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Yonder vs Amex gold, we're giving this one to Yonder. It’s really great, and the rewards are probably more suited to most people in the UK (things like restaurants, drinks, online shops) and they change every month too. Plus, it’s a great card for travel. American Express Gold is also great, but doesn’t offer the same type of rewards (think more like airport lounge access).
Yonder is a relatively new credit card in the UK, and all very modern. When you spend money on your card, you earn points, and with the points you get rewards in return, and they’re pretty great rewards too. Think things like dinners out, free wine, beer, coffees and other things all the way to hotel suites.
What’s great about Yonder, is the rewards change each month, so there’s always something new. We’ll dive into the rewards in just a moment.
On top of the rewards, it’s a great card for travel too. With worldwide travel insurance for the family (on the full membership), and no fees on spending abroad either. It’s a Mastercard, so uses the Mastercard exchange rate (which is one of the best possible).
American Express is a huge global company which offers a wide range of credit cards, one of which is the Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card, which we’ll compare with Yonder as this card has rewards when you spend too, and you collect points as you spend on the card.
The rewards are very different to Yonder. We’ll cover this in just a moment too.
This one is an easy one. Yonder is Mastercard and American Express is, well, American Express.
You can use a Mastercard pretty much anywhere in the world, and in every type of shop, restaurant and online store. With American Express you can still spend it in a lot of places, but nowhere near as many as Mastercard, and it’s generally in the more popular places. It’s unlikely your local corner shop is taking American Express.
You wouldn’t want to use an American Express card abroad either (because of the fees to you), and lots of places won’t accept it because of their high fees. Whereas with a Mastercard it’s accepted everywhere, and for much lower cost.
Winner: Yonder (uses Mastercard)
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Right, possibly the main showdown? The actual rewards you get.
With both cards you’ll earn points as you spend. The amount of points you get is a bit different, but that doesn’t matter as they are different reward systems.
With Yonder, there’s four main categories for the rewards:
Think things like nice local restaurants (in London, Manchester, Bath, Bristol and Birmingham), wine bars, coffee shops, big shows (like the Lion King), online meal plans, gym clothes, the list goes on!
On the full membership you can use the points for flights from any airline, and there’s even things like free hotel rooms. You get worldwide travel insurance for the family too.
To get a real overview, you really need to download the app and experience the rewards for yourself, and see if they suit your interest. You can try Yonder free for one month if you sign up on the Yonder website¹.
You’ll get a ‘For You’ section to browse all the deals Yonder thinks you might like, based on things like where you live and your interests. And they changed monthly, so there’s always new ones to keep you entertained.
With Amex Gold, you’ll clock up points as you spend, and there’s a few ways to redeem these points for rewards. You can use them after you use your card to reduce the cost of a transaction, or use them with Amex partners, which are typically shops.
Here’s the benefits alongside the rewards:
In terms of the rewards themselves, a popular one is to convert your points into Avios points to use with British Airways, where you could get upgrades and sometimes whole flights free (you do need a lot of points however). You get 1 Avios point per Amex point, and an Avios point has a value of 1p normally.
You need to be a fan of British Airways of course, and book with them to your destination, so you need to plan a bit, as they don’t fly everywhere. And the price is normally much higher than other airlines, so it’s not necessarily a good option based solely on costs.
There are other airlines that participate but mostly in America rather than the UK.
This is different from Yonder, where on the full membership, you can redeem your points with any flight you book (e.g. EasyJet to Spain).
You can also use Amex points when shopping on Amazon and other partners and pay with points. It’s roughly 0.45p per point you earn (that's less than 1p, not 45p), so it’s not as good as you might be thinking. This is the same cost to reduce your balance on any purchase from your card too.
If you were to buy a gift card, it’s around 0.5 to 0.75p per point.
With Yonder, your cash value is 2.5p per point used on an experience (such as eating out), so roughly 5x more than American Express.
With American Express, the airport lounge access is good, but you don’t actually have to be an American Express card member to use airport lounges, you can buy pass membership from Priority Pass directly (and you’ll get more than 4 per year).
The ticket access (experiences and partners) with American Express is a nice feature, but you’ll still buy the ticket itself, you just get access to purchase the tickets.
Overall then, Yonder and American Express have different rewards, and suit different people. Yonder is great for more regular experiences, such as the great new local restaurant, or popular show in London, and lots of things online too. The flight option is great too, where you can earn points by booking flights and also use your points to buy flights too. There’s also the benefit of using the card abroad which we’ll get to in just a mo!
With American Express, the big popular partnership in the UK is with British Airways, and a lot of people use Amex just to clock these points up to get seat upgrades and potentially free flights. There’s actually an American Express British Airways card just for that. With the Gold card you get the extra rewards, like the lounge access to go with it.
And there are a range of partnerships to use your points, but as the point value is quite low, it’s not often a sensible way of using the points (it can be, it all depends on what you are happy with).
For most people we’re going to say Yonder is better value, and you’d likely use the rewards more, and the points are more versatile for travel, being able to be used for any airline, and they reduce how much cash you pay for the flight, rather than simply getting an upgrade.
Winner: Yonder
Now credit cards are normally a big no-no for spending abroad, thanks to hefty fees, and with American Express that is the case unfortunately. It’s 2.99% to use your card abroad in a foreign currency (that's very high), you also won’t get a good exchange rate (so hidden fees) and if you want to withdraw cash it’s another 3% fee, with a minimum of £3.
American Express is also not accepted in a lot of places. So, it’s probably best to leave it at home.
