American Express^® Green Card Review: Big Earn for a Low Fee

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The American Express^® Green Card earns 3X Membership Rewards^® points on all eligible travel, plus 3X Membership Rewards^® points at restaurants worldwide. In addition, cardholders receive annual statement credits for LoungeBuddy purchases and CLEAR Plus memberships — all for a $150 annual fee .

For folks locked out of Chase cards because of the 5/24 policy, the Amex Green Card is an opportunity to earn the same 3x points on travel and dining purchases as the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®. With the Amex Green Card, you can access equal points-earning opportunities without having to navigate Chase's draconian application rules.

Let's take a closer look at the ins and outs of the Amex Green Card if it's more than just a substitute.

American Express^® Green Card

American Express^® Green Card

Annual Fee$150

Welcome Offer Earn 40,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

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Earning Rates

• 3x Membership Rewards^® on travel
• 3x Membership Rewards^® at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
• 3x Membership Rewards^® on transit including trains, buses, ferries, subway, and more
• 1x Membership Rewards^® on other purchases

Amex Green Card Pros

• Earn 3x on travel, transit, and restaurants.
• Statement credits can quickly outweigh the annual fee.
• Offers complimentary travel insurance.
• Earns valuable American Express Membership Rewards points.

Amex Green Card Cons

• Charges $150 annual fee.
• Only earns 1 point per $1 spent on non-bonused spending.
• High APR interest rates on Pay Over Time purchases if you carry a balance.

Amex Green Card Welcome Offer

New cardmembers can earn 40,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Membership Rewards are one of our favorite flexible rewards currencies. You can transfer points to an extensive list of American Express travel partners. These partners include 18 airlines, such as Delta, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and ANA, as well as three hotel partners, including Hilton and Marriott Bonvoy. Plus, you can take advantage of multiple transfer bonuses on offer from Amex each year.

In recent AwardWallet user redemptions, the average value of an American Express point is 2.14¢ cents. At that rate, this welcome offer is worth around $800.

Amex Green Card Benefits

The Amex Green Card provides a handful of standout benefits with tangible value for cardholders.

$189 annual CLEAR credit

A unique benefit for a mid-level card, holders of the Amex Green Card receive an annual $189 statement credit toward the cost of a CLEAR Plus membership. Unlike Global Entry or TSA PreCheck memberships — which renew every five years — CLEAR memberships renew every year. This credit has the potential to return the full face value of $189 every year.

Credit: CLEAR

If you’re not familiar with CLEAR, it’s a biometric ID program that replaces traditional ID documentation. In addition, CLEAR provides an expedited path through security screening lines at 60+ airports, stadiums, and other venues nationwide. A CLEAR membership will typically set you back $189 per year, so this credit can cover the entire expense each year.

Numerous credit cards can cover your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee, but the Amex Green Card is one of few cards covering the cost of CLEAR — which is a nice point of differentiation. For folks who already have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, the value of adding CLEAR will depend on your home airport. In some locations, PreCheck lines can be as long as the regular security line. Having CLEAR as an option can still save significant time.

Related: I Just Registered for CLEAR, Should You?

If you're wanting to stretch your CLEAR Plus credit, members of either Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus are entitled to discounts on the CLEAR membership fee. This can help you add a second person (which typically costs $60) to your membership for very little out-of-pocket cost.

$100 annual LoungeBuddy credit

Initially, this perk didn't jump out at us as holding a lot of value if you already receive lounge access thanks to other cards. But, on further thought, the LoungeBuddy credit could be a genuine get-out-of-jail-free card for a lot of folks. This is particularly true when you are flying domestically in the U.S.

If you currently hold a Priority Pass membership from a premium travel card, you can access hundreds of lounges all over the world. However, there are some significant gaps in Priority Pass coverage domestically. Plus, some lounges are time and/or capacity restricted, leaving you out in the terminal to fend for yourself. The LoungeBuddy app provides access to many of these lounges for ~$40. Plus, you can gain access to multiple airline lounges like United Club, Delta Sky Club, and Lufthansa Business Lounge locations for ~$60.

