The other day, the retro American Express Green Card got a revamp! Before that, you were only able to earn extra (2x) Membership Rewards points booking travel on Amex travel, but all of that is now changed. Now, you earn 3x Membership Rewards points on on travel (including flights, hotels, transit, taxis, tours, ridesharing services, parking and more) and 3x points per dollar at restaurants WORLDWIDE.
The sign-up bonus is to earn 30,000 Membership Rewards points after you make $2,000 in purchases in your first 3 months. But when I went to get the card online, my offer was 45,000! Rob’s too. We both got it! Thx Amex.
In addition, I am to receive up to $100 in statement credits for purchases made directly with Away using your card within the first 3 months of card membership. (available to those who apply by Jan 15th, 2020). I will definitely be buying an item of luggage or two.
And Yay! We receive up to $100 per calendar year in statement credits, when we pay for a CLEAR membership with the card. Westchester Airport, here we come for our CLEAR memberships. I was going to go anyway and now it will be much less for mine and Rob’s memberships (to be posted about soon).
Finally, in the event I can’t take advantage of all of my Amex lounges that come with my Platinum card (and my Sapphire Reserve), I can always purchase lounge access through LoungeBuddy and receive up to $100 in statement credits per calendar year.
By the way, the card is a charge card, not a credit card, so it this card does not count against the 5 card rule nor did I get a pull on my credit.
The fee is increased from $95 to $150. However, if you will use it for spending on dining and travel, you will make up that fee increase in the extra points you will earn quite quickly. For me, I already have the Amex Gold in which I get 4x points on dining, so I will continue to use that for dining. For most of my travel, transit, I use my Sapphire Reserve. However, Rob does not have an additional one as I don’t want to pay the extra $75 per year for those rare occasions that he parks in the city or takes a car service alone. Now, he will have the perfect card to use for occasions such as those…his new Green card!!
Even if I do not use it for spending, the CLEAR $100 credit is ANNUAL! and I will renew my membership every year and I am sure I will take advantage of the $100 LoungeBuddy credit each year too. By my calculations, I am up $50 bucks each year after the first year. The first year, mine and Rob’s 45,000 Bonus Points make this card a no brainer.