The annual fee appeared on my latest American Express® Gold Card statement.
As usual in these situations, I decided to take ten minutes and call Amex. I wanted to see if there were a mutually beneficial way I could remain a card member.
Even if you like a card, calling for a retention offer whenever its annual fee is due may produce good results. It’s like taking a few minutes to shop around when your car insurance is up for renewal. In the worst-case scenario, you spend a few minutes of your time and don’t come out ahead.
Before picking up the phone, I made some notes about why I like the card and my reasons for calling it a day. Deep down, I wanted to remain a card member.
Please note that Delta Air Lines SkyMiles no longer awards Medallion Qualification Miles (MQM) or Medallion Qualification Segments (MQS). Some of the offers in this post may be expired. This post remains published for reference and historical purposes. (Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.)
My Reasons for Keeping the Card
The American Express® Gold Card is a solid product and I like it.
It earns:
- 4X American Express® Membership Rewards® points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the United States
- 4X on groceries at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per year, then 1X)
- 3X on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 1X on all other eligible purchases
Longtime EotF readers know I’m a big fan of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. Why? The primary reason is the card’s 35% Pay With Points rebate. That allows me to receive a 35% rebate on points I use to pay for eligible trips on a selected airline (Delta, in my case) or on business or first class trips purchased through American Express Travel. (The benefit applies on up to 1,000,000 bonus points per calendar year. Terms apply.)
The points I earn on the American Express® Gold Card pool with what I get on my The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. I can earn back a significant amount of points each year.
The card also features a couple of statement credit opportunities.
First, American Express® Gold Card members receive up to $10 in monthly statement credit when using their Gold Card to pay for purchases at these select restaurants and delivery services (enrollment required and terms apply):
-
- Grubhub
- The Cheesecake Factory
- Goldbelly
- Wine.com
- Milk Bar
- Participating Shake Shack locations
So, that’s $120 back each year —because I use it. My daughter and I love daddy-and-me lunch dates at The Cheesecake Factory. That’s frequently how I use the monthly credits. Or, I’ll order Grubhub to deliver sides when grilling or smoking a meal.
American Express® Gold Card members who add their card as a payment method to their Uber and/or Uber Eats accounts receive monthly $10 Uber Cash deposits. (Enrollment required.) However, any unused balance expires at the end of the month; it does not roll over. And there’s another $120 I earn back.
As I wrote earlier, I use the Uber Cash deposits every month and pay any cash overages with my Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. So, I recoup $240 of the annual $250 membership fee.
Gosh, Carley, you may say, what is your gripe?
Reasons for Ditching the Card
There are a few reasons I was on the fence.
First, I don’t use the card nearly as much as I’d like to. That’s especially been the case this year.
I’ve been trying to fulfill minimum spending requirements on a host of cards. First, my wife and I started with the Delta Amex MQD Waiver and bonus MQM chases on our respective Delta Reserve cards: she has the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and I hold the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card. But that plan shifted when I suddenly had to knock out spending challenges on The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express — pretty much simultaneously.
Shortly after completing those spending requirements, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card dropped an offer for three Reward Nights valued at up to 50,000 points each after spending $3,000 within three (3) months of card membership approval. (I just missed the five-night promotion! But the three-night offer should still be live here.) After that, it was back to the Delta Reserve cards. My $30,000 is knocked out, and we’re just about there with my wife’s.
And I started using the Amex Gold again fairly recently for dining purchases.
Next, that brings me to another issue. I earn 3X at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) with my Chase Sapphire Reserve®®. I can redeem those for 1.5 cents each when purchasing travel through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program. So, that makes those points potentially worth more than the 4X on my Amex Gold Card.
Then again, the 35% Pay With Points rebate potentially helps me recycle portions of those 4X points a few times over.
