If you’ve been reading my posts throughout 2024, you may be aware that in January I got an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card. Of course, I was keen to take out this card to boost my rewards points, but I also wanted to see whether it was actually worth the hype that I had seen around it online.

Get bonus points when you spend £3,000 in the first 3 months using my referral link here for the UK!

Why is an American Express card different?

Most major debit and credit cards in the UK are provided by either VISA or Mastercard and are accepted everywhere as they are deemed the two main card providers. American Express is similar in the sense that it is like VISA and Mastercard, however the cards cannot be used in as many places as them due to American Express charging shops, restaurants, etc. a higher fee to accept payments from their cards.

American Express does not offer cards for everyone, and solely focuses on rewards credit cards rather than those for people with no credit history, poor credit history or looking for a balance transfer card. When looking at their interest rates (only charged if you don’t clear your balance) you will note these are very high in comparison to your standard credit cards.

Is American Express worth it?

It really depends on what you are looking for with a credit card. Since 2018, I had been using two separate credits cards designed to help build your credit score over time and these had worked for me. However, I realised I was missing out on rewards for my spending that I could be accumulating without spending any differently.

American Express cards come with varying levels of rewards, but the one that I went for was the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card. The main reason behind this was the high sign-up offer value (I used a referral link) of 30,000 points when I spent £3,000 in the first 3 months.

I know what you’re thinking, that is an extortionate amount of money to spend in 3 months but I timed this well in the fact that I was going to be booking a few holidays in the timeframe and had the cash set aside to cover the cost regardless. You also earn 1 point per £1 you spend on the card, or 2 points when paying for various “travel” costs such as flights so I earned a good chunk of extra points here - I’ll explain how points work in a moment!

This card usually comes with a whopping £195 annual fee (yes, £195) but this is waived in the first year to incentivise you to test the card out. But what do you actually get for this great big fee?

• £120 cashback on Deliveroo per year

  This seems like a pretty good deal, and if you are ordering from Deliveroo regularly then it is a no-brainer. However, if you don’t use Deliveroo much it’s not that great as you receive a £5 credit to your American Express statement when you buy from Deliveroo twice every month.

  Personally, I thought I would see how much value I could extract from this by combining it with other offers, such as Deliveroo’s new customer deals which meant I managed to get a few deliveries for very little cash. Combining it with free delivery by connecting Deliveroo to Amazon Prime is also helpful. But, generally, this is something I have not taken advantage of much since I first got the card.

• 4 x Airport Lounge Passes worth up to £168

  This is quite a fun one in my opinion and is a perk that I am yet to use, but am planning to use later this year on two trips abroad. As someone who is always conscious about spending and also hates how hectic an airport can be, I am quite keen to test out what airport lounges are like using this perk.

  You can, however, buy lounge passes without having this card and if you don’t travel that much or always travel in large groups then this reward may not be worthwhile to you - well worth knowing about though.

• Points when you spend

  Now this is the area that is a hot topic online as millions scramble to constantly try and extract the most value out of their membership points.

  So you earn 1 point per £1 spent, but 1 point is not worth a specific amount as you can use them in multiple different ways.

What are American Express points worth?

There are a LOT of different ways that you can exchange your American Express points, but here is a rough breakdown going from least valuable to most valuable:

• Statement Credit (1 point = 0.45 pence)

  This is where you can use your points to reduce your statement balance. E.g: If you had 1,000 points you could knock £4.50 off of your balance.

• Nectar Points (1 point = 0.5 pence)

  American Express points exchange to Nectar points on a like-for-like basis as Nectar points are worth 0.5 pence each when you spend them.

• Gift Cards (1 point = 0.5 pence)

  You can purchase gift cards with points at the same rate as redeeming for Nectar points above.

• Hotel transfers (1 point = varies)

  The valuation wildly varies depending on when you exchange your points, and what you consequently book with your points. However, you can transfer American Express points to the Hilton Honors scheme at a rate of 1:2 points or to Marriott Bonvoy at a rate of 1:3 points.

• Airline Miles (1 point = varies)

  I am by no means an expert when it comes to airline miles, but HeadForPoints estimates that transferring your points into airline miles could value each point at up to 1.5 pence per point.

  You can transfer your points into airline miles for the following airlines.

Therefore, whilst it is difficult to estimate if you signed up via a referral link* and spend £3,000 in the first three months you would have a minimum of 33,000 points which would be worth between £148.50 (33,000 x 0.45 pence) and £495 (33,000 x 1.5 pence) which is quite a hefty amount to get if you were planning on spending £3,000 in the next 3 months anyway.

What do I think?

Personally, I think it has been a good way to earn rewards for spending how I usually would do, and whilst I have not taken advantage of all of my rewards yet I will do an updated blog post on how much value I managed to extract from my points balance (currently 38,500) to see how it stacks up to the above figures.

Would I pay £195 for the card? Probably not. I have six months left to enjoy the perks of the card without incurring a fee and I will continue to use it until then but will likely cancel the card then or see if I can exchange it to another American Express card given they also have some other great options available.

What other cards are available?

There is a wide range of credit cards available for individuals from American Express which you can check out here.

Should you get an American Express card?

Firstly, a high awareness of credit cards is required before you even consider getting an American Express credit card as they typically come with a high credit limit and an equally high interest rate on late payments. If you have ever had problems with reckless spending and struggling to repay debt I would high advise against taking out any credit card, let alone an American Express card.

However, if you are very on-top of your spending and have large expenses coming up (which you have or will have the cash available to cover) it might be worth considering whether you could get some extra rewards for spending you’d be doing anyway. I’m glad that I’ve tried out the card and effectively been rewarded for doing so.

Want rewards without the credit? There are always ways you can earn without having to use a credit card such as the Chase debit card which pays 1% cashback, or from using cashback apps on your everyday spending.

If you have any questions on anything I’ve mentioned here, please do get in touch.

This blog post contains a referral link but the above views and comments are not impacted by this in any way.