AmEx Green Review: Triple Points on Dining and Travel, Plus Credits
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4.0
This card is a great fit for travelers who can make use of its valuable transfer partners, rich rewards and generous credits. Doing so takes some time and effort, though, and cheaper options exist.
Pros
Transferable points
High rewards rates
No foreign transaction fee
Cons
Has annual fee
Some low-value redemptions
Compare to Other Cards
Annual fee$95 | Annual fee$0 |
Regular APR21.49%-28.49% Variable APR | |
Intro APRN/A | Intro APR0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers |
Recommended Credit Score |
Recommended Credit Score |
Detailed review: American Express® Green Card
Among travel credit cards, the $150-annual fee American Express® Green Card is a strong choice.
It earns Membership Rewards — AmEx's versatile rewards currency, which can be transferred to several different loyalty programs — and features high ongoing rewards rates on travel and restaurants worldwide. You'll also get some unique and potentially valuable travel credits, not to mention an impressive welcome offer: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. 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.
Cheaper options exist. But for travelers and folks who can take advantage of the card's perks and rewards — say, by transferring points to other airline and hotel programs and making high-value redemptions — it's a good deal.
American Express® Green Card: Basics
Annual fee: $150.
Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. 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.
Rewards:
3 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on eligible travel purchases.
3 points per dollar spent on restaurants worldwide.
1 point per dollar spent on other purchases.
Terms apply.
Membership Rewards points are super-flexible and can range in value from about 0.5 cents to 1 cent each depending on how you redeem them, with travel and gift card redemptions generally being the most valuable. Points are also transferable and can be worth even more if redeemed strategically after being transferred to other loyalty programs.
APR: See terms.
This card offers two different features — "Plan It®" and "Pay Over Time". Plan It® lets you set up a payment plan for eligible purchases, during which you pay a monthly fee instead of interest charges. With this feature, you know how much you'll pay each month. "Pay Over Time" lets you finance eligible purchases over a term with interest. There is a limit to the amount you can finance with a Pay Over Time plan.
Foreign transaction fees: None.
Other benefits:
Up to $189 per year in statement credit when you use the card to pay for your Clear membership fee. (Clear is a prescreening program at certain airports and other venues that uses biometrics to verify your identity.)
Up to $100 per year in statement credit when you purchase LoungeBuddy passes with your card. (LoungeBuddy lets you buy single-use day passes to airport lounges.)
Terms apply.
Benefits and perks
Transferable points
One of the card's most valuable features: It earns Membership Rewards points. These can be transferred to an extensive list of airline and hotel loyalty programs. The transfer ratios vary by partner, but in many cases, they're 1:1. That means, for instance, you could turn 50,000 Membership Rewards points into 50,000 miles with a certain airline program. Potentially, this means you could get much more than one cent apiece from these points if you moved points to a loyalty program and took advantage of a high-value redemption.
The card makes it easy to rack up points, too. It earns a generous 3 points per dollar spent on eligible travel and restaurant expenses. Terms apply. The list of what counts as travel is expansive, too. It includes airfare, hotels and car rentals, but also cruises, campgrounds, tours, trains, rideshares, buses, subways, tolls, parking and more. Third-party travel websites and amextravel.com also qualify.
Generally, you can transfer points fee-free. But if you're transferring earnings to a U.S. airline, you'll get hit with a fee of $0.0006 per point, up to a maximum fee of $99.
Big welcome offer
New cardholders can get a top-notch welcome offer: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. 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. That could potentially cover a round-trip flight or a night or two at a hotel.
Potentially valuable travel credits
The travel-related perks that come with the American Express® Green Card are relatively specific — but they could be worth as much as $200 for those who can use them. For frequent travelers, they could prove valuable. Here's how they work:
$189 annual statement credit toward a Clear membership: Over three dozen airports — and several other stadiums and venues across the country — use Clear's biometric ID technology to allow people to breeze through eligible prescreening lines (though you'll still have to go through the X-ray line). However, keep in mind that Clear isn't the same thing as TSA Precheck or Global Entry. More on that below.
$100 annual LoungeBuddy statement credit: This online- and app-based service allows you to buy airport lounge access for a fee at hundreds of airports. Single-use lounge passes start at $25, so in theory, this credit could net you up to four complimentary lounge visits per year.
Terms apply.
Drawbacks and considerations
Relatively high annual fee
The card's $150 annual fee can be worthwhile, especially if you can take advantage of AmEx's transfer partners and the card's statement credits. But it's still relatively expensive for a non-premium travel card, and if you won't use travel partners or credits, go with a different option.
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card could be a good match, for example. It earns 1.5 points per $1 on all purchases. Points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for travel. It also comes with a good sign-up bonus and an introductory 0% APR offer.
Some redemption options are low-value
The American Express® Green Card can deliver excellent value through its transfer partners. But other redemption options aren't that great. For example, redeeming for a statement credit will get you only 0.6 cent per point.
For a card with better redemption options and excellent transfer partners, try the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. For an annual fee of $95, you'll get access to many of the same transfer partners, including Aer Lingus, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Emirates, Iberia, JetBlue, Singapore, Virgin Atlantic and Marriott. The card earns 5 points per $1 spent on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®; 3 points per $1 spent on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout), select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs); 2 points per $1 spent on travel not purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®; and 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases. Booking travel through Chase gets 1.25 cents out of each point, and redeeming for cash back gets 1 cent per point. The card also comes with an solid sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Other cards offer more useful travel credits
A Clear credit may be useful in specific situations, especially as a supplement to TSA Precheck or Global Entry. But it isn't really a substitute for those programs. Unlike Clear, which is a private company, TSA Precheck and Global Entry are administered by the federal government and are in wide use across the country. They're also significantly cheaper: The application fee for TSA Precheck is $78; for Global Entry, it's $100. What's more, your status with those federal programs lasts for five years — not just one — and many travel credit cards with less hefty annual fees will cover the full application cost for you.
» MORE: Is Clear worth the cost?
The LoungeBuddy credit is also a nice touch and potentially more useful, particularly if you don't have any other cards that provide lounge access. But while the service advertises lounge access for as low as $25 per visit, many lounges on the platform will end up costing you significantly more than that. Also be aware that some travel credit cards with lower annual fees already offer some version of airport lounge access.
If you're looking for a card with bonus rewards on travel and dining and more useful credits, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card could be a match. It earns 2 points per dollar spent on travel and dining, and 1.5 points per dollar spent on all other purchases. You'll get a statement credit toward TSA Precheck or Global Entry application fees every four years. There's also an annual airline incidental statement credit worth up to $100 that can cover qualifying purchases like seat upgrades, airline lounge fees and checked bag fees. The annual fee is $95.
For more offers, check out Nerdwallet's full list of the best credit cards to have.
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card earns 1.5 points per $1 on all purchases, but it has a $0 annual fee, plus a sign-up bonus: Earn 25,000 online bonus points after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening - that can be a $250 statement credit toward travel purchases.. Pay 0% intro APR on Purchases for 15 billing cycles and 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 15 billing cycles for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days, and then the ongoing APR of 18.24%-28.24% Variable APR.
How to decide if it's right for you
The American Express® Green Card isn't particularly simple: Scoping out good deals and moving points to other programs takes some effort and taking advantage of this card's side perks might mean using services you might not otherwise try. But for travelers who love the challenge of maximizing points and perks, it offers excellent value and versatility, making it well worth its annual fee.