by Brian Kelly
For the past year or so, the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card has had a 15,000 point sign-up bonus, but today American Express raised it to 25,000 after $2,000 is spent within the first three months and the $175 annual fee is waived the first year.
While 25,000 isn’t exactly earth-shattering, it’s still a 67% increase.
However, some TPG readers have gotten 50,000-75,000, so if you feel lucky, it might make sense to hold off for a targeted offer, though there’s nothing you can do to increase your chance of getting one.
Also, if you’ve applied recently and only got 15,000 points, it could be worth a shot to send a secure message to Amex to ask for the 10,000 point difference in sign-up bonus.
If you are currently a Premier Rewards cardholder, you can refer friends and receive 5,000 Membership Rewards points by using this link (you must be logged out of your Amex account or else it may not load properly).
While 25,000 points isn’t the highest sign-up bonus out there, this card is all about the point-earning benefits. For me, it’s my #2 workhorse card after the Sapphire Preferred card because it’s the most lucrative earning Amex card out there and the $175 annual fee pays for itself if you spend enough and in the right categories.
Key benefits:
3 points per dollar spent on airfare booked through any site (including airlines directly) as long as the purchase is coded as airfare and 4 points per dollar if booked through Amex Travel.
2 points per dollar spent on gas and groceries
15,000 point bonus when you spend $30,000 annual. This essentially amounts to earning 1.5 Amex points per base dollar spent for the first $30,000 in spend (not including any bonuses for airfare/gas/groceries).
Purchase Protection
Main downsides:
2.7% foreign transaction fee. I never use this card abroad
$175 annual fee is steep compared to $95 on the Sapphire card
Related information: Comparing the Premier Rewards Gold vs. the normal Gold card
This post originally appeared at The Points Guy.