Speaking of Chase Ultimate Rewards®, I find their travel partners are slightly better for my needs than those of Membership Rewards. I like that Ultimate Rewards boasts IHG, Marriott, and Hyatt. (Amex has Marriott, Choice, and Hilton.) My family also takes a couple of Southwest trips each year — and Rapid Rewards is an Ultimate Rewards partner.
Next, grocery earnings-wise, 4X is great. But we earn 6% cashback on groceries at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1X) with our Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express.
Finally, Amex Offers are fine — but most aren’t as exciting as they once were.
Armed with my list of pros and cons, I called Amex.
The Amex Gold Retention Call
A wonderfully fun and polite rep handled my call. All of my recent phone calls with Amex for whatever reasons (retention calls, questions about an account, etc.) featured agents with outstanding attitudes.
When she asked why I called, I said, “I think I have to break up with my Gold Card.”
She laughed and played along. She listened to my reasons why the Gold Card and I needed to separate.
“I understand,” she said after I voiced my talking points.
Then, she dutifully went over all the statement credit opportunities.
“And I see you take full advantage of them,” she said.
Score one for her.
She started the cancellation process, and that’s when I asked if any retention offers were available. She told me she was just beginning to look into that.
“We don’t want anyone breaking up today!” she said.
A couple of years ago, I was offered 30,000 Membership Rewards points — to pay the annual fee and keep the card open.
Would I receive anything remotely close to that this time — or anything at all?
To my genuine surprise, there were three retention offers.
- Apply Membership Rewards towards the cost of my annual fee.
- She told me it normally requires 41,000 points to offset $250 (which is a lame redemption).
- But because I was speaking with a customer service consultant or something like that), she could knock it down to 25,000 (which is reasonable).
- Spend $2,000 within three (3) months of the call and earn a $150 statement credit.
- Spend $2,000 within three (3) months of the call and earn 20,000 bonus Membership Rewards points.
I went with 20,000 bonus Membership Rewards points. I value Amex Membership Rewards points at about 1.3 cents each in travel (and that’s relatively conservative). That’s worth about $260 in travel.
Why was I surprised about getting retention offers? Again, I haven’t used the card as much as I’d like. I thought Amex would’ve told me to hit the road.
But now I’m excited to spend more on the card (for real. I’m weird like that.). And Amex kept another customer happy. We’re hosting friends and family this weekend and on the Fourth of July. My card will get a workout — especially at supermarkets. I’m happy to use the card!
Have you tried retention calls for the American Express® Gold Card lately? What was your result? Please share your experience in the Comments section below!
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link.
Earn 120,000 bonus American Express® Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on the card within the first three (3) months of being approved for card membership. Terms apply.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Have you or any of your readers called about the Delta AMEX reserve and if so, what kind of retention offers have been received?
Sure have! Read this post. A few readers added their data points.
Chris–in the past it was fairly common to see cards being closed after retention requirements were met (not necessarily keeping them open for the whole year). Has best practice around this changed? Is there anywhere that people can view the disclosure that comes with the retention offer? I had a rep mention the keeping open for a year requirement on my P2 Reserve retention call but don’t recall it being part of their actual disclosure.
For this particular retention, the rep read in the verbal disclosure that I have to keep the card open for a year. Perhaps someone who’s done a retention over text-based chat may have some data points?
In my experience you can ask for a retention offer as long as you didn’t get one last year. I got one on both my Gold and Platinum cards last year, so I’ll have to pay the full fee when they come up for renewal. I think it would have been helpful if you would have noted the every other year retention rule for American Express.
I’ve gotten retention offers two years in a row. That’s why I didn’t mention it. But thanks for sharing your experience.
Hello Chris,
Sorry this is a question to you not a comment , could not find your email.
Virgin has a 30% discount on points. Do you know if one can get MQM if one get one of those tickets?
Only Delta award travel earns MQM.
Thanks Chris … appreciate that ..
You got it!
Yesterday, I was offered 30k MR points for $3k of spend in 3 months. I accepted.
Nice!