Why You Should Consider Amex Gold Over Citi Premier
At first sight, the American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply. See rates & fees) and Citi Premier® Card have little in common. One is a premium card with a hefty annual fee, while the other is a more practical option for everyday use. The two cards offer similar welcome and category bonuses and their corresponding loyalty programs overlap with their transfer partners. Still, most people opt for the Citi Premier® Card for its more reasonable annual fee.
While the Citi Premier® Card is a terrific card, the Amex Gold offers better benefits, offsetting the higher annual fee. Here are five reasons why you should consider switching from the Citi Premier® Card to the Amex Gold card:
Statement Credits Could Make The Annual Fee Worthwhile
The primary deterrent for switching from the Citi Premier to the Amex Gold Card is likely the higher annual fee. The Amex Gold Card carries a $250 annual fee while the Citi Premier’s is a more reasonable $95. Cardholders receive up to $120 in Uber Cash for use on Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S. and up to $120 in annual dining credits to select merchants per calendar year. Both are dispersed as monthly $10 credits.
The Citi Premier offers a $100 annual hotel savings benefit when spending $500 on a single hotel booking when booked through thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU. While that’s still a solid benefit for a card with a $95 annual fee, the credit kicks in post-tax. That reduces the overall savings substantially. The Amex Gold’s monthly credits are much more practical because they apply to a common spending category that most people can take advantage of.
Four Is More than Three
The Amex Gold Card’s category bonuses are much better than the Citi Premier’s. The Amex Gold offers .
Meanwhile, the Citi Premier offers . You can argue that the 3 points on air travel and hotel bonus is preferable to Amex Gold’s more restrictive bonus. However, considering Amex Travel bookings via Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection include added perks and property credits, it can actually be preferable to booking direct.
It’s also worth noting that the points earned through the Amex Gold may be easier to use than Citi ThankYou Rewards. That’s because Amex Membership Rewards has more U.S. based transfer partners than Citi.
Amex Offers Have Been Impressive in the Last Year
Many banks offer exclusive discounts and statement credit offers to their cardholders. You simply add rotating deals to your account, use your card and get a nice chunk of change back. However, these deals aren’t always substantial and rarely top 10% cash back.
Amex Offers is a major exception to the rule. Amex partners with many popular retailers to offer substantial discounts, which are available to Amex Gold cardholders. You can see up to 100 deals at a time when you log in to your Amex account. Additional deals will usually populate as you add them to your card.
Amex Offers have been pretty impressive over the last few years. Last year alone, I saved over $2,000 on everyday purchases through Amex Offers. Deals ranged from 20% discounts on hotel bookings to cash back on my cell phone, utility and insurance bills. Amex Offers is pretty much unparalleled in the quality of merchants along with the number of offers.
Citi has its own Merchant Offers program and some of the deals can be great, but in my experience they don’t quite match up to Amex Offers. That’s yet another reason you should consider the Amex Gold over the Citi Premier.
Amex Offers Purchase Protections, Citi Does Not
In 2019, Citi shocked customers by doing away with all travel and purchase protections on their credit cards. Among the casualties were valuable benefits like worldwide car rental insurance, trip cancellation and interruption protection, travel accident insurance, baggage delay coverage, Citi Price Rewind and extended warranty, to name a few.
While most consumers don’t use these benefits often, they were incredibly valuable in certain circumstances. Plenty of folks saved money through Citi Price Rewind, baggage delay coverage and extended warranty benefits. These services come in handy in stressful circumstances and their discontinuation was a massive blow for Citi customers.
A lack of protections means you probably shouldn’t put big purchases (travel or otherwise) on your Citi credit cards anymore. The last thing you want is to spend thousands of dollars on a trip and end up in the hole because you don’t have travel insurance to recoup the cost when it’s canceled. The same goes with purchasing expensive items like laptops, phones and electronics.
American Express continues to provide an impressive array of travel and purchase protections on cards like the Amex Gold—with no extra charge. That’s just one more of many reasons why you might want to switch from the Citi Premier to the Amex Gold.
The Membership Rewards Welcome Offer Will Go a Long Way
In addition to earning more rewards and getting a slew of card perks, the Amex Gold Card comes with a substantial perk: A welcome bonus. The card currently offers .
It’s a similar bonus to the Citi Premier Card, however, the points are more valuable. With well over a dozen airline and hotel transfer partners, you have lots of options for redeeming your welcome bonus.
One of my favorites is an ANA Mileage Club award ticket to Europe, which costs 55,000 miles round-trip in economy class and 88,000 in business. These rates are substantially cheaper than other Star Alliance partners like United MileagePlus and Avianca Lifemiles.
If you’re going to switch from the Citi Premier to the Amex Gold, be sure to redeem your Citi ThankYou points first. If you don’t use or transfer them before closing down the account, you forfeit the balance.
Bottom Line
When it comes to earning valuable rewards, it’s understandable to opt for a card with a low annual fee. But it’s important to be aware of your options and compare the benefits of a higher-annual fee card to make sure you’re getting the most value for your money.
The Citi Premier is a terrific card, but the lack of travel and purchase protection can render the generous category bonuses less valuable. If you want a credit card with a solid welcome bonus, lucrative category bonuses and valuable rewards, the Amex Gold might be a better fit for you than the Citi Premier.
To view rates and fees for American Express® Gold Card please visit this page.
