Compare the Features and Benefits of American Express® Gold Card and
Bank of America® Travel 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

While there are plenty of travel rewards enthusiasts that want to earn points and miles with a trendy new credit card, the Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card is made for others that just want to earn a free trip with a few fees and hassles as possible. It also offers 1.5 points per dollar spent on all purchases, and those points are worth one cent each as statement credits towards any travel or dining purchases. Points can also be used to pay for baggage fees in addition to other travel expenses such as flights, hotels, vacation packages, and dining/takeout purchases. (Most people would assume the credits are only towards travel so it’s nice that Bank of America includes the statement credit to be applied against dining purchases.

But the best value is offered to Bank of America Preferred Rewards members who can earn a 25%, 50% or 75% bonus, depending on their status within the program. Those with top status can earn as much as 2.62 points per dollar, which is truly exceptional for Preferred Rewards members. These points never expire so long as you account remains open.

Best of all, there’s no annual fee for this card, and no foreign transaction fees imposed on purchases made outside the U.S., so you don’t have to worry about that when traveling.

Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card vs. Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card

Editor’s Note: It’s a question I had, so I thought you might too. The primary differences are that the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card has no foreign transaction fees but redeeming your points is slightly limited in that they can only be redeemed against travel and dinning purchases whereas the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card has no limitations on cashing out your points for cash, but does charge a foreign transaction fee. So, they are pretty similar, but you would choose this one if you travel internationally and probably choose the Unlimited if you don’t leave the USA.