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This week I received my Amex Gold Card bill and received some new and unwelcoming Terms & Conditions. Among the many new “enhancements” of the card is a higher fee: $125/year up from $90/year; elimination of the Membership Rewards Program and conversion to a new Rewards System of which I’ll know nothing about until October; and numerous changes to billing cycles and fees.

I recently wrote about my negative experience trying to redeem ~40k Amex points for something decent here and I decided to wait until I received “official” notification before taking action.
After carefully reviewing all the “features” & “benefits” and new terms & conditions of the Amex Gold Card, I’ve opted to discontinue using the card. I’ve cashed in my points for some gift cards and upon receiving them, I’ll be closing my Amex Gold account. I’ve spent the better part of my day converting my monthly Amex billables to Amex True Earnings Card.

The Amex True Earnings Card has no annual fee. 3% rebate on dining, 2% rebate on travel and 1% rebate everywhere else. This card is co-branded with Costco and can provide certificates redeemable there as well. Of course, recent news that Citibank is getting rid of their cashback cards is interesting. All the major banks appear to be rethinking their cashback credit card model and it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds. Is this the end of cash back and reward cards? Is it the end of 0% arbitrage deals? Only time will tell.