About the card

The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card is issued by American Express.  It is a reward card that allows you to earn Delta Sky Miles each time you swipe.

The basics

• APRs: 14.99% for purchases, 19.99% for cash advances
• When initiated within 6 months of opening the account, 9.99% APR on balances transfers for the life of the loan
• Annual fee: $95 or $40 for some qualified cardholders
• 20 day grace period on purchases
• Late fee:  $19 for balances under $400, $38 for balances of $400 or more
• $35 over the limit fee
• 3% fees on cash advances ($5 minimum and no maximum)

The perks

• Earn Double Miles on eligible supermarket, drugstore, hardware store, home improvement, gas station and US Postal Service purchases
• Also earn Double Miles when use the card to pay your cell phone bill and to make Delta purchases
• Earn one mile for every other purchase
• 20,000 bonus miles after your first purchase
• Request 2 additional cards with your application and get 5,000 bonus miles
• Annual fee is waived for the first year
• Earn bonus miles with Miles Boosts when you spend more than $15,000 a year
• No blackout dates or seat restrictions
• Includes travel insurance of up to $100,000 accidental death or dismemberment
• Account management tools include online account access year end summary that allows you to sort charges by merchant, category, and date.
• Comes with emergency services such are card replacement and Global Assist.  Global Assist will help with medical, legal, financial, lost luggage, and more when you travel more than 100 miles from home

You will like this card if you are frequent flyer who prefers Delta flights.

You won’t like this card if you are unable to pay the entire balance of the card at the end of each month.  At 14.99%, interest charges can add up quickly.

Credit card review

The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express allows you to earn free Delta Sky Miles every time you make a purchase.  However, there is a limit on the amount of miles you can earn.  Eligible spending is capped at $100,000.  I don’t know about you, but doubt I would make $100,000 in credit card purchases. So even though there is a maximum… it is liberal one.

I really like the year end summary.  That may not be important to some, but for a budget conscious person like myself…  the summary is a huge plus.  The year end summary allows you to easily track your spending.  And sorting by category can make it easy to see where you are spending too much.  I have a card that provides these year end summaries.  I was quickly able to identify the area where I needed to cut back… my vices were dining out and clothes shopping.

There are some things that I don’t like about the card.  First and foremost… the $95 annual fee!  Secondly… 14.99% interest is kind of high.  Finally… the reward options are limited to only Delta flights.  What if you want to fly to a location that Delta does not serve?  The miles you earn on this card are not transferable to another airline.  There are many other miles reward cards that don’t restrict your flight to a particular airline.

Overall rating

I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Apply for the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express here.