If you like the bonus MR points milestones on the Amex MRCC, then you should check out the American Express Gold Charge card. The Gold Charge is a premium card with a monthly MR points milestone with lifestyle benefits. The key difference is this is a charge card. So, you cannot carry over balances and need to pay in full every month. Here’s a review of the American Express Gold Charge card to see if it is worth getting this one.
American Express Gold Charge Card Eligibility
Unlike other credit card issuers, Amex has some of the simplest eligibility criteria for its credit cards. To apply for an Amex Gold Charge card we need:
- CIBIL Score: 750+
- Annual Income: Rs 6 Lakh+
Fees and Charges
| Joining Fee | Rs 1000+GST |
| Welcome Benefit | 4000 MR Points + 2000 MR Points (with referral) |
| Annual Fee | Rs 4500+GST |
| Renewal Benefit | 5000 MR points on payment of the annual fee (Only for the first year) |
Unlike the MRCC, Gold Charge does not get any annual fee waiver on spends. But, you can always negotiate with Amex to get some retention benefit in lieu of the fee. To get the welcome benefit of 2000 MR points, spend Rs 5000 within 90 days of card issuance.
Regular Rewards
| Spend Category | Rewards | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Spends | 1 MR point/Rs 50 ~0.8% to 1.2% | None |
| Utility | 1 MR point/Rs 50 ~0.8% to 1.2% | 10K MR points/month |
| Fuel | 1 MR point/Rs 50 ~0.8% to 1.2% | 5K MR points/month |
| Insurance & EMI | No Rewards |
The American Express Gold Charge card has an unique USP over MRCC and Platinum Travel. It offers you MR points even for utility and fuel expenses. There is a max cap but those are very high. The reward rate above is determined based on the assumption that the MR points will be redeemed for the Gold Collection.
- You can spend Rs 5 Lakh per month on utilities before hitting the max cap.
- You can spend Rs 2.5 Lakh per month on fuel before hitting the max cap.
Bonus Membership Rewards
The base reward rate might seem low for the American Express Gold Charge card but there are two ways to earn accelerated MR points. The first one is to do 1000 X 6 transactions in a month. This will give you 1000 bonus MR points every calendar month. This can be any type of spend, even fuel, utilities or insurance. You can even buy Amazon Pay and Amazon Shopping GV from Amex Reward Multiplier.
On redeeming from the Gold Collection, this is equivalent to at least Rs 436 to between Rs 580 if we include the regular 1 MR point per Rs 50. So, we get a return of 7.3% to 9.7% on spending Rs 6000. We can also transfer these MR points to transfer partners like Marriott Bonvoy for hotel stays.
Amex Gold Charge gets 5X on Reward Multiplier
American Express Gold Charge card gets 5X on Reward Multiplier. This is better than what MRCC and Plat Travel get at 2X and 3X respectively.
- Standard Reward Rate: 1 MR point/Rs 50
- 5X Reward Rate: 5 MR points/Rs 50
This makes Gold Charge an ideal option for using on Reward Multiplier. Along with the regular Reward Multiplier spend offers, you can get a 10% reward rate on your spends.
Key Lifestyle Benefits
The Amex Gold Charge also provides quite a few lifestyle benefits which will be useful to some of us.
- Truefitt & Hill: Instant discount of Rs 1000 on minimum transaction of Rs 1000
- Tata CLiQ Palette: Get Rs 750 off on purchase of Rs 2499
There are many other benefits that you can check out here.
Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
We find this quite surprising. The Amex Gold Charge card does not get any complimentary airport lounge access, not even domestic. When you charge 4500+GST as the annual fee, this is something basic to be expected.
- Domestic Airport Lounge Access: Not Available
- International Airport Lounge Access: Not Available
Fuel Surcharge Waiver
American Express Gold Charge card gets a 0% convenience fee for HPCL fuel pumps. This is valid for all transactions of value less than Rs 5000. So, you can potentially use your Amex Gold Charge card at HPCL fuel pumps to hit the milestone. You will not get regular MR points but you will get the milestone bonus MR points.
Other Benefits & Charges
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: Not available except at HP fuel pumps
- Foreign Currency Markup: 3.5%+GST ~4.13%
18 and 24 Carat Gold Collection for Amex Gold Charge Card
For the American Express Membership Rewards credit card, one of the best options is to redeem for the 18/24 Carat Gold Collection rewards. These offer you a good value for your membership reward points if you do not want to do a points transfer.
