American Express Gold Charge Card Review

By | January 24, 2024
American Express Gold Charge Card Review

American Express Gold Charge card also globally known as the Amex Gold Card is an entry level Charge Card in India from American Express. It is one of the only two “Charge” Cards issued in the country at the moment.

From no-preset credit limit to handsome rewards and premium support, here’s everything you need to know about this beautiful Amex Gold Charge Card.

Overview

TypeCharge Card
Reward Rate1% – 13%
Joining Fee1,000 INR+GST
Best forTaj Voucher Redemptions
USPDynamic Credit limit & Monthly Rewards

American Express Gold Charge Card is a rewards card that gives handsome reward rate, as good as ~8% or even beyond, if used right.

If you’re new to credit cards (holding at-least one non-Amex card) and looking for higher credit limit, you may start with Amex Gold charge card – more on the credit limit in detail later.

apply now

Apply through the link on the page & you’ll get additional 2,000 Referral Bonus Membership Rewards® points (spend INR 5,000 within 90 days)

Fees

Joining Fee1,000 INR+GST
Welcome Benefit4,000 MR Points (1000 INR value)
Renewal Fee4,500 INR+GST
Renewal BenefitNil
Renewal Fee waiverNil

The welcome benefit not only offset’s the joining fee but also comes with bit more value if you redeem the points for Amex Gold Collection.

The renewal fee indeed looks pretty high but not to worry, as you can get it waived off by calling Amex support.

Expect anywhere between 50% to 100% waiver on renewal as long as your annual spends are over 2 Lakhs.

Design

Amex Gold Charge Card India

The Amex Gold Charge Card has one of the iconic design I’ve ever come across. There are no credit cards in India that gets noticed as good as this, even the metal cards doesn’t get the attention that this golden card gets.

It looks elegant and gives a wow feel when someone looks at it for the first time. I’ve had many conversations around it for many years with curious merchants back in time when Amex cards were not issued to the mass market.

Credit Limit

The most important difference between other credit cards and Amex Gold Charge card is that it doesn’t come with a preset credit limit and you can’t convert your purchases to EMI either, as full due has to be paid upon stmt generation.

While the card doesn’t come with a credit limit, it does have a “shadow limit” which Amex calls it as “Credit Support” and it keeps changing as per your spend pattern.

Amex used to allow me to charge as high as Rs. 20 Lakhs on my Gold Charge Card back in time when I was using the card. This was possible even with not-so high regular spends.

However, from what I’m hearing from other cardholders, they’re giving relatively low credit limit on their Gold charge cards these days and that they’re also proactively reducing the limit if there is no regular usage on the card.

Having said that, you may expect it to allow a lot higher charge than a typical credit card, as long as the spends are happening regularly.

Rewards

SPEND TYPEREWARDSREWARD RATE (CASH CREDIT)REWARD RATE (MARRIOTT/TAJ VOUCHER)
Regular Spends1 MR on every 50 INR spend0.50%~1%
  • Utilities, Fuel spends are included as well
  • Rewards don’t expire.

It’s good to see that Amex has decided to offer rewards on fuel & utilities on this card recently, so you can take advantage of this benefit.

If you plan to use this card for fuel, do it only at HPCL (0% fuel surcharge), as other outlets might charge considerably high fuel surcharge on Amex Cards.

The reward points earned on the card are ideally meant for Marriott transfers (or) Taj voucher redemptions via Gold Collection (24K), as other options are not attractive enough, unless you know what you’re doing.

Also note that the MR points earned on Gold Charge Card can be pooled with other Amex cards (Plat travel points may not be pooled), so you can get closer to 24K or 18K Gold collection redemptions faster than before.

Monthly Rewards

  • Spend: 6*1000 INR = 6000 INR
  • Get: 1000 MR Points = ~500 INR

Monthly rewards is the USP of Gold cards (Gold Charge Card & MRCC) where-in customers are given 1000 MR points on doing certain spends, which is 1000 INR * 6 times a month on Gold Charge card.

