Amidst the complex offerings of credit cards, Amex Gold is a breath of fresh air and is my 2nd most utilized card after Axis Atlas.
Mind you, I've not used this card extensively but rather for a very specific purpose every month. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the card offers 1000 bonus MR (Membership Reward) points upon completing 6 transactions of Rs. 1000 each within a calendar month.
How I have utilized the card is quite straightforward -
You earn 2 MR points for every Rs. 100 spent.
If you're buying a GV (gift voucher) through Amex GYFTR website with the Amex Gold, you get 5x the value, meaning10 MR points per Rs. 100 spent.
Buying 6 Amazon vouchers worth Rs. 1k each month to get (6*100 + 1000) = 1.6k MR points on a spending of Rs. 6k
Keeping the value of a MR point ~ Rs. 0.5, you get 13.3% as return reward which inarguably is a steal in the current credit card landscape
Repeating the same for 12 months, you get 19.2k MR points on a spend of Rs. 72k.
What can you get with 19200 MR points?
1. 6k Amazon GV + 1.2k MR points still left
2. 7k Shoppers Stop GV + 1.2k MR points still left
3. 9k Taj GV + 1.2k MR points still left
4. 19.2k Marriot Bonvoy points
5. 6.4k Club Vistara points
6. 9.6k Virgin Atlantic points
These are just a few of the many redemption options available. I've listed out the ones which I frequently redeem for.
The underrated advantage which I've always felt with Amex is their backend and customer support system. You typically receive your bonus points smoothly within a day or two after fulfilling the offer. Even if you don't, there is the ever so reliable live chat support ready to assist with inquiries.
As the title suggests, this card is ideal for people who prefer not to delve into the complexities of maximizing card benefits. It has got a very straightforward use to earn a very decent reward.
