American Express Green Card Review 2024

The American Express® Green Card* is currently offering 40,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 6 months. It also offers 3 points per dollar on travel and transit including flights, hotels, taxis, rideshare services, trains, parking and more, 3 points per dollar on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S. and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.

When American Express refreshed the Green Card in 2019, it took a neglected card in its portfolio and made it perhaps the most rewarding card for travelers who prioritize earning Membership Rewards and want to use one card for all their travel purchases. The Amex Green does not offer the lounge access or hotel credits that you can find with its more premium siblings such as The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees). Rather, it focuses on solid earnings and essential travel insurance protections.

The American Express® Green Card*’s headline feature is its strong earnings of 3 points per dollar on travel and transit including flights, hotels, taxis, rideshare services, trains, parking and more, 3 points per dollar on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S. and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. For travel and travel-adjacent purchases, earnings and the various categories where you can earn Membership Rewards points are unmatched by any card in the American Express portfolio and are competitive among other travel cards.

Besides generous earnings, the Amex Green Card offers benefits for the frequent traveler including a $189 per calendar year credit toward CLEAR® Plus membership and up to $100 in statement credits annually for lounge access through LoungeBuddy. Finally, American Express rounds out the Amex Green Card’s suite of benefits with car rental loss and damage insurance, baggage insurance and no foreign transaction fees, making it a card that should be in your wallet when you are on the road.

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Rates & Fees/ Terms Apply

Welcome Bonus

Earn 60,000 points

Annual Fee

$250

Credit Score

Excellent/Good

Regular APR

See Pay Over Time APR

Credit Score ranges are based on FICO® credit scoring. This is just one scoring method and a credit card issuer may use another method when considering your application. These are provided as guidelines only and approval is not guaranteed.

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.

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Welcome Bonus

75,000 bonus points

Annual Fee

$95

Credit Score

Excellent, Good

Regular APR

21.49%-28.49% Variable

Credit Score ranges are based on FICO® credit scoring. This is just one scoring method and a credit card issuer may use another method when considering your application. These are provided as guidelines only and approval is not guaranteed.

Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

• 3 points per dollar on travel and transit including flights, hotels, taxis, rideshare services, trains, parking and more, 3 points per dollar on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S. and 1 point per dollar on other purchases
• $189 annual credit toward CLEAR® Plus membership
• Up to $100 annual statement credits for airport lounge access through LoungeBuddy
• Trip delay insurance
• Secondary car rental loss and damage Insurance
• Baggage insurance plan
• Purchase protection and extended warranty
• No foreign transaction fees
• $150 annual fee

You might consider the American Express® Green Card* if you spend a lot on travel, dining and public transportation and want to maximize your rewards on those purchases. The card’s LoungeBuddy and CLEAR® Plus credits also make it a good fit for frequent travelers who want a better airport experience. And because of Amex’s Apply With Confidence feature, you can gauge your approval odds without needing to undergo a hard credit check.

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Earning Rewards

The American Express® Green Card* earns Membership Rewards, a flexible points currency in which points can be transferred to a variety of travel partners, redeemed for travel through Amex Travel or used for a variety of other rewards including gift cards and cash rewards.

Cardmembers earn 3 points per dollar on travel and transit including flights, hotels, taxis, rideshare services, trains, parking and more, 3 points per dollar on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S. and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. In its terms and conditions, American Express defines travel and transit broadly, including the following categories:

• Transit: trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses and subways
• Travel: airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, campgrounds, travel purchases on third-party travel websites and travel purchases on amextravel.com

In addition to regular earnings, the American Express® Green Card* offers a welcome bonus of 40,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 6 months.

Redeeming Rewards

As a flexible point currency, American Express Membership Rewards can be redeemed for a variety of rewards or transferred to many transfer partners. Transfer partners are far and away the most lucrative use of Membership Rewards points.

Cover Card Charges

American Express Membership Rewards can be redeemed for statement credits to offset charges made using your American Express card. Currently, Membership Rewards are worth 0.6 cents per point when used for statement credits.

Gift Cards

American Express offers a variety of merchant and American Express gift cards, which can be paid for using Membership Rewards. Some gift card redemptions offer a value of 1 cent per point but others have less attractive redemption rates that can go as low as 0.5 cents per point.

Pay With Points at Checkout

Many merchants, including Best Buy and Amazon, allow you to pay with Membership Rewards points at checkout when you link your eligible American Express card. Additionally, you can use Membership Rewards points to pay for purchases at online merchants where PayPal is accepted as a form of payment. Reward values are 0.7 cents per point with the exception of NYC Taxi fare redemptions which provide a value of 1 cent per point.

Transfer to Travel Partners

The best use of American Express Membership Rewards is generally through transfers to travel partners to redeem for high-value flight and hotel rewards, such as international business class or luxury hotel suites. Membership Rewards transfer partners include airline programs such as Delta SkyMiles, British Airways Executive Club, Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Singapore KrisFlyer. Hotel transfer partners are Hilton, Marriott and Choice.

Book With Points

You can use points to pay for all or part of your travel when you book travel, including flights, hotels, travel packages, cars and cruises with American Express. Points are worth 1 cent each when booking flights through American Express Travel. Pricing varies on other travel bookings using points.