The Value of 1000 MR points is only 250 INR if you redeem for cash credit but if you aim for the gold collection or redeem points at Marriott properties that’s easily 500 INR value, which means you’re getting ~8% return on spend easily. (assuming 1MR=0.50 INR)

You may as well accumulate points and hope to redeem for Taj vouchers under 24K Gold Karat Collection which will further enhance the point value from 0.50 INR to 0.58 INR.

While it may all look so lucrative, it demands bit more spends to keep the card free for next year.

My Experience

Amex Gold Charge Card Experience

I was holding Amex Gold Charge Card for couple of years before finally moving on to the Amex Platinum Charge Card. I’ve redeemed the points largely on Marriott (Points Transfer) & on Gold Collection depending on the need.

Gold collection used to be even better in the past with higher value for Amazon vouchers & stmt credit. Those were quite useful from time to time but is no more a preferred option.

At the moment we could get a great value with Marriott (50Ps/MR) & Taj Vouchers (58Ps/MR with 24K Points redemption).

Hence, it still makes sense to hold the card without a doubt.

Reward Multiplier

While Amex Reward Multiplier is something I’m not happy with since it’s inception, it does offer a great value if you’re not into other Super Premium Credit Cards.

You can get 5X rewards on the Reward Multiplier with Gold Charge Card.

What this means is, you can go ahead and buy 1K vouchers (like Amazon Shopping Vouchers / Myntra Vouchers) 6 times and get the monthly rewards along with the accelerated rewards via Rewards Multiplier.

Above will fetch you 1600 MR points a month (1000 Monthly Rewards + 600 Accelerated Rewards), which is about 19K points a year.

This means you get a sweet ~13% reward rate on 72K INR of such spends in a year. The reward rate can be even more, let’s get to it in few moments.

Other Benefits

american express gold charge card benefits
  • Foreign Exchange Markup fee: 3.5% + Service Tax
  • Amex health insurance benefits (with ICICI Lombard)
  • 100% Cashback a month upto 500 INR at Lakme Salons
  • Supplementary Card Offers
  • Amex Festive Offers
  • 24/7 premium support

The downside however is that being a semi-premium card, chances of it being used at low margin merchants are high, due to which one might get into card acceptance issues.

Maximizing Gold Charge Card

Monthly Bonus rewards of 1000 MR points is all you need to consider to earn points faster and redeem for Gold collection.

You may as well explore Points transfer partners if you can flex your mind into the ocean of points & miles game. That said, Marriott points transfer is the easiest one among.

On spending 6K every month you end up getting 12K MR points on 72K annual spend which is a sweet ~8% reward rate on regular spends and ~13% on Rewards Multiplier.

And if you’ve a flexible travel schedule and can find sweet spots with Marriott (not tough), you may even get value as good as 1 INR per MR point and that my friend means this card can get you a return of 16% – 26% annually (on 72K spend).

That should be mind blowing indeed but remember that you would need to spend more to get a chance for 100% renewal fee waiver.

How to apply?

You may apply online/offline or at airport outlets (no special airport offers at the moment), whichever is convenient for you.

Currently, one of the best offer you could get is the additional 2000 bonus points (1000 INR value) by applying via a referral link.

If you’re already holding an Amex card, do note that American Express allows you to hold 1 Charge Card + 2 Credit cards at any point in time.

apply now

Note: It’s better to apply using your Aadhaar address, otherwise the application might get delayed (or) even rejected, as reported by some of those who experienced it.

Bottomline

  • CardExpert Rating: 4.7/5

With a reward rate that can go as high as ~13% on a charge card with a low joining fee, American Express Gold Charge Card is indeed an amazing card to hold.

On top of it, you get one of the most beautiful card in the country with credit limit sufficient enough to take care of emergency high value spends, if any. And getting rewards on fuel/utility spends is another advantage.

All these backed by the best customer support in the world. So it’s no wonder a must-have for most.

Just incase if you need EMI facility and more reward points, you may go for the Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card which is quite similar to this card and is also being issued as “First Year FREE” for a limited period.

What’s your thoughts about the American Express Gold Charge Card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

53 thoughts on “American Express Gold Charge Card Review

  1. Sagar

    This card is so beautiful. I wish I could get this as LTF since I’m not really into the rewards game. Has Amex ever offered this as LTF in the past?

