Back in June of 2019, when the retro American Express Green Card got a revamp, Rob and I both got the card with a nice bonus of 45,000 Membership Rewards points. We even used the card often for travel despite the fact that I also had a Chase Sapphire Reserve, which like the Amex Green, offered 3x points on travel. However, with this Green card, the 3x points per dollar at restaurants was irrelevant as I also had an American Express Gold Card that offered 4x points on dining.
One of the main things that made this card worth it for us was the $100 per calendar year in statement credits for CLEAR. We happily used this credit over the last 2 years for our respective Clear memberships.
But in 2021, Amex made a change to the Amex Platinum that basically rendered this card useless to me and Rob. They are offering an annual $179 statement credit for Clear purchases. Meaning, if Rob applies for Clear at the Delta SkyMiles member rate of $119 and adds me for $50 as a family member (or vice versa), we are below the $179 statement credit that we get with my Platinum card. Not to mention, Rob has his own Platinum card where we get another $179 and I also have an American Express Business Platinum (I couldn’t pass up the recent 150K bonus offer) and that also has another $179. We are flush with Clear statement credits!
And just a heads up for Amex, I found that $100 LoungeBuddy statement credit per calendar year impossible to use. And I have so much lounge access with my other cards.
Needless to say, we did not need our Amex Green card anymore. I canceled both our cards when the annual fee of $150 became due. And I did it knowing, that it would not really affect mine or Rob’s credit score, as the Amex Green cards are charge cards and not credit cards. Remember, I don’t love canceling CREDIT cards, but rather downgrading the card to a no-fee version. But with a charge card..bye bye.