American Express Green Card Review

Full Review of American Express® Green Card

Pros Explained

• Respectable rewards on travel, transit, and restaurants: You earn 3 points per $1 on flights, hotels, vacation rentals, transit, dining including take out and delivery. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. Plus, earn 20% back on eligible travel and transit purchases made during your first 6 months of card membership, up to $200 back in the form of a statement credit. With each Chase point worth somewhat more than Amex ones, according to a number of valuations. Like Chase, Amex is fairly liberal in its definition of travel. It also earns points for public transit, parking, taxis, and ride-sharing services.
• Payment flexibility with Pay Over Time and Plan It features: American Express has added flexibility to payments on its cards with its Pay Over Time feature, which is for charges over $100, with a revolving line of credit that charges interest on any balances carried forward. Their Plan It feature also allows payments on large purchases up to the Pay Over Time credit limit to be split up and paid over a set number of months in exchange for a fixed fee.

Cons Explained

• Relatively high annual fee: An annual fee is hardly unusual for a travel card, but this card's fee of $150 is higher than those of many other competing cards. Less-pricey cards include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which costs $95.
• Limited travel benefits: The Amex Green card has fewer perks than most other cards with a substantial fee. You receive an annual $100 credit to LoungeBuddy, which is typically enough to buy up to four visits to airport lounges worldwide. Cardholders also get a $189 credit for CLEAR, a service that promises to help you get through airport security more quickly by using your eyes and face to confirm your identity.

Who This Card Is Best For

The American Express Green is best suited to those who want a simple card with easy-to-earn rewards for a broad range of travel expenses, from airfare, hotels, and cruises through campgrounds and rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. You'd break even on the $150 annual fee if you spent $5,000 per year on a mix of travel and dining purchases and redeem points for travel through American Express.

Because it was formerly a charge card—albeit now with an option to carry a balance over time—the American Express Green may also be a worthwhile choice for those who want the enforced discipline to pay off the card balance in full each month. And while this card's Pay Over Time program provides some flexibility to carry a balance (for 25 days), you'll be charged a typical—which is to say, hefty—APR to do so.

Overview

American Express has operated since the 19th century and introduced one of America's earliest charge cards in 1958. The company expanded its line of charge and credit cards over the decades, releasing its original "green" card in 1969. Some 50 years later, American Express relaunched its classic card and renamed it the American Express Green card.

Formerly only a charge card, American Express Green allows cardholders to carry over a balance for up to 25 days. This updated card offers more rewards and benefits than its previous incarnation, and rewards points do not expire, meaning you aren't stuck on a timetable to use them. American Express offers several series of cards, including its Gold, Platinum, Blue, and co-branded Delta SkyMiles cards.

American Express® Green Card Bonus Offer

New cardholders who spend $3,000 or more within the first six months of card membership will receive 60,000 membership rewards points. The reward comes in the form of a statement credit eight to 12 weeks after you reach the spending requirement.

The bonus offer is worth varying amounts depending on how you choose to redeem points. Redeeming it for travel through American Express will yield over $400—a decent return on spending, if a little less than for the bonus offers of some cards with a similarly high spending requirement. Most other redemption options yield a lower return on every point.

Rewards Earning Details

This card offers unlimited 3 reward points for every $1 spent on travel, transit, and restaurant purchases. All other purchases earn 1 point per $1 spent. American Express defines travel expenses generously, allowing cardholders to earn 3 points per $1 on airfare, hotels, cruises, car rentals, campgrounds, trains, taxicabs, ride-share services, tours, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, subways, third-party travel websites, and on amextravel.com.

However, the restaurant category is a little stricter. You'll only earn 1 point per $1 on purchases at a restaurant located within another establishment if the restaurant does not have its own merchant code. Rewards points don't expire. 

Rewards Redemption Details

The Membership Rewards program from American Express offers a variety of ways to redeem points. You can use points to book travel through American Express, buy gift cards, purchase items on Amazon.com, get a credit to your account, or shop through the Amex portal.

