundred offers at that point in our free year with the PRG.
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