    Reply
  2. Rajesh Henry

    I applied for MRCC last month and I think the pace is quite slow until I call them and ask for an update; they don’t proceed; Applied for GRCC on Nov 15th 2022.

    Nov 21 : KYC Done 2 times; uploaded income documents 2 times on Nov 21; called up again on Dec 3rd they send me a reminder for KYC update again; they system was not updated on Dec 15th called and asked for udpate they told it will take 21 days; on Dec 22 called to check the status; not they are telling it will take up to one month. I think although the call centre professionals are good at answering; but the Backend team team is quite lousy.

    Reply
    1. Rajesh Henry

      More than a month now, still awaiting, I don’t know why? Does this take such a long time?

      Reply
  3. Vishal

    Hi Sid!
    Can I transfer MR points earned from Plat travel and Gold charge to same Marriot Bonvoy account or FFPs ?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Maybe covering only the good ones these days and so the rating is high. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Shashank Karnawat

    I am holding this card since 2016 and religiously getting the annual fee waived off every year. I just use this card to make 6 transactions of 1000 each mostly on Paytm wallet/mobikwik wallet. I also have an Amex MR credit cards as a companion card to this on which we have to make 4 transactions of 1500 each in a month to get monthly milestone benifit of 1k points. Points from both cards get added to the same account and I am usually able to accumulate 24k points in 10 months. Earlier used the points for statement credit. Now use it for purchasing Taj voucher – 14k worth for 24k points. Really happy with the cards and literally the best customer support across not just credit cards but any product/service I haveb ever used.

    Reply
  5. CC

    I have the Amex Gold card since ~2013. It used to be amazing but they have drastically reduced the rewards over the years. You could get free movie vouchers (of Rs. 2000 value) every month if you did a few transactions over 1k each month. And they have removed the BEST reward on this card – the Rs. 10K statement credit if you have 24K points on the card.

    I still hold the card because Amex customer service is great but this is card is nowhere near as great as it used to be.

    Reply
    1. AAJ

      I miss the statement credit too 🙂
      I held Gold charge card from 2012 for few years

      Reply
  6. PRAMTESH

    After so many years of waiting. Finally I got MRCC without any income proof.

    Reply
    1. Samy Dcosta

      Hi Pramtesh, I work onboard luxury cruise lines in the US and as such would really like to know how you managed to get the AMEX card without any income proof. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and have a great day

      Reply
      1. PRAMTESH

        Thank you Mr. Dcosta,
        I did nothing extra. I have multiple banks card. I apply all the cards only if it’s card to card basis, or CIBIL based.

        I tried emailing AMEX many times in past to give me card on card to card basis. But they only need income docs.

        Few weeks ago, a friend of mine send me a refferal link to apply Amex card. I wasn’t interested as i was not ready to get card by providing income docs.
        But just for curiosity. I applied. I entered my personal and official address. My office has been shifted recently. But i mentioned the old address. I knew the card is anyways would be getting reject.
        This time I selected 1 slab Higher about income.

        Suddenly I saw it was mentioned that no income proof is required. I following the application. Video KYC was done. (I was on street the executive to me to stop for a minute and stand near a clear background 😁)

        Within 2 days i got approval message.
        I was so happy. Though the limit assigned is just 20% compare to average my other Cards. But I am not hungry for limit.

        Reply
      2. Sambhav Sharma

        I got Plat without any income proof. I am based in the Netherlands. I just applied fresh through the website, and they didn’t ask for any income proof. Video KYC only.

        Reply
  7. Sarvajit Sankar

    Siddharth,
    A question, any knowledge on whether Amex is issuing companion cards with Charge cards now? When I asked customer care, they either don’t seem to know the concept of companion cards or they outright say that we have to pay annual fees for all cards we hold!

