Amex Gold card is offering a welcome offer worth 60,000 points — here's how you can earn it

Some offers mentioned below are no longer available.

American Express is running a welcome bonus offer for the American Express® Gold Card that's nearly double the prior offer.

Eligible new card members can earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after they spend $4,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of card membership. If you've been considering this rewards card for a while, now is a great time to take advantage of this high welcome offer.

While the welcome offer is a nice perk, you should take into account the card's $250 annual fee when deciding whether to apply (see rates and fees). If you take full advantage of the rewards and benefits included in membership, you can recoup the annual fee every year. For instance, you'll benefit from up to $120 dining credits each year ($10 a month) on eligible dining at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory and other participating restaurants (enrollment required), which effectively reduces the annual fee to $130. On top of that, cardholders can receive up to $120 per year ($10 monthly) in Uber Cash to use for U.S. rides or dining via Uber Eats.

CNBC Select breaks down how the new and old American Express Gold Card offers compare, who's eligible to earn the welcome bonus and what 60,000 points are worth.

• New offer: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of card membership.
• Old offer: Earn 35,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership.

The new American Express® Gold Card welcome offer is significantly better than the previous one. New card members can earn a welcome bonus that's worth 25,000 points more than the old offer and has the same $4,000 spending requirement. Plus, you can benefit from an additional three months to meet the spending requirement.

You can redeem American Express Membership Rewards® points in various ways, including statement credits, travel and gift cards. The value of points varies based on the redemption method, so here are some examples of what the 60,000-point welcome bonus offer is worth, using Amex's points value calculator.

• Pay with points at checkout: $300 (Ticketmaster), $420 (all other sites, such as Amazon and PayPal), $600 (NYC Taxi)
• Gift cards: Up to $600
• Statement credit: $360
• Book or upgrade travel: $420* (prepaid hotels and cruises), $600* (flights)
• Transfer points to frequent traveler program partners: Up to 60,000 points in the partners' program. You can get around 2 cents per point in value when transferring points, meaning the 60,000 bonus points could be worth around $1,200 in travel.
• Shopping with merchant partners: $300

*Note that you have to pay for travel using your Amex Gold Card through American Express Travel to get these redemption rates.

Most card issuers impose restrictions on who's eligible to earn a welcome bonus, and Amex is no different. The offer terms state:

So if you've ever had an Amex Gold Card or Premier Rewards Gold Card, you can't earn the bonus.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.