Is the Amex Green card good now?

Tl;dr: Probably not, but the bonus isn’t bad.

I’ve always wanted to like the American Express Green Card, for Seinfeld-y reasons, if nothing else. And when I got my first Amex card in college, I assumed that if I ever started upgrading, the Green Card would be where I’d start, as it’s Amex’s lowest-tier annual-fee charge card. But when it actually came time to upgrade, I skipped right over the Green to get the Gold Card. Although the Green Card’s $150 annual fee was much lower than the Gold’s $250, the Gold came with $240 in credits toward Uber and dining purchases that I was already making, all but negating the annual fee, whereas the Green offered only $100 off of Loungebuddy airport lounge purchases and a $189 credit toward Clear service to speed through airport security, fun perks but ones that definitely did not match my preexisting spending. 

And most people in the market for a credit card would reach a similar decision: the Green Card has been stuck in a sort of purgatory where it just doesn’t make much sense for many people. The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Premier cards have sub-$100 annual fees offset by credits that normal people might realistically benefit from (a $50 hotel credit and $100 credit for a $500+ hotel purchase, respectively). The Bilt card offers premium features without any annual fee at all. Even the Capital One Venture X with its $395 annual fee comes with $300 in statement credits toward travel and $100 worth of free points every renewal. 

I tried to imagine someone for whom the Green card makes sense, and I could almost paint a picture. With its 3x points on travel, transit, and dining along with the Clear and Loungebuddy credits, it makes a certain amount of sense for upper middle class city dwellers who want upscale perks on their rare flying vacations. This person might be willing to pay for lounge access for their annual flight, but not want to invest big money to get unlimited lounge access through a high annual fee card like the Venture X, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Amex Platinum. They might spend a lot to park their car in the city, or pay for a monthly metro pass, or take a lot of cabs and rideshares, in which case the 3x points on those purchases might make the card worthwhile. Even more so if they regularly rent a car and take trips that way, as hotels and rental cars also earn 3x. 

Still, for most people, the Green card won’t make a lot of sense as a card to keep in the wallet year after year. And with its typical 40,000 Membership Rewards points bonus offer, it wasn’t a particularly valuable one to add to the wallet either. But that has changed, at least for now:

Suddenly, the card seems worth a whirl. If you put $1000 in travel and transit purchases on the card in the first 6 months, you’ll get $200 back in statement credits, negating the annual fee with $50 back to spare. That 3x return on travel spending matches the $550-fee Chase Sapphire Reserve (although Chase points are slightly more valuable), and beats or at least matches most other cards. The 3x on transit is basically unmatched. Those, combined with the 3x back on dining, make it pretty realistic to put the $3,000 in spending on the card in 6 months required to earn the 60,000 bonus points without losing too much value by diverting that spend from high-value cards. 

What makes the card especially appealing now is that it is a great complementary card to pair with Amex’s other charge cards if you wanted to acquire a pretty substantial lump of Amex points. While I’m generally not a fan of using points to unlock luxury travel, a Green/Gold pairing presents some pretty nice possibilities here. The bonus alone adds up to 120,000 points for the two cards (more, with my referral link at time of writing), and with 4x on dining and groceries, 3x on travel, and 3x and transit, the points could accumulate pretty quickly. For the right person, the Green card suddenly might make a bit of sense. 

Referral link HERE (will have to navigate to the Green card page; currently the bonus is the same as the public offer, but applying this way would support us)

Key Card Details

Welcome bonus: 
60,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 6 months

20% back as statement credit on travel and transit purchases in the first 6 months, up to $200

(Typically/historically: 40,000)

Annual fee:
$150 

Credits/offsets:
$100 Loungebuddy credit
$189 Clear credit

Earning rates:
3x dining (restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.)
3x travel
3x transit (including trains, taxis, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, and mass transit)

Protections
No foreign transaction fees
Car rental collision/damage insurance (secondary)
Baggage insurance (up to $500 checked, $1,250 carryon)
Purchase protection (up to $1,000/item for theft/damage within 90 days of purchase)
Extended warranty (up to 1 extra year on warranties of 5 years or less)

Perks 
Global Assist Hotline

Key Redemptions
Travel portal redemption rate: 1¢/pt on airfare

Best statement credit redemptions: n/a (0.6¢/pt for general statement credit); 1.0/1.1¢/pt “invest with rewards” for MorganStanley and Schwab Amex Platinum holders, respectively

Transfer partners: Delta Skymiles, JetBlue TrueBlue, Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Choice Privileges, Aeromexico Rewards, Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France FlyingBlue, ANA Mileage Club, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Emirates Skyward, Etihad Guest Miles, Finnair Plus, Iberia Plus, KLM FlyingBlue, Quantas Frequent Flyer, SAS EuroBonus, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Example transfer redemptions from San Francisco: 

Singapore for 74k Delta miles + $96 ($1200 cash price)
Sydney for 75k ANA miles + $106 ($1100 cash price)
Washington DC for 25k Avianca miles + $11 ($400 cash price)
Johannesburg for 73.5k Air France/KLM miles + $365 ($1450 cash price)