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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. For the right kind of traveler, this card can be a lucrative wallet addition.
For points collectors who are locked out of Chase credit cards because of the bank's 5/24 policy, the Amex Green Card provides a great opportunity to earn bonus points on travel and dining purchases at the same rate as the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. With the Amex Green Card, you can access equal points-earning opportunities without navigating Chase's strict application rules.
Let's take a closer look at the nuts and bolts of the Amex Green Card to see if it's more than just a substitute for other popular travel rewards cards.
- 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, subways, and more
- 1x Membership Rewards® on other purchases
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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
- Moderate $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, Virgin Atlantic, and Air Canada, as well as three hotel partners, including Hilton and Marriott. Plus, you can take advantage of multiple transfer bonuses offered by Amex each year to stretch your points even further.
In recent AwardWallet user redemptions, the average value of an American Express point is 1.95¢. At that rate, this welcome offer is worth around $800. Yes, that's a big number, but it's nowhere near the high points offers that have circulated on the card in semi-recent history. You might find more value in waiting to apply until offers near the best-ever mark come around, though no one knows when (or if) that'll happen.
Related: The Best Credit Card Welcome Offers This Month
Amex Green Card Benefits
The Amex Green Card provides a handful of standout benefits with tangible value for cardholders.
$199 annual CLEAR® credit
A unique benefit for a mid-level card, holders of the Amex Green Card receive an annual $199 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 can return the full face value of $199 annually.
If you’re unfamiliar 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.
Numerous credit cards cover your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee, but the Amex Green Card is one of only a few cards that cover the cost of CLEAR — 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.
If you want to stretch your CLEAR Plus credit, members of several airlines are entitled to discounts on the CLEAR membership fee. This can help you add a second person (which typically costs $99) to your membership without paying the full rack rate for two or more memberships.
Related: I Just Registered for CLEAR, Should You?
No foreign transaction fees
When you swipe the Amex Green Card abroad, you'll avoid those pesky foreign transaction fees.
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 not being a premium 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, stolen, or accidentally damaged.
- 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.
Amex Green Card Earning Rates
One of the standout features of the Amex Green Card is its bonus categories, which seem like a direct challenge to 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, subways, and more
- 1x Membership Rewards® on other purchases
Many Amex cards only earn bonus Membership Rewards points on airfare purchased directly with the airline or through the American Express Travel portal. 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.
Similarly, the restaurant category is not restricted, as with other cards, to U.S. purchases (except for 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
One of the best aspects of earning American Express Membership Rewards is the endless ways you can put those points to work. Here are some of the many redemption options available:
Transfer to partners
American Express points are some of the most valuable around, especially if you take advantage of the program's 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 100,000 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. Transfers to programs like Marriott Bonvoy usually aren't the best use of your points and should generally be avoided unless you only need a few extra to complete a redemption.
Related: How To Redeem American Express Membership Rewards Points — And Which Options Are Best
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, as Amex 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.”
Gift cards
If shopping is more your speed, you're able to redeem Amex points for gift cards. That said, 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 it will give you very poor value on these redemptions. Your points are worth 0.6¢ apiece for statement credits. Therefore, this is not a good use of your valuable Membership Rewards.
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 0.7¢ 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 57,100 points for 2nd generation AirPods Pro, which normally retail for $249 (or less). In other words, you'll get a dismal 0.4 cents per point in value.
Application Restrictions and Strategy
For folks who have held this card in the past, or a few other Amex cards courtesy of semi-recently-added family language — 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:
“You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the American Express® Gold Card or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.”
In addition to the card-specific rules, it's important to understand the general American Express application rules for each type of card.
Strategy and pairings
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 and doesn't include a preset spending limit. No Preset Spending Limit means the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history.
Ultimately, the card bridges the gap between charge and credit card as a new kind of hybrid card. Amex describes it as follows:
“Green from Amex is a 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 to be approved for a new account. Also, make sure to mind Amex's rule about only opening two cards every 90 days.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Cards That Compete With the Amex Green Card
To help you make a more informed decision, here's a bit of info about the Amex Green Card‘s closest competitors:
- 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 booked through the travel portal. However, it also offers up to 5x Ultimate Rewards on travel purchases, as well as 3x points on dining, select streaming services, and groceries purchased online. Check out our review of the Sapphire Preferred to learn more.
- If you want a lower annual fee, the Citi Strata 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, car rental, and attraction bookings made through the Citi TravelSM portal and 3x on air travel, hotels, restaurants, gas, EV charging, and groceries. It also gives you $100 off a $500 hotel stay each year when booking in Citi's travel portal. Learn more in our review of the Citi Strata 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. Our review of the Capital One Venture has further details.
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- 10X points per $1 on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X points per $1 spent on airfare, and other hotel purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent at gas and EV charging stations
- 3X points per $1 spent on dining at restaurants, including cafes, bars and lounges
- 3X points per $1 spent at supermarkets
- 1X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
Related: The Best Credit Cards for Travel Purchases
Final Thoughts
If you make a lot of travel-related purchases and can maximize the two key statement credits provided by the Amex Green Card, the card almost becomes a must-have. Even better, you'll earn valuable Membership Rewards points on your spending, redeemable in several ways but objectively worth more towards award travel.
However, you'll want to make a couple of considerations before completing an application for the Amex Green Card.
First, the current 40,000-point welcome offer is low compared to what we've seen in the past. Assuming you're eligible for the bonus, you'll want to be completely content with the offer before applying, as Amex has a once-in-a-lifetime rule regarding welcome bonuses. There might be value in waiting for a better public offer to circulate or watching for targeted offers.
Second, American Express offers several cards that earn Membership Rewards points. It's worth comparing all the options in front of you before deciding on one card, as it's possible that others might be more optimized for your spending habits.
On balance, the Amex Green Card is a quality option for frequent travelers. Compared to other cards in the Amex portfolio, it offers a more reasonable annual fee and a more comprehensive range of earning categories. “Travel” and “restaurants” cover such a large portion of many people's (and traveler's) spending! But again, make sure you're content with the offer before you complete an application; you'll only get the welcome offer once.
- 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, subways, and more
- 1x Membership Rewards® on other purchases
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)
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