Yonder on the other hand, is one of the top cards to use abroad. There are absolutely zero extra fees by Yonder when spending abroad, and the card itself is a Mastercard, which uses the Mastercard exchange rate, one of the very best out there.
As the Yonder card is a Mastercard, it's accepted pretty much everywhere too (every shop, restaurant, or wherever else you can spend on a card abroad).
Winner: Yonder
To get the full benefit of both cards you need to pay a monthly fee, and we think both are reasonable for a rewards credit card.
Yonder full membership is £15 per month, which is £180 per year (or £160 if you pay annually). You’ll get the first month free too.
American Express Gold is £195 per year.
With American Express Gold, you’ll get the first year free when you sign up, as a year long trial which is great.
And with Yonder, there’s a free membership option, which is pretty good, but will take you longer to clock up points and you don’t get the full benefits such as being able to use your points for flights and worldwide travel insurance for the family.
On Yonder’s free membership you’ll get 1 point for each £1 spent, whereas on the paid membership you get 5 points for each £1 spent.
Anyway, back to the annual fee, we’re calling this one a draw, as they’re both give or take just under £200 and not a large enough gap to be swayed either way.
Winner: it’s a draw
As both are credit cards, they lend you money when you spend, and you later pay this back when you want to. If you pay it off at the end of every month you won’t have to pay any interest and it builds your credit score (highly recommended to do this).
This is typically what most people would do with a rewards credit card, but you don’t have to. If you don’t want to pay it off at the end of the month, and maybe use a card for a large purchase, you’ll be charged interest. Here’s how much you’ll pay:
Yonder: 29.32% on the paid membership
Amex Gold: 30%
That’s pretty close right? Let’s call this a draw.
Winner: it’s a draw
If you’re looking to build your credit with a credit card, they’re both great options, as long as you get accepted. If you have bad credit, such as a recent CCJ or debt management plan, you likely won’t get either card, and you should opt for a specific credit building card.
Both cards report payments to all the major credit reference agencies so we’re calling this one a draw.
Winner: it’s a draw
It’s nice to know if something goes wrong there’s someone there to chat to right? And when it comes to buying things and money, speaking to someone urgently can be a top priority. That’s why both options have 24/7 customer support. So it runs around the clock, whenever you need them.
Yonder is a digital only service, which means it all runs through an app on your phone (and the app is great by the way). That means the customer support is digital too, and you will speak to customer support over live chat directly in the app. You can also send an email if you like.
With American Express, they’re a much bigger company and a bit more traditional, and have 24/7 phone support, which you can call up any time you like. They are very friendly, and known for their service.
American Express also has an app to use, it’s a bit more dated than Yonder, but still great, and from there you can chat to customer support online if you want to instead.
Winner: American Express
Now then, have you got a winner yet? We have.
We’re giving this to Yonder. They are both really great credit cards, but for us in the UK, we think Yonder gives you so much more. In terms of both rewards, but as a card in general thanks to it being a Mastercard, meaning it’s accepted in a lot more places, and you can use it as a card to spend abroad (and with no Yonder fees).
In regards to spending abroad, Yonder is actually one of the best cards out there, not just compared with credit cards but all travel money cards. There’s no fee to use it, and it can be used in pretty much every country around the world and in almost all currencies (except with restrictions like Iran and North Korea). And the exchange rate you get is one of the best too (the Mastercard rate). You wouldn’t want to use an American Express card abroad as it’s very expensive.
With the rewards, Yonder has a decent range of things specific to the UK, such as nice restaurants in cities (London, Manchester, Bath, Bristol and Birmingham), coffee shops, beers and wines, alongside things like theatre shows, and even things like fresh flowers. And they’re refreshed each month, so there’s always new ones popping up.
With the full membership you can use the rewards points for flights with any airline (this is quite a big deal). So if you use your card regularly, it could pay for some of, or all of your summer holiday including EasyJet flights to Europe.
American Express has got rewards but they’re more defined, such as earning points to convert to Avios points for British Airways upgrades. You can also use your points to buy stuff, such as when shopping on Amazon, but the rate you get (0.45p per point) is very low, so it's not necessarily worth it.
The lounge pass access with the Amex Gold card is good, and if you are a regular traveller (4 times per year) this might interest you. The other things like American Express experiences are also good, but you are still paying out money for the actual tickets, so you wouldn’t sign up just for these extras.
Ok, that’s probably enough comparing, you get the idea. If you’re a regular traveler with British Airways, take a look at American Express. If you’re not, take a look at Yonder, it’s a clear winner in our eyes.
And, you can try Yonder for free. Get one month free and 10,000 bonus points when you sign up for the full membership (that’s worth around £50). Head over to the Yonder website¹ to get started.
You'll need to be over 18 and a UK resident to apply and your approval will be based on some financial info you share with us. If you're approved, a £15 membership fee applies to the full membership. Use points towards experiences, fair use limits apply. Travel cover subject to booking with your Yonder card, eligibility and exclusions. Please only spend what you can afford to pay back. The representative rate is 66.0% APR variable for the full membership and 32.3% for the free membership. Travel insurance cover subject to booking with your Yonder card, eligibility and exclusions. For more information, plus other T&Cs, check out the Yonder website¹.
Try Yonder for a month, and get 10,000 bonus points to spend too.
Try Yonder for a month, and get 10,000 bonus points to spend too.
Try Yonder for a month, and get 10,000 bonus points to spend too.
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Edward Savage is a leading expert on money, with a background of 8 years working in financial services in London, has a business, accounting and finance degree, runs an investing community, and teaches people about money. He writes about all aspects of personal finance, including pensions, investing, mortgages and insurance.
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Try Yonder for a month, and get 10,000 bonus points to spend too.