    Reply
    1. AAJ

      I held until few months back, Rewards card with Plat. Chrg.
      I have closed Plat. Charge card, they might levy annual fee

      Reply
  8. Anonymous Amex User

    Amex’s insurance is not so great. I have been using it for 3 years. It just like any other retail policy
    1. OPD claim is a hassle. I have submitted and they have yet to even touch the application even after 10 days. Last time it took 60 days for processing and reimbursement. ICICI Lombard’s response is slower even for Corporate Policies. Retail response is snail paced.
    2. My daughter (2yr old) has been hospitalised and they want an explanation why a 2yr old need need 5 day extended hospitalisation just after 4-5 hour surgery. My be they are expecting hospital to discharge just after surgery! I find it worthless.
    3. Tracking and submitting OPD bills is a hassle. Better go without OPD cover and frankly speaking after using Corporate Policy for 10-15 times, I can say, its not worth it. I prefer corporate policy barely any questions asked.
    4. Health Check benefit is the only shining part where you can choose the package of your choice and get reimbursement.
    5. It does not cover many many diseases. Exclusions are like stars in the sky.

    Better go with new age ones like ACKO where they even cover chemotherapy or radiation even for cancers and provide unlimited cover. You pay a little bit premium.

    I had to stick with current policy because mostly I will not get new insurance policy due to pre-existing diseases after policy started. Health insurance is better bought when you are fully healthy.

    Reply
  9. THIYAGARAJAN

    Congrulations PRAMTESH. I like to apply for Gold Charge card
    i dont have any income documents. can you share what kind of documents
    you submitted to get amex card. i have credit card 4 lak 5 thousand limit.

    Reply
    1. PRAMTESH

      Thank you Thiyagarajan.

      I didn’t gave any income proof. When i applied via a refferal link. I just filled all details. And suddenly it showed “No income proof required” so I proceed further and completed V-KYC. After 2 days i got approved email and SMS.

      Reply
  10. Abhi

    Renewal fee waiver on 2lac spend works? It’s not mentioned on Amex site and even CC on chat confirmed there’s no fee waiver on this card, even based on any spends. Moreover, there’s no combined fee if you hold multiple cards. Eg, if you already pay fee for Platinum Travel, you also have to pay for Gold Charge.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Waiver on ~2L spend is an expected “retention” offer and not a standard benefit.

      Reply
  11. Amitabh Maheshwari

    I use this beautiful card just to upload my wallet 4 times and paying my utility bill twice. This comes to exactly ₹ 6000 in a month. I don’t know how I can spend ₹ 2 lakhs with this when I have both Infinia and Magnus with me. I will still try to bargain for fee waiver or renewal benefits Let me see.

    Reply
    1. Sekar

      Which app you’re using for loading wallets?
      Are they charging any extra for loading wallets using Amex?
      If so just tell me how much they’re charging per transaction?

      Reply
      1. Rohit Bahl

        Hi Sekar,
        Use Paytm wallet through Uber app for wallet loading. You can upload a max.of Rs. 4000/- pm in a wallet. Add an Amex card and load using that card.

        Reply
        1. Arun

          This doesn’t work any more. Worked till last month. Uber – Paytm gateway has changed to add extra amount for wallet loading. The amount is more for Amex than visa/master cards.

          Reply
          1. Siddharth Post author

            So the OlAMoney wallet load is the only option left?

          2. Arun

            Hi Sid,

            I didn’t try that yet. I will give it a try. For UPI I applied and got a rupay card instead and using it for most UPIs. Wallet transactions whenever possible using with Amazon Pay+ GC.

  12. Aakash cjb

    Can we have platinum travel as companion card if we have this card?

    Reply
  13. Rohit Bahl

    Hi Sid,
    I applied for the Amex Gold Charge card from the site. No documentation needed, just filled the details and submitted. It got approved in few mins, vKYC done the same day, got a call from cc, they confirmed everything is done. Within 72hrs.card was delivered to my home with a shadow limit of 5.06L. Awesome service by Amex as always.

    Reply
  14. PRAMTESH

    I am new to Amex. Recently I got MRCC.
    Can I get Smart Earn card as companion card(LTF) ?

