What is a Gold Credit Card?

Gold credit cards a fundamentally the same as any other credit card on the market. What distinguishes a gold credit card from other types of credit card are the rewards and benefits on offer, which are in addition to features such as balance transfers, introductory offers and cash advances.

Typical Rewards

The range of perks on offer range from travel insurance and reward points to frequent flyer points and lounge access at airports.

Complimentary Travel Insurance

Many of the best gold credit cards will offer travel insurance as complimentary perk for cardholders. Cards offering travel insurance as a benefit will typically offer either domestic or international cover, but some cards will offer worldwide cover. Getting complimentary travel insurance has very obvious benefits, not least the amount of money you can save if you travel frequently.

Reward Points

A lot of people apply for a gold credit card purely for access to a reward program, which is a feature of most gold credit cards. A rewards program is a highly beneficial perk because you earn points as you purchase with your card. For every dollar you spend you will earn a certain number of points at a set rate, for example, $1 equals 1 point. If you use your card regularly to shop or pay bills (and pay off your balance in full every month so you don't pay interest), then you can easily accumulate quite a large number of points. Rewards programs work differently: some will give you the value of your points back as cash, others will convert your points to airmiles while others allow cardholders to redeem their points for hotel stays, petrol and shopping vouchers, merchandise and so forth.

Frequent Flyer Points

You're probably already aware of frequent flyer points as they have become a popular way to reduce the cost of flying, particularly to long haul destinations. Some gold credit cards offer a frequent flyer points scheme so that as you purchase with your card, you build up your frequent flyer points. The benefit of this is self evident: over time you can build up enough points to fly for free to a destination of your choice offered by your card's preferred airline.

Airport Lounge Access

It may not be the most glamorous of frequently used perk, but airport lounge access is a nice benefit that means you can use an airport lounge provided by your card's preferred airline. While it certainly isn't a deal breaker, airport lounge access makes traveling a much more pleasurable experience.

What Else is Different?

Apart from the benefits, most gold credit cards operate exactly the same as any other credit card. Most will have a balance transfer offer, but these are typically not as attractive as those offered by balance transfer credit cards because the target demographics are quite different. Gold credit card annual fees also tend to be higher, but not outrageously so.