Compare the Features and Benefits of American Express® Gold Card and
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

💳 This card earns American Express Membership Rewards points. American Express often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from American Express Membership Rewards here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

The American Express Gold Card (and the Rose Gold version of the Amex Gold Card) is one of my favorite credit cards on the market.

While many cards have more bonus categories or more features, the simplicity of a card that earns 4X American Express Membership Rewards points on both dining (up to $50,000 annually; 1X thereafter) and at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 annually; 1X thereafter), given how much of my monthly spend is in one of these two categories, makes it an easy top-of-wallet choice. 3X on airfare is also nice.

It helps that I have no problem at all using the included credits, living in a major metropolitan area. In fact, I’ve generally used both of the included credits at GrubHub and Uber Eats by the fifth of each month! The Resy credits are also easy to use if you live in a major metro area (although admittedly not as easy if you don’t!). And the $7 Dunkin’ credits come in handy if you live in a Dunkin’ heavy area (which we do).

While I wouldn’t make it my only credit card, it definitely complements other cards nicely. If you already have the American Express Platinum Card, for example, you’d be better off using the Platinum card for its many benefits and 5X on airfare (up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), but using your Amex Gold Card for your groceries and restaurant expenses.

Keep in mind that all of your American Express Membership Rewards points accrue to one master account. As long as you have at least one card open that earns Membership Rewards points, your points will never expire.

This includes no-annual fee cards like the Blue Business Plus.

Rates and Fees for the American Express® Gold Card

The market for premium travel rewards cards is crowded, and every major card issuer has a product with an annual fee of $95, or close to it. While not a creative name for a card in this class, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card appeals to those who want the cardholder benefits of premium card, but are happy to earn cash back rewards instead points that can be transferred to frequent flier miles or points with hotel programs.

This card earns double points on all travel and dining purchases, and 1.5 points per dollar spent everywhere else. But rather than being just travel rewards points, these points can be redeemed for one cent each as statement credits, bank deposits, gift cards or travel reservations.

So far, this is pretty similar to the no-fee Bank of America Travel Rewards card. But what makes this card “premium” are its benefits.

To start off with, you receive up to a $100 credit towards the application fees of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, which includes PreCheck. These services are used by frequent travelers to speed themselves through the lines at the airport.

You also receive up to a $100 credit towards airline incidental fees. These are the charges for things like luggage or seat selection that everyone hates, and those who use this fee each year will completely offset this card’s $95 annual fee.

It also includes an entire range of travel insurance policies such as trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and lost or delayed baggage reimbursement. It even comes with emergency evacuation insurance, a feature only found on a fraction of the top credit cards with annual fees over $500.

Purchase protection and extended warranty coverage are also included.

In the end, you have a card that offers a fairly simple cash back rewards program, similar to what you would find on a no fee card. But at the same time, it has all the fee credits, travel insurance and purchase protection features you’d expect to find on a much more expensive credit card.

Anyone who travels regularly, even if not frequently, will find these benefits to be worth its modest annual fee.