It's difficult to see how American Express makes much money on the Gold Ascent credit card. It has the rare combination of a $0 annual fee and 44 days interest free which means if you pay your balance in full before the expiry of the interest free period and avoid fees for cash advances etc, you should never have to pay American Express a cent. Furthermore, it's one of those very rare 'free' cards with a rewards program, so you'll actually be earning value.
The rewards program is a Chimera of other programs. American Express has partnered with six other airline reward programs and you can redeem your points on any of them. For Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Blue, the points are equivalent (one Ascent membership point is worth one airline rewards point), however for Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways the value is slightly less (one Ascent membership point is worth 0.75 airline rewards points).
As it's part of the Ascent program, you can also redeem your points on travel packages, car hire and hotels.
The earn rate depends on your annual fee. You can choose to pay no annual fee and accumulate half a point per dollar spent, or alternatively pay an $80 annual fee and accumulate one point per dollar spent.
The complexity of the rewards program makes it difficult to compare to other similar schemes, but it seems dependent on the partner airline you choose to redeem your points with. Sydney to London (one way adult economy) will require 95,000 miles (presumably synonymous with 'points') with Singapore Airlines or 52,500 miles with Virgin Atlantic. As a comparison, the same flight requires 64,000 points with Qantas Frequent Flyers (which is not available as a redemption option on this card).
As of March 2009, you can also now choose to redeem points with Air New Zealand.
The interest rate is 20.74%, just like every other American Express card we've reviewed. You'll also need to be earning at least $40,000 per year to be eligible.
Bottom line: If you're the sort of person who pays their balance in full each month, this is the perfect card for you. As long as you use it correctly, you'll never pay a cent in fees or interest and you'll be amassing free reward points. If you like to roll your balance over to the next month and pay it off slowly, you're much better off with a card that offers a lower interest rate.
