The Amex Green Card is closed to new applicants. Amex's Green Card page now redirects to its general card listing, and the card is no longer listed there. This review is for people who already hold one.
If you carry the American Express Green Card, the question isn't whether to apply. It's whether to keep it at your next renewal, ask Amex about switching to a different card, or close it. Because Amex no longer publishes the Green's terms, the current annual fee, earning rates and statement credits for your card are the ones in your own account and cardmember agreement. Start there.
The rest of this review covers what the Green does well, how other Amex and Chase cards compare, and how to think through keeping, changing or canceling it.
Quick Summary
Who This Is For: Existing Green cardholders deciding what to do at renewal. The card isn't open to new applicants.
What It Does Well: Broad travel and transit earning in Membership Rewards points, the same currency the Gold and Platinum earn.
Biggest Drawback: It's closed to new applicants, so if you cancel it, you can't apply for it again.
What to Check First: The annual fee, earning rates and statement credits shown in your account, plus your renewal date.
What the Green Card Actually Is
The Green Card is a Membership Rewards card built around travel, transit and dining. It earns the same Membership Rewards currency, meaning the same airline and hotel transfer partners. If you hold it, your points pool with any other Membership Rewards card under your login.
It's a charge card by Amex's standard rules (pay in full each month, with Pay Over Time available on eligible charges). Its bonus categories are broad, and your cardmember agreement shows the categories and rates that apply to your card today.
The Earning Categories: Which Purchases Earn Bonus Points
The Green earns bonus Membership Rewards points on travel, transit and dining. Here's what each category has covered. Confirm the current rates in your account before you base a keep-or-cancel decision on them.
Dining
Restaurants, bars, takeout, delivery, coffee shops and food trucks, worldwide rather than U.S. only. The worldwide coverage matters when you're traveling, because many cards' bonus dining categories are U.S.-only.
Travel
Flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel, hotels, cruises, car rentals and vacation rentals.
Transit
This is the category that quietly carries the card for urban cardholders. It has covered rideshare (Uber, Lyft), taxis, parking, tolls, public transit (subway, bus, commuter rail) and trains.
Say you spend $200 a month on rideshare and parking and the card earns 3x there. That's 7,200 points a year from transit alone, which is the kind of number to set against your fee when you decide whether to keep it.
Statement Credits: Check Your Account
Amex's CLEAR+ page lists the American Express Green Card among the cards eligible for its CLEAR+ statement credit. Check the benefits section of your account for the amount and for any other credits that apply to your card now.
Then ask yourself one question: did you actually use them last year? A credit you don't use doesn't offset anything. If you enroll in CLEAR every year and the Green's credit covers it, that alone can be most of the case for keeping the card.
Travel Protections Worth Naming
The Green has included trip delay insurance, secondary car rental loss and damage coverage, and purchase protection. Coverage limits and eligibility are set out in your Benefits Guide, so check the current terms there before you count on any of them.
If the Green is your only card with trip delay coverage, factor that in before you close it.
Membership Rewards Transfer Partners: Where the Real Value Lives
Using points through Amex Travel is the simple option. The reason Membership Rewards points are worth carrying is the transfer partners, and the Green earns the same currency the Gold and Platinum earn. See our Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners overview for the full chart and current ratios.
A few sweet spots worth knowing:
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for ANA business class to Tokyo.
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards for discounted economy awards to Europe from select U.S. gateways.
- Avianca LifeMiles for Star Alliance partner business class.
- Delta SkyMiles for domestic short-hauls when Delta Flash Sales lower award prices.
Before you close the Green, check what happens to your Membership Rewards balance, especially if it's the only card you hold that earns those points.
Pros and Cons for Existing Cardholders
Pros
- Bonus earning on transit and rideshare, which the Gold doesn't bonus.
- The same Membership Rewards transfer partners as the Gold and Platinum.
- Worldwide dining bonus.
Cons
- Closed to new applicants, so if you cancel it you can't apply for it again.
- The Gold earns 4x at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per calendar year), so compare that with the Green's dining rate in your account if you eat out a lot.
- Charge card rules: the balance is due in full each month for most charges.
How the Green Compares
Green vs. Amex Gold Card
The Gold earns 4x at U.S. supermarkets (capped at $25,000 per calendar year), 4x at restaurants worldwide (capped at $50,000 per calendar year), and 3x on flights booked direct or through Amex Travel. Annual fee: $325. See our Amex Green vs. Amex Gold comparison for the full breakdown.
If most of your spending is dining and groceries, the Gold's 4x categories are built for it. If a big share goes on transit and rideshare, that's the Green's case: the Gold's bonus categories are restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel. Compare the Gold's fee with the fee in your Green account and weigh which categories you actually spend on.
Green vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred
The CSP costs $95 annually, earns 5x on Chase Travel, 3x on dining, 3x on top streaming services and online grocery (exclusions apply), and 2x on all other travel. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners are deep (Hyatt, United, Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue). See our Chase Sapphire Preferred review for the full picture.
The CSP also earns 5x on Lyft rides through September 30, 2027, so compare that with the transit rate in your Green account. The CSP wins on Hyatt access and 5x on Chase Travel purchases. If you're thinking about closing the Green, this is the main question: do you want to stay in the Amex ecosystem or move toward Chase?
Green vs. Amex Platinum
The Platinum is $895 a year and is built for travelers who'll burn its $200 airline fee credit, $200 in Uber Cash, $219 CLEAR+ credit, up to $600 hotel credit, $300 Equinox credit, and Centurion Lounge access. If you genuinely use those credits, the Platinum wins. If you don't fly enough to justify $895 in fees, it's an expensive upgrade. Don't pay $895 for benefits you won't actually use; that's the most expensive way to feel premium.
Keep, Product Change, Downgrade or Cancel
Keep It If
- You spend regularly on transit, rideshare and travel, and the earning in your account still matches that.
- You used the credits in your account last year and expect to again.
- You value the trip delay and rental car coverage and don't have it on another card.
Ask About a Product Change or Downgrade If
- Your spending has shifted to dining and groceries. Ask Amex whether it will move you to the Gold, which earns 4x at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets up to its annual caps.
- You want to keep your account history and Membership Rewards earning but the Green's fee no longer pays for itself. Ask Amex which cards, if any, it will let you switch to, and whether a switch counts as a new card for any welcome offer.
Cancel If
- You didn't use the credits and your spending in the bonus categories is light.
- You've moved most of your spending to another card or ecosystem. Hyatt loyalists, for example, can use the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which routes points to Hyatt at 4:3 as of October 1, 2026 (Chase's example: 1,000 points become 750 Hyatt points).
Before you cancel, use or move any Membership Rewards points you'd otherwise lose, and remember the Green is closed to new applicants, so you can't apply for it again later.
Final Verdict
The Green is a keep for cardholders whose spending runs through travel, transit and dining and who use the credits in their account. If your spending concentrates in dining and groceries, ask Amex about the Gold. If you fly often enough to use a premium credit suite, the Platinum may be the better fit. If you've drifted to Chase, the CSP ($95 a year) is the natural home. Check your account's fee, credits and renewal date first, then decide before the fee posts.
Updated October 4, 2026: Amex Green closed to new applicants.
