American Express Green Card Review
Updated June 17, 2023.
The Facts
The Math
The annual $189 CLEAR credit and $100 LoungeBuddy credit can't be treated at face value for most customers, so we will still consider the annual fee to be $150 for this card. To achieve excellent rewards power of the card, you need to use the miles/points transfer feature and know how to leverage Amex transfer partners' programs, which can be very rewarding and challenging at the same time. For example, if you happen to value MR points at 1.5 cents a piece with the miles/points transfer feature as we do, Amex Green returns impressive 4.5% travel rewards for dining & travel. However, for general spending, we recommend looking somewhere else. For example, Amex EveryDay Preferred ($95 annual fee) which returns 1.5x (=2.25% travel rewards) MR points for general spending when you have at least 30 transactions per month and also 4.5x for groceries and 3x for gas can be a great card to pair with Amex Green. If you don't know how to use the transfer feature effectively / just don't want to bother with the hassles and rather prefer fixed-value travel rewards, you probably want to check out the competitors such as Chase Sapphire Reserve, US Bank Altitude Reserve, and Wells Fargo Propel Amex, each of which offers a 1.5-cent fixed-value travel redemption option.
Amex Green Card vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: They offer exactly the same rewards: 3x travel & dining, and 1x everywhere else, and Amex MR points and Chase UR points are worth the same at 1.5 cents a piece based on our current valuation. They do have the following differences: (1) After considering the easy-to-use $300 travel credits on Sapphire Reserve, Amex Green is effectively $100 cheaper in annual fees; (2) Amex offers free CLEAR membership and $100 LoungeBuddy credit, and the valuation is totally up to individuals; (3) Chase offers Priority Pass Select membership, hotel privileges through Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection and Chase Luxury Hotels and Resorts, primary rental car insurance, and other high-end travel perks; (4) Chase's travel and consumer protection is much better than Amex's; (5) there are some different transfer partners, e.g., United, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt for Chase, and Air Canada, ANA, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Delta for Amex; (6) in addition to the miles transfer features to achieve 1.5 cents per point redemption value, Chase also offer a fixed 1.5 cents redemption option for most airfare purchased through them, much better than Amex's similar option at 1 cent per point. In general, while the two cards offer similar rewards, they have very different redemption options, travel perks, and consumer protection - it is up to individual to decide which is better.
The Conclusion
The 2019 revamp has finally made Amex Green Card an amazing card to use for travel & dining. Amex Green Card compares well against competitors such as Chase Sapphire Reserve.
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The Facts
- Annual Fee: $150
- Signup Bonus: 60,000 points ($600 in airfare, gift cards, etc., or 60K miles of Avianca, Air Canada, ANA, Singapore, British, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Flying Blue, etc.) after your spend $3,000 within 6 months of new account opening and up to $200 in statement credit (20% back on travel and transit purchases within your first 6 months). The signup bonus is not available to applicants who have or have had this card or any previous Amex Green Card. Historical best bonus: (1) 60,000 points + $200 for travel and transit in 2023; (2) 50,000 points + $200 for home furnishing in 2021; (3) 50,000 points + $150 for dining in 2022; (4) 50,000 points in 2020 & 2021; (5) 45,000 points + $100 Away credit since revamped in October 2019.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 3x travel & dining, and 1x everywhere else.
- Best Use of Membership Rewards (MR) Points: Normally, Amex Membership Rewards points can be redeemed at up to 1 cent per point (cpp) for the following categories: statement credit (0.6 cpp), gift cards (0.7~1 cpp), flights (1 cpp), other travel (0.7 cpp), shopping with partners at checkout (0.7 cpp), merchandise through Amex shopping portal (0.5 cpp), etc. However, Amex Green, along with certain other Amex products, is eligible for the transfer feature that allows MR points to be transferred to frequent flyer miles or frequent guest points. Please see our featured review on the major programs that have the transfer feature - Marriott vs. MR. vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR.