You can also redeem points by transferring them to a frequent flyer program in the OneWorld Alliance or StarAlliance networks, where you may get the best value. For example, each point is worth as much as 2.16 cents when transferred to OneWorld Alliance, according to our valuations. You'll pay a fee to transfer to some programs (0.06 cents per point, up to $99), but despite that fee, it may still be a worthwhile move.

That's because points may not be as valuable when redeemed in other ways. For example, points have a value of just one cent apiece when redeemed for travel through the American Express travel portal. Points are worth less than one cent when redeemed for Amazon purchases, statement credits, and hotels.

Transferring Points

The American Express Membership rewards program allows you to transfer to frequent flyer programs within its travel partners and some airline members of the OneWorld Alliance and StarAlliance. Amex charges a fee, however, per point transferred (0.06 cents per point, up to a maximum of $99). Points typically transfer at a 1-to-1 ratio. 

How to Maximize Your Rewards

To get the most out of this card, use it for all of your travel and dining expenses. Since American Express defines "travel" broadly, it's possible to earn 3 points per $1 on expenditures other than flights and hotels. You can also charge taxis, Uber or Lyft, parking, and public-transit expenses to this card. 

If you frequently fly, take full advantage of the annual credit for LoungeBuddy, which should cover a few visits a year to airport lounges. The $189 credit to CLEAR covers the cost for this service for one year.

It also boosts your return, of course, to ensure you spend the $3,000 required within the first six months of card membership to earn the 60,000-point one-time offer. Finally, be strategic about how you redeem your points. Skip low-return options such as redeeming for cash or gift cards and use them to book travel through American Express or, for potentially greater value, transfer them to a partner frequent-flyer program.

Average Case

Let's say you spend $300 a month at restaurants and $200 on travel (transit, airfare, and hotels). Those add up to annual spending of $3,600 at restaurants and $2,400 for travel. Those charges would yield 18,000 points with the card without considering purchases outside of those categories that would earn 1 point per $1. That's a value of about $180 when used to book travel through American Express, although you could earn up to double that much by transferring the points to a frequent flyer program in the OneWorld Alliance (although you'd have to pay about $11 in charges to make such a transfer).

If you value visiting airport lounges, the $100 LoungeBuddy credit plus the $189 CLEAR credit drives the total value to $289.

Aspirational Case

Since there's no charge for additional cards, families can maximize rewards earnings by adding each person in the family as an additional card member and then charging all travel and restaurant expenses to their personal cards. (The CLEAR and LoungeBuddy credits are each capped at $189 and $100 per account.) 

For example, let's say you're a family of four and spend a combined $4,000 per year at restaurants and $3,000 on transit (rideshare services, trains, buses, subways, and parking). If you also take one family vacation per year that costs $3,000, you'd earn 30,000 points annually with this card without considering miscellaneous purchases that earn 1 point. 

Overall, that's a value of about $300 when redeemed for travel through American Express. You might increase that figure to as much as $500 by transferring points to an airline program via the OneWorld Alliance network. The LoungeBuddy and CLEAR credits, assuming they have appeal for you, increase the value by another $289.

American Express® Green Card's Outstanding Benefits

• $189 annual Clear credit
• $100 annual LoungeBuddy credit
• Baggage insurance for lost luggage*

*Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

Standard Benefits

• Global assistance hotline*
• Purchase protection*
• Rental car loss and damage insurance (secondary to your own policy)*
• Access to exclusive events
• ShopRunner—free two-day shipping on eligible items

*Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

Cardholder Experience

American Express obtained the highest rank in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, with a score of 848. Cardholders can reach customer service 24/7 by phone at 800-528-4800. Alternatively, customers can also log into their account and live chat with a representative. You can also tweet questions and comments to @AskAmex.

Security Features

Cards from American Express come with industry-standard security precautions, including fraud and online account protection. It will replace your card for free if it's lost or stolen.

Final Verdict

The American Express® Green card offers a decent one-time offer and respectable ongoing rewards. And since it can be used like a charge card, it can also be a solid option for those interested in a card to help them control spending or build good credit habits. But those rewards, considering the $150 annual fee, make the Amex Green card a riskier proposition to justify compared to competing cards that offer as much or more for less.