Credit: LoungeBuddy

If you’re caught at an airport without a convenient Priority Pass option, you'll have two to three annual lounge entry credits for accessing other lounges without an out-of-pocket expense.

If you can maximize both the CLEAR and LoungeBuddy credits — or even come close to getting face value — you easily offset the $150 annual cost of holding the Amex Green Card over the long term. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.

Trip insurance

Trip insurance is a great benefit to have, even if you're only traveling once or twice per year. The Amex Green Card, despite being a less-expensive travel card, features a variety of trip insurance products for customers. This includes:

• Trip delay insurance: Receive up to $300 per trip in reimbursement for eligible expenses when delayed more than 12 hours. You must use your card to pay for your round-trip flight and have a covered reason.
• Car rental loss and damage insurance: Use your card to pay for your rental and decline the insurance at the counter to receive secondary coverage for damage or theft — up to $50,000. Note that this insurance isn't applicable in Australia, Italy, or New Zealand.
• Baggage insurance plan: Charge the fare to your ticket and be reimbursed up to $1,250 (for carry-on) or $500 (for checked) luggage in the event that it's lost, damaged, or stolen.
• Global Assist^® Hotline: When you're more than 100 miles from home, have access to 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services. Note that the aid is free, but the services charged by providers typically are not.

Purchase and shopping protections

• Purchase protection: Receive up to $1,000 per occurrence (and up to $50,000 per year) when an item you've purchased with your card in the last 90 days is lost or stolen.
• Extended warranty: Get an extra year added to the original manufacturer's warranty for items you've purchased with your card. Warranty must be five years or less and the purchase must have been made in the United States.

ShopRunner membership

ShopRunner is a membership that'll provide you with free two-day shipping at over 100 different stores. The Amex Green Card comes with a complimentary membership, but you'll need to enroll to take advantage.

Amex Green Card Earning Rates

One of the best features of the Amex Green Card is the bonus categories, which we see as a clear shot across the bow at the Sapphire Reserve. The Amex Green Card earns as follows:

• 3x Membership Rewards^® on travel
• 3x Membership Rewards^® at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
• 3x Membership Rewards^® on transit including trains, buses, ferries, subway, and more
• 1x Membership Rewards^® on other purchases

Many Amex cards only earn bonus points on airfare purchased directly with the airline or at amextravel.com. In comparison, the travel category on the Amex Green Card covers airfare, hotels, cruises, car rentals, campgrounds, trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, tours, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, subways, third-party travel websites, and amextravel.com purchases — basically anything that codes as travel or transit.

Likewise, the restaurant category is not restricted to U.S. purchases (with the exception of takeout and delivery). Instead, it also covers dining abroad. However, you won’t receive bonus points on purchases from bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, and convenience stores.

Redeeming Points With the Amex Green Card

Transfer to partners

ANA's partnership with United means you can fly Polaris to Europe for cheap. Credit: Max Prosperi/AwardWallet

American Express points are some of the most valuable around, especially if you take advantage of its hotel and airline partners. With 18 different airline partners and three hotel partners from which to choose, it's easy to make high-end redemptions a reality. For example, transferring just 88,000 Amex points to ANA will snag you a round-trip business class ticket to Europe.

Beware, however, that not all transfer partners are created equal. Options such as transfers to Marriott Bonvoy can represent a poor use of your points and should be avoided unless necessary — such as topping off a balance for a redemption.

Amex Travel

It's also possible to redeem your points within the Amex Travel portal.  You can use your points for flights, hotels, rental cars, or cruises. However, you should be wary of redeeming in this way. Amex tends to undervalue its own points within the portal and will usually give you a value of less than one cent per point for your bookings. The only exception to this is for flights, where you'll receive 1¢ per point in value or even a little more if you're able to find one of Amex's “Insider Fares.”