    Reply
  15. Prashant

    Hi so I took the card from your ref link. All good got the card, but it also has an insurance form. Is the the insurance for free? Because I don’t want to send nomination form and be charged. So is it actually free? And does it count for 80 c and 80 D?

    Reply
  16. Arun

    Got gold card last week . Applied through website and KYC is done within 2 days. Then total silence from their part. Card approval and delivery took 2+ weeks. Thus starting my Amex journey 😀. Thanks CardExpert for the guidance, especially on the aadhar address part. I was confused between MRCC and this. Then decided to go ahead considering Fuel and Utility usage and as a variety (Charge card). Not a fan of card EMIs even if no cost.

    About to cancel SBI Octane, IDFC Select, Axis Ace cards. Plan to use Magnus and Amex as primary and HDFC Regalia as secondary 😀 .

    I saw an option to see test charge in mobile app. Didn’t work for me though. Called CC and as Sid says it was a nice experience talking to them. In my decade long experience with 5 banks, they were quite knowledgeable and they really want to help us!!.

    Await a write up on “Maximize Amex usage (Paid)” – Like the one you made for Axis 😉.

    Reply
  17. satesh

    Applied from the referral link yesterday night. No income documents asked. Card approved without KYC. (Done KYC 3 months back for Platinum Travel card). Today when I tried to do VKYC, got a message your application is completed.

    Reply
  18. Arun

    Got a new info from CC tat there is no additional charge in BPCL and IOCL pumps if transaction is less than 5K. Can somebody confirm?

    Reply
    1. Anshul

      This is not True. I have used my Gold Charge Card at BPCL. You are charged 1%+GST extra and get 1 MR/Rs 50.

      Reply
      1. Arun

        Thanks Anshul,

        I had a feeling so not yet used . Further I moved to electric from ICE, now don’t have to worry about it 🙂

        Reply
  19. Jagan E

    Applied for gold card after seeing this review here. I applied through the Amex site only, asked me to input PAN & vKyc was done in few hours. Never asked for any other documents, I expected this to be rejected to my surprise got a mail today saying it was approved.

    Maybe due to high Cibil & holding few other cards made this process easier just curious to see limit they going to offer. Very excited as this will be my first ever American Express Card 🙂🙂

    Reply
  20. Jagan

    Thanks for a fantastic review . Applied it & got approved next day after vkyc, delivered in less than a week.

    Reply
  21. Rags

    I have applied today using this link; this would be my 3rd card in addition to the plat charge that I am held for four years. 🙂 I hope to play Amex cards if meet 🙂

    Reply
  22. Darshan

    Hi Sid, I applied for the Amex Gold Card through the ‘Apply Now’ link on the website and post receiving the card and spending up to the required thresholds I can confirm that I’ve received both the 4K Welcome MR and 2K Referral Bonus MR points. A big thanks to you. The best part is that my Membership Rewards account for both Amex Gold and Amex Platinum Reserve is the same which helps to accelerate towards 24K Reward Catalogue.

    Reply
  23. Kritin Kapoor

    Is this still a good card to keep, given the fees, as a companion to the MRCC?
    Since points are pooled, it might make sense to use this card for the 1K bonus points, and reach the 24K collection sooner.

    I think I can add 6 transactions on this per month, shifting those out of my DCB, but not sure how valuable this card is after the fee. Don’t think I can add 2L per year on this.

    Recently closed my 3rd card (Axis Vistara Infinite) so looking to get a 3rd card.

    Reply
  24. Dev

    Long time reader, first time commenter. 🙂

    Can one transfer points from Plat Travel and Gold Charge in one Mariott account?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Hearty welcome Dev. I’m able to transfer from Plat Charge & Plat Travel to single Marriott a/c so I see no challenge in your case either.

      Reply
      1. Dev

        Amazing! Thank you for clarifying.

        Was planning on getting Gold Charge since I exceed 4 lacs on Plat Travel. Also I’m greedy for 5x MR points via Gyftr!

        Reply
      2. RC

        Is this possible if both the cards belong to different individuals?

        Reply
  25. RC

    I am having Platinum travel and my wife is having Gold Charge card, can we transfer our points to same Marriott Bonvoy account?

    Reply

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