Earlier today, Doctor of Credit reported that the American Express Green Card was no longer on Amex’s website, and links to the card returned an error message.
Initially, I thought that this was just a technical bug, as referral links were still active. After a few hours, those were dead as well, and it now appears that the card is no longer available for new applications, although you can still downgrade to it from either the American Express Platinum® or Gold cards.
This seems to be some sort of redesign or update, as Amex had a notice in Green cardholders’ accounts last month saying that the name of the card would be changing to the “Classic Green” on August 20th. At the time, most of us assumed this was likely just a name change, as issuers often make small tweaks to product nomenclature that go largely unnoticed. However, the fact that Amex completely took down the card seems to indicate that there are larger changes afoot.
| Card Offer |
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 ⓘ $-150 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates None Non-Affiliate This card is not currently available for new applicants.$150 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: This card is worth considering as your go-to travel card, but only if you value its CLEAR+ credit. Also note that Amex cards continue to have limited acceptance in many international destinations. Click here for our complete card review |
Amex has repeatedly fiddled with both the Platinum and Gold cards in the last couple of years, shoveling in oodles of coupons and raising the annual fees. Thus far, the Green card has been untouched, but Nick predicted that Amex would finally get around to sprucing it up in 2026. A wise man once told me that “a Reyes is always right,” and it looks like that’s about to be proven true again.
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I just noticed that the green card is now offering statement credits instead of membership rewards for referrals from my wife’s account.
Interesting! Thanks for the heads up!
Besides edge cases like Japan IC card reloads, the Green Card has never made sense as long as the WF Autograph exists. Same 3X on travel, transit and dining (plus other categories like gas and streaming), same lack of FTF, but it’s $0AF instead of $150, and oh yeah, it’s a Visa so it actually has worldwide acceptance.
Hope Amex eventually brings it back as a more competitive offering.
I don’t feel confident this is a refresh of the Amex Green Card.
Normally, Amex keeps their cards active for new applications and they just update on the day of the release of the refreshed card.
However this time they removed the green card for new applications, I think they will grandfather all customers with the green card and may introduce a new Membership Rewards card.
I’ve read speculations that Amex is moving all everyday spending cards to cash back and only travel & dining cards will earn Membership Rewards points.
It’s been how long since the Green Card was refreshed? Six years. I think the strategy was to move the Platinum and Gold upstream to make room for a higher annual fee Green Card with coupons. The Gold Card’s next stop is $395.
The Green Card probably keeps the same earning structure and moves to $195. The gross total of coupons might be $300+. It will be interesting to see. I’ll guess Clear $200 and Resy $100.
With the death of lounge buddy or whatever it was called the Green card needs a new perk to keep it relevant as a travel card. Chase Sapphire changes were a bummer for us with Hyatt deval but aside from that it objectively got better in terms of credits and benefits.
In the AMEX app there’s a card benefits link in the name change announcement msg. They removed the Clear+ credit from that list. That essentially paid for the annual fee and was the only reason I kept the card. Will product change or cancel now for sure.