AMEX UK Rewards Gold Credit Card

In the last two UK credit card posts, I discussed co-branded Amex cards that directly earn British Airways Avios and Marriott Bonvoy points, respectively.  In this article, I’m going to discuss the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card (Gold Card), which earns American Express Membership Rewards points and has an annual fee of £140 (but it’s waived the first year). The card also has a 2.99% non-Sterling (GBP) transaction fee, like all UK-based Amex cards.

I provide the information here just to give people a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  All information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome Offer

The Gold Card has a welcome bonus offer of 20 000 points after spending £3 000 in the first three months, which is actually the same as the Marriott Bonvoy Card, but Membership Rewards points are worth more (1+ p/point instead of 0.6 p/point). American Express UK has a rule that you cannot earn a welcome bonus on this card if you have held ANY UK AMEX card in the past 24 months.  The welcome bonus is, therefore, worth £100 as cashback or £200 towards travel (or could be worth £300+ if transferred to a partner).

Earnings

The Gold Card earns 1 point/£1 spent on most purchases.  On purchases directly with airlines, Amex Travel, or in a foreign currency, the card earns 2 points/£1. However, that extra 1 pt/£1 fails to offset that 2.99% foreign transaction fee.  American Express points can be redeemed for cashback at a rate of 0.5 p/point, which means the card offers a minimum of 0.5% back per £1 spent.  However, using membership rewards points for cashback is almost certainly the worst use of these points.  When redeemed through the Amex Travel Portal, these same points can be used at a rate of 1 p/point.  Alternatively, the points can be transferred to 17 partners, where you can potentially get more value out of them.

Benefits

The Gold Card offers two primary benefits to offset the annual fee.  The first benefit is two complimentary lounge visits through a pay-per-use Priority Pass membership, which is to say you can either go to 2 lounges alone for free or you can take a guest once for free.  For the 3^rd and later visits, Priority Pass will charge you an entry fee. 

The second benefit is a Deliveroo statement credit of 2x £5/month.  The credits don’t stack, so it’s a use it or lose it offer.  These statement credits can cover £120 of the £140 annual fee pretty easily.

Examples of using the card

The main benefit of the Gold Card over a co-branded card is that Membership Rewards points are substantially more flexible.  Given the double points on travel (and the lounge passes), this card works best if you use to book travel (but not while travelling because it has a 2.99% non-sterling transaction fee).  To recoup the annual fee (with cash back rather than travel), you’d need to spend £28 000/year, ignoring the Deliveroo credit.  If you use the Deliveroo credit and lounge passes, then the annual fee is already offset. 

This card is meant as a general travel card, which is great if you don’t want to be tied to a single airline (e.g. only BA).

Card	World Traveller (£556) Total Avios (% return)	Hotel night in Oxford (£181/night)	Points values (WT/Hotel)
No rewards card	2 728 (4.9%)	2 200 MP (7.3%)	£27.28 / £13.20
Gold Card	2 728 Avios + 1 112 MR (6.9%)	2 200 MP + 181 MR (8.3%)	£43.96 / £15.91
BA Premium Plus	4 396 (7.9%)	2 200 MP + 271 Avios (8.8%)	£43.96 / £15.91
Marriott card	2 728 Avios + 1 112 MP (6.1%)	3 506 MP (11.5%)	£33.95 / £21.04

Is this credit card right for you?

This card is best for people that spend a lot of money on airfare but don’t want to be tied down to one specific airline.  In addition, the Deliveroo credits are great for offsetting the £140 annual fee (which is also waived during the first year!).  The 20 000 point welcome offer is enough for a one-way economy award flight from London to Boston, which is a great offer for a UK-based card.  If you’re willing to pay an annual fee and appreciate travel benefits, I definitely recommend this card for you.