- $189 credit for CLEAR membership purchase each calendar year, which essentially cover CLEAR membership fully, enabling you to clear airport security faster at select U.S. airports.
- $100 credit for airport lounge access purchases with LoungeBuddy each calendar year. LoungeBuddy allows you to buy one-time pass to access lounges at more than 160 airports worldwide. Pass price varies by location, usually in the $30-$60 range. Many of the participating lounges also participate in Priority Pass Select that is offered by quite a few credit cards. See our featured review on airport lounge access for more details.
- Other Benefits: (1) Amex Offers - you receive savings in form of statement credit or earn bonus MR points on select merchants when using your Amex card; you need to manually add an offer to your Amex card to be eligible for savings or bonus, and unlike other savings/bonus programs, you don't need to shop through a certain portal. (2) ShopRunner membership for free 2-day shipping with select merchants. (3) Waived foreign transaction fees. It also comes with an embedded EMV chip. (4) Entertainment Access (a.k.a. Membership Experiences) including American Express Presale, American Express Preferred Seating, and Premium Access (Dining Access).
- History: We never reviewed Amex Green Card because of the mediocre rewards (2x points on travel booked through Amex Travel, 1x everywhere else), until October 2019 when Amex had a major revamp of the card by increasing annual from $95 to $150 but enhancing travel & dining earning to 3x points and adding $100 CLEAR credit & $100 LoungeBuddy credit. In November 2022, Amex increased the CLEAR credit from $100 to $189, now essentially providing CLEAR membership for free.
The Math
The annual $189 CLEAR credit and $100 LoungeBuddy credit can't be treated at face value for most customers, so we will still consider the annual fee to be $150 for this card. To achieve excellent rewards power of the card, you need to use the miles/points transfer feature and know how to leverage Amex transfer partners' programs, which can be very rewarding and challenging at the same time. For example, if you happen to value MR points at 1.5 cents a piece with the miles/points transfer feature as we do, Amex Green returns impressive 4.5% travel rewards for dining & travel. However, for general spending, we recommend looking somewhere else. For example, Amex EveryDay Preferred ($95 annual fee) which returns 1.5x (=2.25% travel rewards) MR points for general spending when you have at least 30 transactions per month and also 4.5x for groceries and 3x for gas can be a great card to pair with Amex Green. If you don't know how to use the transfer feature effectively / just don't want to bother with the hassles and rather prefer fixed-value travel rewards, you probably want to check out the competitors such as Chase Sapphire Reserve, US Bank Altitude Reserve, and Wells Fargo Propel Amex, each of which offers a 1.5-cent fixed-value travel redemption option.
Amex Green Card vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: They offer exactly the same rewards: 3x travel & dining, and 1x everywhere else, and Amex MR points and Chase UR points are worth the same at 1.5 cents a piece based on our current valuation. They do have the following differences: (1) After considering the easy-to-use $300 travel credits on Sapphire Reserve, Amex Green is effectively $100 cheaper in annual fees; (2) Amex offers free CLEAR membership and $100 LoungeBuddy credit, and the valuation is totally up to individuals; (3) Chase offers Priority Pass Select membership, hotel privileges through Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection and Chase Luxury Hotels and Resorts, primary rental car insurance, and other high-end travel perks; (4) Chase's travel and consumer protection is much better than Amex's; (5) there are some different transfer partners, e.g., United, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt for Chase, and Air Canada, ANA, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Delta for Amex; (6) in addition to the miles transfer features to achieve 1.5 cents per point redemption value, Chase also offer a fixed 1.5 cents redemption option for most airfare purchased through them, much better than Amex's similar option at 1 cent per point. In general, while the two cards offer similar rewards, they have very different redemption options, travel perks, and consumer protection - it is up to individual to decide which is better.
The Conclusion
The 2019 revamp has finally made Amex Green Card an amazing card to use for travel & dining. Amex Green Card compares well against competitors such as Chase Sapphire Reserve.
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