Travel Statement Credits and a Bonus of 40,000 Points

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The American Express® Green Card
Solid earning rates for transit, dining and travel are available. You can also earn up to $289 annually in credit, which is more than enough for the $150 annual fee. Frequent travelers might prefer a card that offers stronger travel incentives such as access to airport lounges and free flights. top-tier travel insurance.

Review: Is Amex Green Card the right credit card for me?

The American Express® Green Card currently offers a welcome bonus of 40,000 points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first six months of account opening.

That’s worth an average of  $720 in travel, per Insider’s Valuations — and significant enough to take a closer look at the card. Do you think it is worth giving the card a try for a while to see if it works 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 merchants include taxicabs, rideshare, train, bus, and subway drivers. This is a very rare category.

And with benefits such as up to $189 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 occasional travelers.

Here’s what you need to know about the American Express® Green Card.

This article is about the benefits and perks that each card comes with. If you have to pay interest or late fees, these cards will not be worth the cost. You should pay your entire credit card balance each month. Make timely payments and only pay what you can afford.

How to earn points on the Amex Greencard

Amex Green Card is a simple yet powerful earning structure that can be used to suit the lifestyle of frequent travellers. The following purchases will earn you 3 Amex Membership Rewards Points per Dollar: 

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

Earn 1 point for every dollar spent on eligible purchases

Insider estimates Amex points worth valueTo be an average of 1.8c per redemption for travel, A return of 5.4% is achieved by an earning rate equivalent to 3 points per dollar.

You can add bonus categories to your Amex card to increase your points-earning power. Other American Express Cards. The Amex Gold Card earns 4 Points per Dollar at US Supermarkets (up to $25,000 per Year, then 1x), and in restaurants.

How to use Rewards

There are many. How to use Amex Rewards PointsEach offer a different value.

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

• Transfer 87,000 Amex points from Avianca to Lufthansa to get a one-way, first-class flight to Frankfurt (a $7,000+ value).
• Transfer 39,000 Amex points to Singapore Airlines for a round-trip flight to Hawaii on United Airlines  (a $500+ value)
• Transfer 120,000 Amex Points to Hilton for a weekend at Conrad Bora Bora (a value of $2,500+)
• Transfer 88,000 Amex Points to ANA to book a round-trip Business Class flight to Europe with United Airlines (a value of $3,500)

Alternativly, you could use your points to “buy” flights through the airline American Express TravelPortal at a price of 1 cent each You can book hotels, rentals cars, cruises, and other services. The portal also allows you to redeem points for a mere 0.7 cents per point.

We don’t recommend these options, but there are other options:

Benefits and features

The Amex Green Card doesn’t offer as many benefits as similar priced cards. Travel credit cardsHowever, it is more than sufficient to cover the annual fee for each card.

LoungeBuddy credit cards up to $100

LoungeBuddy allows you to buy a day pass and aggregates all airport lounges around the world. If you don’t have one, this is a great way to get one. Credit card with airport lounge access free of chargeYou can, but you shouldn’t travel often enough to be able to open one of the above cards.

LoungeBuddy prices for day passes vary depending on where you are located, but they can start at $25. You and your travel buddy could get two passes to a lounge each with this annual statement credit.

Up to $189 in CLEAR® statement credits

CLEAR®This expedited airport security program allows you to skip the TSA line. It can also be used at some stadium entrances.

A CLEAR membership® normally costs $189 per year — so a $189 statement credit would lower your out-of-pocket cost to $0 per year.

Lifestyle and modest travel insurance

You can get purchase insurance with eligible items just as you would with most cards in this price bracket. You’ll get:

• Protect yourself with purchase
• Extended warranty protection
• Return protection

This card is designed primarily for travellers and includes:

• 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 located at least 100 miles away from your home.

Prices and fees

Amex Green Card is subject to a $150 annual charge. You’ll be charged for late/returned payments as well as cash advances.

Please note also that this card doesn’t charge foreign transaction feesThis makes it a great companion on international trips.

Comparison: Amex Green Card and other Amex cards

*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, Wine.com, Goldbelly, Milk Bar, 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 Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, Audible, SiriusXM, The New York Times, and Peacock

Amex Green Card vs. Other Rewards Cards

Common questions for Amex Green Card (FAQ).