topic Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!! in Credit Cards

Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:59:53 GMT

List best benefits from using amex green card. or your favorite :-) $95 annual fee worth it?

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:02:10 GMT

The only benefit I see is it helps you get your foot in the door with Amex to qualify for their better cards and that leads to a lot of good benefits! ;P

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:10:17 GMT

haha. I hope I end up making good money to use those high cards! My parents have the platinum but they charge over 250+ alone on bull**bleep**. they want a black.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Ron1 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:12:34 GMT

Is the Amex Green worth it? Here is the thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Is-the-AMEX-Green-card-worth-a-darn-these-days/td-p/1572896

Ron.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Cdnewmanpac — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:00:49 GMT

I would just point out that the thread Ron links to was from before the discontinuation of the zync. While zync existed, the green had little value. Now, however, it is the cheapest charge card available for personal use. It's main benefit is for people with high monthly spends, but low credit limits or people who used to have plat or prg, don't travel any more, but have a bunch of mr points they want to keep active.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:52:21 GMT

Im putting about 1k a month. Its my only card with rewards

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

flowfaster — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:58:20 GMT

@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
I would just point out that the thread Ron links to was from before the discontinuation of the zync. While zync existed, the green had little value. Now, however, it is the cheapest charge card available for personal use. It's main benefit is for people with high monthly spends, but low credit limits or people who used to have plat or prg, don't travel any more, but have a bunch of mr points they want to keep active.

AKA......No benefit at all!

IMO the Green card is a straight rip off. There are tons of no/low af cards that give better benefits/cashback/points. Hell, even the US Bank Cash+ is better. 5% back on airfair/hotels/restaurants/car rentals and Visa Sig benefits. It's a no brainer IMO. Even if you transfer the MR points to an airline at 2-3x value the Cash+ would still save you money. Just my opinion. Now the BCP is a different story....

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

flowfaster — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:04:11 GMT

Double post and off topic. sorry

@Anonymous wrote:
Im putting about 1k a month. Its my only card with rewards

Why don't you ask BoA to add 123 rewards to your card? Or ask US BANK for a PC? Boa was more than happy to PC my Visa card to whatever I wanted, Visa plat to 123 to travel rewards and to a Travel Rewards Sig.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:20:50 GMT

@flowfaster wrote:
AKA......No benefit at all!

IMO the Green card is a straight rip off. There are tons of no/low af cards that give better benefits/cashback/points. Hell, even the US Bank Cash+ is better. 5% back on airfair/hotels/restaurants/car rentals and Visa Sig benefits. It's a no brainer IMO. Even if you transfer the MR points to an airline at 2-3x value the Cash+ would still save you money. Just my opinion. Now the BCP is a different story....

I agree, but it's always difficult to know whether a card is really worth it!

One common thing is people "saving" with points etc, but are in fact buying things that that wouldn't otherwise buy, just to get the rewards (which is of course why the issuers and partners create these cards).

For that reason I prefer straight cash back cards that don't encourage special behavior like "Since Chase Freedom has 5% at store X this quarter, I will go there and buy..."

So I like cards like the Fidelity Amex, which you can just use instead of cash (where they take it of course) without changing your behavior and get 2% off, and then special cases like BCP and PenFed Platinum Rewards, which have very generous (near)-cash back in the useful year-round categories of groceries and gas.

(But nothing like hypocrisy: I have bought arguably unnecessary gift cards at grocery stores with my BCP "because they are 6% off."!)

If your patterns are different, such as always eating out and not driving, but love travel, the Amex Green is a better choice (but as flowfaster says, probably not the best choice).

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

CreditScholar — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:26:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
haha. I hope I end up making good money to use those high cards! My parents have the platinum but they charge over 250+ alone on bull**bleep**. they want a black.

Other than the prestige factor, airline status and CSRs, I didn't notice too many tangible differences benefits-wise from the platinum vs the centurion. The only thing that really stood out is how people received you upon showing them the card. In many cases it was more hassle than it was worth.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

CreditScholar — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:29:49 GMT

@flowfaster wrote:
@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
I would just point out that the thread Ron links to was from before the discontinuation of the zync. While zync existed, the green had little value. Now, however, it is the cheapest charge card available for personal use. It's main benefit is for people with high monthly spends, but low credit limits or people who used to have plat or prg, don't travel any more, but have a bunch of mr points they want to keep active.
AKA......No benefit at all!

IMO the Green card is a straight rip off. There are tons of no/low af cards that give better benefits/cashback/points. Hell, even the US Bank Cash+ is better. 5% back on airfair/hotels/restaurants/car rentals and Visa Sig benefits. It's a no brainer IMO. Even if you transfer the MR points to an airline at 2-3x value the Cash+ would still save you money. Just my opinion. Now the BCP is a different story....

