AMEX Green

[Anonymous]

Good evening everyone.  Sooo... I bit the bullet and did something I never do.  I responded to a mail offer for the AMEX Green card.   When I did the online "respond to mail offer" thing, I had a message to call them so I did.  Very pleasant CSR... what a nice surprise.

Problem was that they pulled crappy EX (my worst report in all ways) and they have an old address.  I've lived here since April 2006.  So, she asked me if I had a checking account with the right address and then called USAA to conference call and verify everything... age of checking account, address, etc.  There is no annual fee the first year.. it's waived. 

I have a couple of questions for the CC gurus here:

1.  As I understand it, there is no CL with this card and the usual "magic limit" in the beginning is around $500 and whatever I charge must be PIF in 30 days. Is that correct? 

2.  I have no "high" purchases every month.  How should I use this card to charge?  What regular actions will benefit my scores?  Or will my score improve at all? 

3.  What are the chances that I can get the card upgraded to a Gold card later down the road?  Generally, how much later should I try to do that?  This was my whole purpose of taking the green card... a way to "get my foot in the AMEX door," so to speak.

The card should be here within 10 days (by 21 May 10).

Thanks for the advice!

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the Amex family

[Wolf3]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Good evening everyone.  Sooo... I bit the bullet and did something I never do.  I responded to a mail offer for the AMEX Green card.   When I did the online "respond to mail offer" thing, I had a message to call them so I did.  Very pleasant CSR... what a nice surprise.

Problem was that they pulled crappy EX (my worst report in all ways) and they have an old address.  I've lived here since April 2006.  So, she asked me if I had a checking account with the right address and then called USAA to conference call and verify everything... age of checking account, address, etc.  There is no annual fee the first year.. it's waived. 

I have a couple of questions for the CC gurus here:

1.  As I understand it, there is no CL with this card and the usual "magic limit" in the beginning is around $500 and whatever I charge must be PIF in 30 days. Is that correct? 

2.  I have no "high" purchases every month.  How should I use this card to charge?  What regular actions will benefit my scores?  Or will my score improve at all? 

3.  What are the chances that I can get the card upgraded to a Gold card later down the road?  Generally, how much later should I try to do that?  This was my whole purpose of taking the green card... a way to "get my foot in the AMEX door," so to speak.

The card should be here within 10 days (by 21 May 10).

Thanks for the advice!

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 1.   There is a transaction limit which will vary at any time for any reason.  There is a way online to try out different amounts.   You have to PIF by the due date, which should be 25 days after statement closes.

2.  Just use on anything you want.  American Express likes big spenders.  Your score does not depend on what you buy.

3.  Chances are excellent to get a Gold Card, it has a higher annual fee.   Just wait, they will pester you soon enugh to upgrade.   As for "the foot in the door",  I recommend steel toe boots.  

[bakalao2k]

Use the card to pay for groceries, gas, cable, cellphone and other utility bills and pay off the balance before the due date. 

[Anonymous]

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@Wolf3 wrote:

 1.   There is a transaction limit which will vary at any time for any reason.  There is a way online to try out different amounts.   You have to PIF by the due date, which should be 25 days after statement closes.

2.  Just use on anything you want.  American Express likes big spenders.  Your score does not depend on what you buy.

3.  Chances are excellent to get a Gold Card, it has a higher annual fee.   Just wait, they will pester you soon enugh to upgrade.   As for "the foot in the door",  I recommend steel toe boots.  

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Thank you Wolf3.  Will do.  Actually, I mentioned the wrong goal in my earlier post... upgrading to a Gold Card is not my goal.  It's the Blue card I'm after (eventually... no rush).

[Anonymous]

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@bakalao2k wrote:

Use the card to pay for groceries, gas, cable, cellphone and other utility bills and pay off the balance before the due date. 

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Thanks bakalao2K.  Will do!! 

[OptimalFICO]

Definitely don't upgrade to the gold unless the benefits are worth the additional annual fee to you. I have had AmEx Green for almost 20 years and would love the perks of the Gold card, but it's not worth the additional annual fee to me ($95 versus $175). In fact, I don't really use the card much anymore and would love to close it, but it's my oldest account. But yes, you must PIF every month. They do have a program you may eventually qualify for which will allow you to carry a balance on certain purchases, but you'll pay a higher interest rate and it's not a good idea to get into this habit if you don't need to. And their interest calculation is insane! I added my sister as an authorized user at one point. she racked up a bill and carried a balance before I knew it. I tried to pay it off, but by the time the payment credited, there was additional interest due. This happened twice and I think I finally paid a larger sum and requested they refund the credit balance once everything was zeroed. Then I canceled my participation in the program. Here's a thorough review of the Green card:

http://www.epinions.com/review/finc-Credit-Cards-Charge_Cards-American_Express_-_Green_Card/content_...