Combining Points With Other Cards and Transfer Options

Finally, American Express Membership Rewards points can be combined across all of your Membership Rewards-earning accounts, which may open up other redemption options. For instance, if you have a business Gold or Platinum card you can redeem points for premium flights at a 25% or 35% rebate.

Rewards Potential

Using data from various government agencies, Forbes Advisor has developed estimates for how much a family in the 70th percentile of income spends annually in various categories. We base our assumptions on a sole proprietor in this income range. The 70th percentile of wage-earning households brings in $116,000 annually and has $36,177 in expenses that can reasonably be charged to credit or charge cards. These figures are used to estimate the potential rewards from this card.

The American Express Green Card earns 3 points per dollar on travel and transit including flights, hotels, taxis, rideshare services, trains, parking and more, 3 points per dollar on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S. and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. The average household spends $3,856 on dining, $2,479 on transit and $6,044 on travel during the year, earning a total of 37,137 Membership Rewards points.

In addition, our example household would have $23,798 of other expenses that could be charged to cards during the year, netting an additional 23,798 Membership Rewards points, resulting in a total of 60,935 Membership Rewards points annually in addition to the welcome bonus.

• Global Assist hotline: Get 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services, including medical, legal, and passport referrals, emergency cash wires, and missing luggage assistance provided to cardmembers traveling more than 100 miles away from home.
• Amex Offers: Find frequent promotions to reward spending at a variety of merchants.
• Purchase protection: Provides coverage up to $1,000 for items that are lost or stolen within 90 days of purchase.
• Extended warranty: Provides up to one additional year of coverage in addition to the original manufacturer’s warranty.
• American Express Experiences: Exclusive access to ticket presales and card member-only events.
• Amex Send & Split: Send money and split purchases with any other Venmo or PayPal user, directly from the Amex app.

You can make the most of the card’s rewards program by making sure you use the card every time you pay for travel, transit or dining. When it comes to redeeming your rewards, avoid redemption options that give you less than 1 cent per point in value—the highest redemption value you can get if you redeem your rewards with Amex.

If you’re willing to do a little extra research, you can get even more value if you transfer your Membership Rewards points to one of Amex’s transfer partners. The value of your redemption will vary depending on the airline or hotel partner and the details of your redemption.

Transfer Partners

American Express has 18 airline and three hotel transfer partners. Here’s a summary of the partners and the transfer ratio for each:

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: See Pay Over Time APR
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual fee: $150
• Balance transfer fee: N/A

Amex Green Card Foreign Transaction Fee

The card doesn’t charge a transaction fee on purchases made abroad, making it a good option if you travel internationally on the regular. Other cards may charge a fee of up to 3% of each foreign transaction.

American Express® Green Card* vs. American Express® Gold Card

The Amex Green Card and American Express® Gold Card are often talked about in the same breath simply for the fact that both were reimagined within a one-year period. Both became more expensive in terms of annual fee but received enhanced benefits.

The Gold Card, available with a $250 annual fee (Terms apply. See rates & fees), offers up to $120 in annual dining statement credits ($10 per month at select restaurants), $120 annually in Uber Cash ($10 per month when your eligible card is linked to your Uber account) and earns 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1 point per dollar), 3 Membership Rewards® points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express travel and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases.

The Gold Card pulls ahead of the Amex Green Card in terms of the slightly more flexible credits. The Gold Card also offers additional rewards for the supermarket category. However, the Gold Card does not offer additional rewards for the entire travel category—only air travel bookings. The lack of the transit category for the Gold Card is also a slight minus versus the Amex Green Card.

The rewards earning potential essentially comes down to the rest of travel and U.S. supermarkets. If you want greater travel rewards, choose the Amex Green Card. If you want greater supermarket rewards and can muster the higher annual fee, choose the Gold Card.

American Express® Green Card* vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is Chase’s mid-tier credit card that competes in the same market segment as the American Express Green Card. Like the American Express Green Card, the Sapphire Preferred offers increased earnings of 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.

The card also includes a suite of travel and consumer protections including primary auto rental collision damage waiver, trip cancellation and interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance and purchase and extended warranty protections.

Points earned are Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which can be spent toward a variety of redemption options or transferred to one of Chase’s travel partners for the potential of outsized value.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card may be a better option for you if you seek to collect points in Chase’s Ultimate Rewards transferable points currency or book travel through Chase Travel at 1.25 cents per point.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred currently offers a welcome bonus: 75,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Read more: Best Credit Cards

The American Express® Green Card* is an excellent choice if you are a frequent traveler looking to accumulate the maximum number of American Express Membership Rewards on your travel purchases. The card trades travel perks like lounge access for 3 points per dollar spent on almost all your travel spending and offers useful credits that can offset the annual fee.

Frequent travelers who prefer the Chase Ultimate Rewards program or want primary car rental coverage in addition to generous earnings on travel purchases should consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

If you tend to stay closer to home but you still spend heavily at restaurants and grocery stores, consider the American Express Gold Card, especially if you can take advantage of the credits.

If you don’t travel often or are more interested in earning greater rewards in everyday categories, consider the flat-rate cash back offered by the Citi Double Cash® Card.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors, including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual points or miles
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors came together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor Rates Credit Cards

To view rates and fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for the American Express® Gold Card, visit this page.