There is a major difference in approval criteria between the two though. There have been many Green approvals reported with subprime scores (<680), whereas to stand a good chance at the Cash+ a suoerprime FICO (740+) is typically needed. In many of those cases it still wasn't enough.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

CreditScholar — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:35:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Im putting about 1k a month. Its my only card with rewards

If your annual spend is only 12k, you'd be better off with a no AF 2% cash back card. I'm not sure if you spend enough to justify a $95 AF from the Green.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

trumpet-205 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:21:07 GMT

IMO with Green part of that $95 is your interest. Since charge card requires you to PIF, part of the AF is used to compensate lack of interest fee.

You will be better off with AMEX Blue.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:07:34 GMT

Since I've had BoFA for 4 years they have never gave me a CL. So I should upgrade my bofa to a rewards card and close my Amex!

1. Which is a better choice?

BoFA cash rewards card or travel rewards card? is there more difficutly in getting on or the other?

I dont want to apply for another bofa, i just want to upgrade or swap.

Im looking for points for flights, or cash back...

Thanks guys. you know a lot!

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:15:35 GMT

thanks

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:26:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Since I've had BoFA for 4 years they have never gave me a CL. So I should upgrade my bofa to a rewards card and close my Amex!

1. Which is a better choice?
BoFA cash rewards card or travel rewards card? is there more difficutly in getting on or the other?

I dont want to apply for another bofa, i just want to upgrade or swap.

Im looking for points for flights, or cash back...

Thanks guys. you know a lot!

Amex Delta Gold?

I wouldn't close your Green if you aren't being charged the AF yet.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Ron1 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 07:27:10 GMT

IMO Amex Gold PR has more spending power than Green and Zync. Both of my PR Gold Amex Green Amex come with Select and Pay later (pay over time). I never used it and I always pay it in full. I don't really like BofA credit cards and I use it once a while. They might CLD/close any time they want.

By the way, I heard Amex Delta is the easiest one to get.

Ron.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

Exonumist — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 07:54:25 GMT

I didn't read through all the posts so I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but Green is great if your a borderline approval for an Amex. The first year af is waived and , at least for me, the Amex Sync feature through Facebook, Twitter, Xbox Live, etc is awesome. Just in the past month I have gotten $115 in statement credits for money that I would have spent anyways. $50 for a $100 Best Buy purchase, $25 for a $100 Costco purchase, $5 for a $10 AMC purchase, $10 for syncing to Xbox, and $25 for beating Halo 4. That's just this month. I'm sorry, but that's nearly 40% off of the money that I spent. They also have things like extended warranties and roadside assistance. All of that plus 1 point for every dollar and I'm building a positive payment history with them. I love my Green card. I think it just really depends on how you use it.

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

laboi_22 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:47:25 GMT

I'm a fan of the Green card as well! Yes the AF of $95 is expensive, but lets look at the benefits to determine if it's worth it. Again this is all subjective and may or may not make sense or appeal to you, but for me this is my point of view.

1)I enjoy the free roadside assistance. I work on the road in sales and this benefit is invaluable and worth the $95 fee. They will pay $50 per need up to 4 times a year so that means if you do take advantage of this, you they will have paid out $200 at no cost to you.

2) Protections such as purchase protection, extended warranty, fraud prevention. Using any of these benefits just once can certainly pay off the AF

3) I love the no spending limit. I'm happy to pay $95 for the ability to use a card and not have to worry about running into issues against a credit line. Most importantly I can let a balance post, pay it off a week later on there will be no effect on my credit utilization. That is worth the AF to me. I think us myficoer's let credit lines bother us. If I have a low CL with a bank I'm worried about how long it will take to grow and when I should request a CLI. Not necessary with the Green card.

4) I love the ability to track my expenses, organize them into categories, tag them, group them, and graph them. Another invaluable benefit.

5) I love the service and prestige AMEX provides. I don't really care about MR points because I don't collect them as much I as do cash back etc. I actually got my first year AF waived, collected enough MR points to pay off this year's annual fee. Since I don't see much more benefit in the MR, I choose this option. I intend to keep it that way and enjoy the benefits of my AMEX Green.

Having said all of this, the Green card is not even my primary card and serves it's purpose in my wallet. I love my AMEX Green and despite it's flaws and high AF, I"m proud to carry it around!

Re: Amex green card benefits!!!!!

distantarray — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:38:02 GMT

@Default4 wrote:
I didn't read through all the posts so I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but Green is great if your a borderline approval for an Amex. The first year af is waived and , at least for me, the Amex Sync feature through Facebook, Twitter, Xbox Live, etc is awesome. Just in the past month I have gotten $115 in statement credits for money that I would have spent anyways. $50 for a $100 Best Buy purchase, $25 for a $100 Costco purchase, $5 for a $10 AMC purchase, $10 for syncing to Xbox, and $25 for beating Halo 4. That's just this month. I'm sorry, but that's nearly 40% off of the money that I spent. They also have things like extended warranties and roadside assistance. All of that plus 1 point for every dollar and I'm building a positive payment history with them. I love my Green card. I think it just really depends on how you use it.

I got a Amex BCP and I have 4 authorized users and we went and bought 125$ worth of gift certificates on small business saturday and got it for free =) all credited back within a day.