Upgrade flights

Credit: American Express

Amex partners with over 20 different airlines for business class upgrades using your Amex points. These include the likes of Air Tahiti Nui, Fiji Airways, Etihad, and Air Canada. These partners can be a nice way to bid on a business-class flight if you aren't able to find award availability. However, it can be incredibly expensive to use your points for these upgrades, and you'll receive a value of just one cent per point. That said, if the airline isn't available as a transfer partner or lacks award availability, this is an option for using your points.

Gift cards

If shopping is more your speed, you're able to redeem Amex points for gift cards. However, these tend to represent a pretty poor use of points — often 1¢ apiece or less.

Statement credits

Like with gift cards, Amex also allows you to redeem Amex points against any purchases that you've made but will give you poor value on these redemptions. Your points are worth 0.6¢ apiece for statement credits.

Pay With Points

If you have an Amazon account (or any other site where Pay With Points is enabled), you can opt to redeem your Amex points for any purchases that you make. Redeeming a single point will get you one cent in value. However, the proposition declines from there, making this another bad use of your points. The only time this is a good use of points is when you can redeem a handful of points (or even just one) for big discounts.

Shopping

Finally, Amex has its own shopping portal where you can redeem your points for a variety of items. These items include things like headphones, computers, cellphones, and other gifts. Don't use your points here. A recent example required 139,800 points for a $699 iPhone 13 mini, which means you'll get a dismal 0.5 cents per point in value.

Application Restrictions and Strategy

For folks that have held this card in the past, whether you received a welcome offer or not, you won’t be eligible for the introductory offer on the Amex Green Card. The terms say this:

Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or previous versions of the American Express^® Green Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.

In addition to the card-specific rules, it's important to understand the general American Express application rules for each type of card.

We see massive value in pairing the Amex Green Card with other Amex cards like The Platinum Card^® from American Express, matching the premium benefits and lounge access with the complimentary bonus categories and perks of the Amex Green Card.

Interestingly, the Amex Green Card isn't a typical credit card, though it also doesn't include a preset spending limit. Instead, the card allows you to carry a balance for certain charges, but not all. Ultimately, the card bridges the gap between charge and credit card as a new kind of hybrid card. When queried about the setup, Amex responded:

“Green from Amex is a credit card on which Card Members have no preset spending limit and can pay in full or carry a balance with interest on eligible charges, up to the Pay Over Time limit. The amount the Card Member spends above their Pay Over Time limit is included in full in their minimum due each month.”

As a result, assume that the Amex Green Card is treated as a credit card. In short, this means that folks with four or more Amex credit cards will need to close one of their other accounts in order to be approved for a new account.

Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions

Cards That Compete With the Amex Green Card

• If you're not over 5/24, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is an excellent travel card that charges a $95 annual fee. Its only statement credit comes in the form of $50 each year for hotel stays. However, it also offers up to 5x Ultimate Rewards on travel purchases, as well as 3x points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries. Check out our full review of the Sapphire Preferred.
• If you want a lower annual fee, the Citi Premier^® Card also charges a $95 annual fee, but its multipliers for earning points beat out the Amex Green Card pretty handily, with 10x ThankYou points on hotel and car rental bookings made through the Citi travel portal (through June 30, 2024) and 3x on air travel, hotels, restaurants, gas, and groceries. It also gives you $100 off a $500 hotel stay each year when booking in Citi's travel portal. Check out our full review of the Citi Premier.
• If you have a lot of non-bonused spending, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers a flat 2x Capital One miles for every dollar spent outside the Capital One Travel portal. This can be helpful if you tend to make purchases at places such as Amazon or Walmart. Check out our full review of the Capital One Venture.

Related: Best Rewards Cards for Travel Purchases

Final Thoughts

Amex has done a great job with the American Express^® Green Card. This card is full of quality features while still charging a moderate annual fee. If you're looking to earn 3x points on travel and dining expenses, this could be a great option for your wallet.

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