American Express Gold Credit Card Germany – 15.000 Points + 1 Year Free + 75€ Amazon Gift Card
The American Express Gold Credit Card offers a great way to earn points and get travel benefits. The card is one of the best travel rewards credit cards on the German market and earns offers a very attractive points earning opportunity.
Currently the card is offering an excellent welcome bonus of 15.000 Membership Rewards Points after spending 1.000 Euro within the first 3 months. In addition to that you will get the annual fee waived for the first year and a 75 Euro Amazon.de gift card.
Card details:
- Welcome bonus: 15,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend 1.000€ within the first 3 months
- You can also earn an extra 15,000 Membership Rewards points for recommending the American Express Gold Card to someone that is approved for the card
- Card earning rate: 1 point per 1€ spent (1.5 points per 1€ spent in the ‘Turbo Program’)
- Annual Fee: 0€ the first year, then 140€
- Earn flexible Membership Rewards points that can be transferred to valuable airline and hotel programs
- No expiration of points during the Membership Rewards membership
- Foreign exchange fee: 2%
Welcome Bonus
The American Express Gold Credit Card is currently offering 15.000 Membership Rewards points after spending 1.000€ within the first 3 months.
You can also earn an extra 15.000 Membership Rewards points when you successfully refer a friend to the American Express Gold Credit Card.
Earn 1.5 Points / 1€ with Amex ‘Turbo Program’
You can earn 1.5 Membership Rewards points per 1€ spent through American Express’s ‘Turbo Program’. You can easily register through American Express’s website or call into the phone center.
There is a 15€ fee to enroll in the ‘Turbo Program’, but the fee is currently also waived for the first year you sign-up for the program.
If you are a big spender then it is certainly worth it with the extra points you will earn. For instance if you value Membership Rewards points at 1.0 cent each, then you will pay back the annual fee of the program after spending the first 1.000€.
Note also that the ‘Turbo Program’ only applies for annual spending up to 40.000€. This means you will earn 1.5 points per 1€ up to 40.000€ and after that you will earn the normal 1 point per 1€.
Earn Valuable Membership Rewards Points
Both the American Express Gold and Platinum credit cards earn valuable Membership Rewards points. The points are flexible points that are accumulated into you Membership Rewards account and can be transferred to airline and hotel programs.
The many travel partners you can transfer the points to makes it easy to redeem the points at the highest value for your type of travel.
Here is a list of Membership Rewards transfer partners and the transfer rate:
Airline programs:
- Air France / KLM FlyingBlue: 5 = 4
- Air Berlin Topbonus: 5 = 4
- Alitalia MilleMiglia: 5 = 4
- British Airways Avios: 5 = 4
- Iberia Avios: 5 = 4
- SAS EuroBonus: 5 = 4
- Finnair Plus: 5 = 4
- Asia Miles: 5 = 4
- Etihad Airways Guest: 5 = 4
- Emirates Skywards: 5 = 4
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club: 5 = 4
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 5 = 4
- Delta Airlines SkyMiles: 3 = 2
Hotel programs:
- Starwood: 3 = 1
- Club Carlson: 1 = 2
- HHonors: 1 = 1
Amex Gold Card Benefits
The American Express Gold Card comes with some great travel benefits that can make the card worth keeping after the first year.
- Travel cancellation insurance
- Overseas health insurance
- Rental car insurance
- Transport accident insurance
- Purchase protection – damage and theft
- Global information and Gold Assist service
- Personal 24-hour telephone customer service
- Free replacement card world – normally within 24 hours
- Cash worldwide at approximately 500,000 Express Cash machines
- No transaction fee within the EMU (European) – Otherwise 2% foreign transaction fee
- Free Boingo Hotspot
Annual and Foreign Transaction Fee
The annual fee on the American Express Gold Credit Card is waived for the first year. After the first year you will pay 140€ each year you keep the card. The card does come with some great benefits and the Amex ‘Turbo Program’ can make keeping the card worth it if you charge a lot on your card.
Note that there is also a 2% foreign transaction fee for all charges made on the card in a foreign currency. This makes it not the best card to use while traveling internationally.
Review
The American Express Gold Credit Card offers a valuable welcome bonus of 15.000 Membership Rewards points after spending 1.000€ within the first 3 months.
You will also have the 1st years annual fee waived and earn a 75€ Amazon.de gift card when you apply before 31.03.2016.
With the ‘Turbo Program’ you can earn 1.5X points and maximize your Membership Rewards points earning. Given that Amex Membership Rewards points are worth
Membership Rewards points are the most valuable points out there for German travelers. They are relatively easy to earn and can be transferred to many Membership Rewards valuable airline and hotel travel partners. This includes British Airways, Air France / KLM, Air Berlin, Etihad, and Qatar. You can also indirectly transfer points to Miles & More via a roundabout way of SPG.
Overall given that the €140 annual fee is waived the first year this is an excellent deal. The card’s points earning rate and redemption opportunities make this card is one of the best rewards earning credit cards on the German market.