Is Amex Turning The Amex Green Card From A Clunker To A Keeper?
My wife’s Amex Platinum annual fee should be posting in the next few weeks. This is the card that was transferred from the old Mercedes Benz card. I had originally planned to product change it into the new Amex Gold card for the 4X on restaurants and groceries. The Gold card comes with a hefty $250 annual. I just held onto my Aspire card and I want to lessen my annual fee load right now. We also have the Everyday Preferred which covers the grocery aspect for the time being. I also don’t want to cancel the card since my wife is on Amex’s good side right now and canceling it may change that. Another option may be to go with the Amex Green card with its rumored revamp.
My Thoughts
The American Express Green card has always been a clunker. We have both had it for the 25,000 Membership Rewards points welcome offer but it has never been worth keeping or using. We covered the rumored changes that are supposed to launch this summer a little while ago. These are not guaranteed but I think there is a good chance they end up being close to what was leaked.
My wife and I drive quite a bit so 4X on gas is HUGE and would be the best option in the category, outside purchasing gift cards at Staples etc. The 3X on streaming services is not a big deal to me with my Ink+ getting 5X on it. But it could be very useful for others. It is also rumored that they are trying to add Amazon Prime as a perk. I am guessing that will be a welcome offer teaser and not a yearly thing but if it is that would be huge.
But Why Now?
I am going to try to get a retention offer on the Platinum card first and see how that plays out. But if nothing good is offered I would downgrade to the Green card now for a few different reasons.
- It would keep the account active at the lowest possible cost. You can not product change a charge card to a credit card so there are no fee free options.
- When Amex rolls out new perks they are given to current cardholders too. And the annual fee is not increased until the next time it becomes due. So I could get 8 months or so of the perks at a reduced cost. I imagine the annual fee will be going up with these proposed added perks.
Conclusion
Strategic thinking is important now more than ever. With new banking rules being rolled out right and left we need to up our planning game. By doing this I may be able to lock in a card with pretty good perks at a lower rate. If the rumors turn out not to be true I can always upgrade the card to the Amex Gold card like I had originally planned.
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I am exactly on the same boat. I am eligible to cancel or Downgrade my “ex” MB card as of today.
Had a fantastic Telephone rep who actually warned me about a possible clawback about 3 months ago, gave me the exact date when I should be “free.”
Calling tomorrow.
Mark, I love your posts, and have a question about something totally unrelated (your post about hacking Flying Blue,) and I am not sure what might be the best path to get that question to you.
Thank you again
You can always email me at mark@milestomemories.com…I will keep an eye out for it 🙂
Thank you so very much!
[…] from Miles to Memories writes about how he’s considering downgrading the American Express Platinum card to the Green card. Sharon’s going to keep her Green AMEX card until the end of time so I sure hope the rumors […]
Oh! Thanks for telling me. I thought the gold card that could be for someone else would be the same as the AMEX Gold card.
Yeah it earns the same rates that the Platinum card does. It would be awesome if it earned the Gold card rates though 🙂
Mark have you considered your wife has the AMEX Platinum, and with that she can get you an AMEX Gold with no additional fee. Just one of the benefits of owning the Platinum that I recently read about at American Express.
Yes except it doesn’t earn 4X on groceries or restaurants like the Gold card normally does so it isn’t really a big deal to me.
thanks for finalizing my decision. Mine is due in mid April. I was given 3k spend for 5k points x2. what a joke! I was told that was the highest offer. So i will be downgrading to Green in June before the 30 days timeframes.
Glad I could help out
Credit card lingo – I don’t understand what you are doing as you use too many terms that I don’t understand… Guess I am not up to playing the credit card game!:)
If you wanna let me know which terms you need some clarification on I can help out 😉
looking forward to the relaunch, esp if includes Amazon Prime. any more word on when it might arrive? thx
Rumor is June or July
I also had a plat biz that came due last month and an Amex employee told me it is perfectly ok to do what I said
I tried to downgrade my plate to green yesterday & got transferred to retention. $200 or 20k MR with $3k spend in 90 days. Told them I’d think about it. I have about a week left, leaning towards downgrading anyway.
Yeah I think I am putting the cut off at 30K which is highly unlikely of happening but 20K is right in that zone where it is a tough choice but I think I would downgrade at this point. Especially with the 3K in spend needed.
You can upgrade back to platinum for a short period of time to use the travel and dell credits and then downgrade back down
I don’t think I would wanna play games with Amex like that. I know some do but not personally worth it for me with how they have been cracking down on welcome offers etc. for people who they think are abusing the system.