American Express Gold Collection: 18K MR points
The 18K Gold collection offers you access to Amazon Pay, Flipkart, Myntra, Shoppers Stop, Reliance Digital, Tata CLiQ and Taj Hotels stay vouchers. If we go purely by value per MR point, then Taj Hotels is your best bet. But, you also have multiple options if you do not want to do a travel redemption.
| E-Voucher | Value | 1 MR Point Value |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | ₹ 6000 | 33p |
| Flipkart | ₹ 6000 | 33p |
| Reliance Digital | ₹ 6000 | 33p |
| Myntra | ₹ 7000 | 39p |
| Shoppers Stop | ₹ 7000 | 39p |
| Tata CLiQ | ₹ 7000 | 39p |
| Taj | ₹ 9000 | 50p |
American Express Gold Collection: 24K MR points
The 24K Gold collection offers you access to Amazon Pay, Flipkart, Shoppers Stop, Taj Hotels and Tanishq Diamond Jewellery gift vouchers. If we go purely by value per MR point, then again Taj Hotels is your best bet. The 24K Gold collection gives you access to few more non-travel redemptions. Tanishq Diamond Jewellery stands out in this with a marginally higher value per MR point.
| E-Voucher | Value | MR Point Value |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | ₹ 8000 | 33p |
| Flipkart | ₹ 8000 | 33p |
| Reliance Digital | ₹ 8000 | 33p |
| Tanishq Diamond Jewellery | ₹ 9000 | 38p |
| Tata CLiQ | ₹ 9000 | 38p |
| Shoppers Stop | ₹ 10000 | 42p |
| Taj | ₹ 14000 | 58p |
Catalog Redemption Options – Better to Avoid
The Gold Collection is delayed gratification for rewards redemption as it requires accumulating MR points over several months. There are multiple other options for redeeming the MR points on the Amex Gold Charge card on the go. These include electronics, luxury and lifestyle products, fashion accessories, and instant gift vouchers for various brands. We can even pay for transactions using MR points. The MR point value in these options is around 25p per point. But, better to avoid all these options.
Transfer to Airlines/Hotel Loyalty Programs
Amex MR points are also one of the most versatile ones when it comes to using them for airline and hotel loyalty programs. We get multiple transfer partners.
| Partner | Conversion Rate |
|---|---|
| Asia Miles | 800 Points = 400 Asia Miles |
| Club Vistara | 900 Points = 300 Club Vistara Points |
| Emirates Skywards | 800 Points = 400 Emirates Skywards Miles |
| Etihad Guest | 1600 Points = 800 Etihad Guest Miles |
| Hilton Honors | 1000 Points = 900 Hilton Honors Points |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 100 Points = 100 Marriott Bonvoy Points |
| PAYBACK | 1 Point = 1 PAYBACK Point |
| Qatar Privilege Club | 500 Points = 250 Avios |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | 800 Points = 400 KrisFlyer Miles |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 800 Points = 400 Virgin Points |
Is the Amex Gold Charge card worth it?
The Gold Charge is best utilized with the 1000 MR points milestone and the 5X Reward Multiplier. This will give you 1600 MR points every month (1000 bonus MR points plus 600 from Reward Multiplier). The total MR points per year from this comes to 19200. The Gold Collection gives a good value for these reward points. But, you will also get a better value if you use these points for one of the transfer partners.
But, there is one problem many of us will see with the Gold Charge card. It is the lack of a defined renewal benefit or annual fee waiver criteria.
American Express Gold Charge Card
10 thoughts on “American Express Gold Charge Card Review”
In current scenario where AmazonPay Gift vouchers are rare to find to complete 1000 X 6 transactions, what’s the best alternate to complete 1000 X 6 transactions with accelerated rewards of 5X?
If you need 5X rewards, just go with some other brand vouchers on Amex Reward Multiplier.
truefit and Hill offer is now give benefit of Rs 1000 only.
Yes, the offer has changed now. The review is updated.
Gold collection has further devalued. Now you get 6000 amazon/FK voucher for 18k and 8000 voucher for 24k points. Please update.
This is already updated in the Gold Collection redemption section.
Hi Maven,
I already have an Amex Platinum Travel Card and MRCC card (free as long as I hold Platinum Travel) with me. Would they club Gold Charge also for free into the mix, if I request them? Is that even possible?
Thanks.
Not for free. You need to negotiate with them when you get charged the annual fee.
Is renewal 5000 MR additional to whatever retention offered?
like if they offered 10K points, in total will get 15k?
also, is it automatic or manually have to request like Travel card bonus points?
Thanks
Gold Charge has a renewal benefit only for the first year. Any retention benefit offered will be over and above this. You have to call them and request. It is not automatic.