American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

 Features

• 3-2-1 Points: Earn Membership Rewards® points up to three times as fast: You can earn 3X points on airfare, 2X points on gas and groceries, and 1X points on everything else
• No annual fee for your first year, a savings of $175
• Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $1,000 in your first 3 months of Card membership
• Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $30,000 per calendar year

Our review: Great card if you spend enough each month

This card is worth the fee and becomes very competitive in the long run if you plan to spend about $2500 per month. It offers double points on all gas and grocery purchases and triple points on all airfare purchases. It also offers a 15,000 point bonus every year in which you spend a total of $30,000 on the card. If you are among those who can cross this threshold, the earning power becomes one of the best we have seen.

Use our Mile Credit Card Value Calculator to see for yourself — someone spending $30,000 per year could see this card worth over $600 per year in rewards when used for airline miles tickets. And that’s after deducting the $175 annual fee, which is waived the first year.

Your points are earned in the ‘Membership Rewards’ program. It has over 140 partners, and one of the most useful features is the ability to transfer points 1:1 to several airlines, including Continental, Delta, British Airways, and more. We find Continental miles among the most valuable with its inclusion in the Star Alliance, which has more partners and destinations than any other airline partnership.

You can also use points for gift cards, travel on any airline at any time, concert tickets, and more, though we feel the most efficient use of points is transfering them into an airline miles program to take advantage of a valuable free ticket.

If you’re not as heavy a spender, you’ll probably find a lower annual fee card like the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express to be among the most valuable to you. It also offers transfer into many airline miles programs.

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Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.