"Upgrade Downgrade"
Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express Review
Written by: eldarwen on 2010-08-09
Overall Satisfaction
Customer Service
Rewards
Account Management
Delivery Time
eldarwen's review: 
Last year, I applied for the Amex Green card and was approved but after a few months of having a basic Amex charge card, I was hit up with an offer for the Platinum card and I took the bait. Then after decideing that I wasn't willing to pay $450 AF for perks I wasn't going to use, I downgraded. The people on the customer service line were very nice and helpful with the downgrade. I ultimately decided that I would like the Premier Gold instead. My reason for choseing the Premier Gold instead of the regular Gold was because of the reward structure. I pay $175 a year in annual fees instead of $125. I like the reward structure of 3 points for every dollar for airfare, 2 points for every dollar on gas and groceries and 1 point for every dollar for everywhere else. I am a reward whore so I took the Premire Gold over the regular Gold. In the 1st month of having the card, you do have to pay the annual fee so I do have to be very careful about my spending. And you will have to pay the annual fee the same month every year that you carry the card. By using my card quite often, the points add up and I have redeemed some of them for gift cards.
Last year, I applied for the Amex Green card and was approved but after a few months of having a basic Amex charge card, I was hit up with an offer for the Platinum card and I took the bait. Then after decideing that I wasn't willing to pay $450 AF for perks I wasn't going to use, I downgraded. The people on the customer service line were very nice and helpful with the downgrade. I ultimately decided that I would like the Premier Gold instead. My reason for choseing the Premier Gold instead of the regular Gold was because of the reward structure. I pay $175 a year in annual fees instead of $125. I like the reward structure of 3 points for every dollar for airfare, 2 points for every dollar on gas and groceries and 1 point for every dollar for everywhere else. I am a reward whore so I took the Premire Gold over the regular Gold. In the 1st month of having the card, you do have to pay the annual fee so I do have to be very careful about my spending. And you will have to pay the annual fee the same month every year that you carry the card. By using my card quite often, the points add up and I have redeemed some of them for gift cards.
8 Comments
Comment 1 by nckuttoomm
Re: Upgrade Downgrade 
on 2010-08-09
My question is: if you do the math, after you take the annual fee out of the total cash or gift card rewards, how much "net" benefit you really get???
Compare to all those credit cards with cash back benefits plus 0 annual fee, you still want to have this card?
on 2010-08-09 My question is: if you do the math, after you take the annual fee out of the total cash or gift card rewards, how much "net" benefit you really get??? Compare to all those credit cards with cash back benefits plus 0 annual fee, you still want to have this card?
Comment 2 by wanderer
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-09
Congrats! You have your credit where the lender's pay attention to you! I will be glad when my time come!
on 2010-08-09 Congrats! You have your credit where the lender's pay attention to you! I will be glad when my time come!
Comment 3 by eldarwen
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-10
I have redeemed about $1,000 in rewards so far in the year I have had a charge card. So it is balancing out the annual fee. Probably around Christmas time, I will be redeeming more so, it balances itself out. Many issuers are starting to put annual fees on their cards.
on 2010-08-10 I have redeemed about $1,000 in rewards so far in the year I have had a charge card. So it is balancing out the annual fee. Probably around Christmas time, I will be redeeming more so, it balances itself out. Many issuers are starting to put annual fees on their cards.
Comment 4 by nckuttoomm
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-10
To Eldarwen: How much you spent totally to have that 1k reward?
on 2010-08-10 To Eldarwen: How much you spent totally to have that 1k reward?
Comment 5 by eldarwen
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-10
With the way the rewards are tiered, it didn't take me much or that long to accumulate the rewards. I maybe spend $600-$700 a month and when you use an Amex Premier Gold a lot at grocery stores the rewards add up quickly. There is a lag time with when the reward points hit your account. It's usually a month behind.
on 2010-08-10 With the way the rewards are tiered, it didn't take me much or that long to accumulate the rewards. I maybe spend $600-$700 a month and when you use an Amex Premier Gold a lot at grocery stores the rewards add up quickly. There is a lag time with when the reward points hit your account. It's usually a month behind.
Comment 6 by nckuttoomm
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-10
600~700 monthly on average
= 7200~8400 annually
In the case above, and you mentioned the reward was around 1000 in a year which means it can be equally to 11.9~13.9% cash back! Even Discover More, AMEX Blue Cash and Chase Freedom are far away from that.
Or maybe you only used the card for some special events which can more than the rule of 1X 2X 3X in getting points? For example, my BOA World Points card is only 1X for everything but these few weeks I can get 20X from Subway...
on 2010-08-10 600~700 monthly on average = 7200~8400 annually
In the case above, and you mentioned the reward was around 1000 in a year which means it can be equally to 11.9~13.9% cash back! Even Discover More, AMEX Blue Cash and Chase Freedom are far away from that.
Or maybe you only used the card for some special events which can more than the rule of 1X 2X 3X in getting points? For example, my BOA World Points card is only 1X for everything but these few weeks I can get 20X from Subway...
Comment 7 by eldarwen
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-10
I have only redeemed $1,000 worth of points so far. It depends on how you game the rewards. It's mainly for groceries (2 points for every dollar) and I charge my cellphone bill to it. What does give me a lot of points is the Bonus Points mall and that adds up.
on 2010-08-10 I have only redeemed $1,000 worth of points so far. It depends on how you game the rewards. It's mainly for groceries (2 points for every dollar) and I charge my cellphone bill to it. What does give me a lot of points is the Bonus Points mall and that adds up.
Comment 8 by joearg29
Re: Upgrade Downgrade on 2010-08-11
I am abut to Close my Platinum Charge card, the rewards are like anyother AMEX, in fact my Starwood and Blue Cash have better rewards than this one! I never carry a balance, yet the internal "CL" is by far my lowest at 10k before AMEX gets iffy... Starwood is 20k and Blue is 13k
on 2010-08-11 I am abut to Close my Platinum Charge card, the rewards are like anyother AMEX, in fact my Starwood and Blue Cash have better rewards than this one! I never carry a balance, yet the internal "CL" is by far my lowest at 10k before AMEX gets iffy... Starwood is 20k and Blue is 13k
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Disclaimer: This content is not provided by American Express. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. Review content is powered by Finance Globe.
