American Express Green card review: Earn 45,000 Membership Rewards points and get up to $200 a year in credits

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Review: Is the Amex Green Card the best credit card for you?

The American Express® Green Card currently offers a welcome bonus of American Express® Green Card.

That’s worth an average of $810 in travel, per Insider’s valuations — and significant enough to take a closer look at the card. Is it worth test-driving the card out for a couple of years to see if it integrates well with your lifestyle?

This product is by nature a travel rewards card — if you make a lot of travel, dining, and transit purchases, you’ll be rewarded with 3 points per dollar. Transit is a particularly rare category, and includes merchants like trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways.

And with benefits such as up to $100 in CLEAR credits (helpful for speeding through the TSA airport security line) and up to $100 in LoungeBuddy credits (so you can access airport lounges for free), this is a good starter travel card for the less hardcore travelers.

Here’s what you need to know about this card.

Comparison: Amex Green Card vs other Amex cards

	American Express® Green Card	American Express® Gold Card	The Platinum Card® from American Express
Annual fee	American Express® Green Card	American Express® Gold Card American Express® Gold Card – Rates & Fees	The Platinum Card® from American Express The Platinum Card® from American Express – Rates & Fees
Rewards rate	3x points on dining, travel, and transit 1x points on all other eligible purchases	4x points at restaurants and at US supermarkets* 3x points on flights booked with the airline or Amex Travel 1x points on all other purchases	5x points on flights booked with the airline or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 in these purchases per calendar year) 5x points on prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel 1 point per dollar on all other purchases
Welcome bonus	American Express® Green Card	American Express® Gold Card	The Platinum Card® from American Express
Best benefits	Up to $100 in annual LoungeBuddy statement credits Up to $100 in annual CLEAR statement credits	Up to $10 in dining credits each month (up to $120 per year)* Up to $10 in Uber Cash each month (up to $120 per calendar year)**	Up to $200 in airline fee credits each calendar year Up to $200 in Uber Cash each calendar year Up to $100 in Saks credits each calendar year Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit $179 per year in credits for CLEAR membership Up to $200 in credits per year toward prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts or The Hotel Collection Up to $240 in annual credits (up to $20 per month) toward eligible digital subscriptions***** $12.95 in credits each month toward Walmart+ membership
Review		Amex Gold Card review	Amex Platinum review

*on up to $25,000 spent at U.S. supermarkets per calendar year, then 1x

***up to $10 in statement credits per month when you use the Amex Gold card at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed, and participating Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.

****up to $10 in Uber Cash per month (this is only applicable to U.S. Eats orders and Rides, and the Gold Card needs to be added to the Uber app to receive the Uber Cash benefit)

*****Eligible digital subscriptions include Audible, SiriusXM, The New York Times, and Peacock

Amex Green Card vs other rewards cards

	American Express® Green Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	Citi Premier® Card
Annual fee	American Express® Green Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	Citi Premier® Card
Rewards rate	3x points on dining, travel, and transit 1x points on all other eligible purchases	5x points on Lyft rides through March 2022 5x points on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards 3x points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out 3x points on select streaming services 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs) 2x points on other travel 1x points on all other eligible purchases	3x points on air travel, gas stations, restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels 1x points on all other eligible purchases
Welcome bonus	American Express® Green Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening	Citi Premier® Card
Best benefits	Up to $100 in annual LoungeBuddy statement credits Up to $100 in annual CLEAR statement credits	10% anniversary point bonus Primary car rental insurance Trip interruption/cancellation Trip delay insurance Baggage delay insurance Lost luggage reimbursement Extended warranty Purchase protection No foreign transaction fees	$100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) booked through thankyou.com once per calendar year Purchase protection Extended warranty Access to Citi Entertainment No foreign transaction fees World Elite Mastercard benefits
Review		Chase Sapphire Preferred Card review	Citi Premier card review

How to earn points from the Amex Green Card

The American Express® Green Card has a simple and powerful earning structure that fits the lifestyle of a frequent traveler. You’ll earn 3 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar on the following purchases:

Restaurants (including takeout and delivery)
Travel (including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, and more)
Transit (including trains, buses, ferries, subway, and more)

You’ll earn 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases.

Insider estimates Amex points value to be an average of 1.8 cents each when redeemed for travel. That means an earning rate of 3 points per dollar is equivalent to a 5.4% return.

To become an Amex points-earning powerhouse, you can complement this card’s bonus categories with other American Express cards. For example, the American Express® Gold Card earns 4 points per dollar at US supermarkets (on up to $25,000 spent per year, then 1x) and at restaurants.

How to use rewards

There are myriad ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points, each offering drastically different value.

To get the biggest return for your rewards, you’ll want to use them for travel — namely, transferring your points to airline and hotel partners such as Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Hilton. For example, you can:

Transfer 87,000 Amex points to Avianca for a one-way first-class flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa (a $7,000+ value)
Transfer 35,000 Amex points to Singapore Airlines for a round-trip flight to Hawaii on United Airlines (a $500+ value)
Transfer 95,000 Amex points to Hilton for a weekend stay at the Conrad Bora Bora (a $2,500+ value)
Transfer 88,000 Amex points to ANA for a round-trip business class flight to Europe on United Airlines (a $3,500 value)

Alternately, you can use your points to effectively “buy” flights through the American Express Travel portal at a rate of 1 cent each. You can reserve hotels, rental cars, cruises, etc. through the portal, too, but your points will be worth just 0.7 cents each.

Other options (though we don’t recommend any of these) include:

Purchase gift cards with your points, generally at a rate of 1 cent per point
Pay with points for Amazon purchases and with other stores like Walmart and Best Buy at 0.7 cents per point
Receive a statement credit for your points at 0.6 cents per point

Benefits and features

The American Express® Green Card isn’t as jam-packed with benefits as similarly priced travel credit cards, but it’s got enough to more than offset the card’s annual fee each year.

Up to $100 in LoungeBuddy statement credits

LoungeBuddy aggregates most airport lounges worldwide and allows you to purchase a day pass. This is beneficial if you don’t already have a credit card with free airport lounge access, and if you don’t frequently travel enough to warrant opening one of the aforementioned cards.

Prices for a day pass through LoungeBuddy vary with each location, but day passes can cost as low as $25. If you and a travel buddy want to enter a lounge, you could well get two visits each from this annual statement credit.

Up to $100 in CLEAR statement credits

CLEAR is an expedited airport security program that lets you skip to the front of the TSA line. It also operates at the entrance of some stadiums.

A membership to CLEAR normally costs $179 per year — so a $100 statement credit would lower your out-of-pocket cost to $79 per year. However, there are ways to get it even cheaper. For example, if you’re a loyalty member of either United or Delta, CLEAR costs just $119. After this card’s statement credit, you’d pay just $19 per year for a CLEAR membership.

Modest travel and lifestyle insurances

As with most cards in this price range, you can receive purchase insurance with eligible items. You’ll get:

Purchase protection
Extended warranty protection
Return protection

And because this card is primarily for travelers, it comes with:

Rental car insurance — This coverage is secondary, so it will pick up what your personal auto insurance doesn’t cover.
Trip delay insurance — When your flight is delayed 12 hours or more, you’ll get up to $300 per trip (max two claims per year).
Baggage insurance — Offers reimbursement in the event of lost, stolen, or damaged baggage.
24/7 Global Assistance Hotline — Helpful for various emergencies, such as cash wire transfers, medical problems, etc. (you must be at least 100 miles from home).

Fees and costs

The American Express® Green Card charges a American Express® Green Card. But you’ll also be charged for things like late/returned payments and cash advances.

Also note that this card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great companion when traveling internationally.

Amex Green Card — Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Are the Amex Green Card benefits worth the annual fee?

The American Express® Green Card is only worth the annual fee if you will fully use its benefits. The card comes with up to $200 a year in useful statement credits for travel-centric purchases. If you can make use of those (and not simply use them because they’re there), the card is worth keeping year after year.

Is the Amex Green Card metal?

The American Express® Green Card is made of plastic, unlike its siblings, the American Express® Gold Card and the (extra-heavy) The Platinum Card® from American Express.

Amex Green Card vs Gold: Which is better?

The American Express® Gold Card has a noteworthy amount of benefits above the American Express® Green Card. However, its annual fee is $100 higher at American Express® Gold Card.

It’s well worth the extra money for a higher earning rate on common purchases like dining and US supermarkets, as well as the up to $240 in annual statement credits:

Up to $10 in dining credits each month (up to $120 per year) at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed, and participating Shake Shack locations**
Up to $10 in Uber Cash each month (up to $120 per calendar year) after adding the card to an Uber account’s payment method**

What credit score do you need for the Amex Green Card?

We generally recommend that you shouldn’t open a travel credit card unless your credit score is around 700 or higher. If you’re not there yet, take a while to improve your credit — you’ll be glad you did, as it will unlock all kinds of amazing credit card welcome bonuses.

Read the original article on Business Insider