I really love my Blue Cash card, but you have to spend $6,500 for the real cash rewards to kick in, with enough time in the year following that benchmark to rack up the higher level cash rewards. if you spend a lot on gas/groceries/drugstores and have enough total purchases to get past the $6,500 marker early in the year, you can do quite well with this card. But if you are a light spender, you will probably be better off with a card with no tiers and higher cash rewards overall for lower volume users. And note that the rewards reset each year -- so you have to spend a minimum of $6,500 per year to bump you up to the higher cash rewards. Cash back is paid annually at the end of the earning period. Doesn't pay to get a rewards card if you don't PIF each month.

$0               - $6,500 = 1% Cash Back on gas, groceries and drug stores   .5% Cash Back on All Other Purchases

$6,500.01 - or more = 5% Cash Back on gas, groceries and drug stores   1% Cash Back on All Other Purchases

Many other rewards cards give you 1% cash back on everything with no tier structures. The rewards will change over time so research it anew when you're ready for a different card.

[Anonymous]

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@OptimalFICO wrote:

Definitely don't upgrade to the gold unless the benefits are worth the additional annual fee to you. I have had AmEx Green for almost 20 years and would love the perks of the Gold card, but it's not worth the additional annual fee to me ($95 versus $175). In fact, I don't really use the card much anymore and would love to close it, but it's my oldest account. But yes, you must PIF every month. They do have a program you may eventually qualify for which will allow you to carry a balance on certain purchases, but you'll pay a higher interest rate and it's not a good idea to get into this habit if you don't need to. And their interest calculation is insane! I added my sister as an authorized user at one point. she racked up a bill and carried a balance before I knew it. I tried to pay it off, but by the time the payment credited, there was additional interest due. This happened twice and I think I finally paid a larger sum and requested they refund the credit balance once everything was zeroed. Then I canceled my participation in the program. Here's a thorough review of the Green card:

http://www.epinions.com/review/finc-Credit-Cards-Charge_Cards-American_Express_-_Green_Card/content_...

I really love my Blue Cash card, but you have to spend $6,500 for the real cash rewards to kick in, with enough time in the year following that benchmark to rack up the higher level cash rewards. if you spend a lot on gas/groceries/drugstores and have enough total purchases to get past the $6,500 marker early in the year, you can do quite well with this card. But if you are a light spender, you will probably be better off with a card with no tiers and higher cash rewards overall for lower volume users. And note that the rewards reset each year -- so you have to spend a minimum of $6,500 per year to bump you up to the higher cash rewards. Cash back is paid annually at the end of the earning period. Doesn't pay to get a rewards card if you don't PIF each month.

$0               - $6,500 = 1% Cash Back on gas, groceries and drug stores   .5% Cash Back on All Other Purchases

$6,500.01 - or more = 5% Cash Back on gas, groceries and drug stores   1% Cash Back on All Other Purchases

Many other rewards cards give you 1% cash back on everything with no tier structures. The rewards will change over time so research it anew when you're ready for a different card.

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WOW!  That's great info / insight.  Thank you OptimalFICO!!

[Anonymous]

I fully agree with OPTIMAL.

IF you're a heavy spender, the AMEX BLUE CASH card is superb; I received over $1K in rebates with it during my last anniversary year.

However, I did get irritated when AMEX cut the rebate for non grocery/gas/drugstore items from 1.5% to 1.25%. I therefore put my AMEX away and am using a Schwab 2% card coupled with a grandfathered CHASE Cash Plus Rewards card which provides 5% on everyday items.

[MattH]

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@OptimalFICO wrote:

Definitely don't upgrade to the gold unless the benefits are worth the additional annual fee to you. I have had AmEx Green for almost 20 years and would love the perks of the Gold card, but it's not worth the additional annual fee to me ($95 versus $175). In fact, I don't really use the card much anymore and would love to close it, but it's my oldest account. But yes, you must PIF every month. They do have a program you may eventually qualify for which will allow you to carry a balance on certain purchases, but you'll pay a higher interest rate and it's not a good idea to get into this habit if you don't need to. And their interest calculation is insane! I added my sister as an authorized user at one point. she racked up a bill and carried a balance before I knew it. I tried to pay it off, but by the time the payment credited, there was additional interest due. This happened twice and I think I finally paid a larger sum and requested they refund the credit balance once everything was zeroed. Then I canceled my participation in the program. Here's a thorough review of the Green card:

http://www.epinions.com/review/finc-Credit-Cards-Charge_Cards-American_Express_-_Green_Card/content_...

I really love my Blue Cash card, but you have to spend $6,500 for the real cash rewards to kick in, with enough time in the year following that benchmark to rack up the higher level cash rewards. if you spend a lot on gas/groceries/drugstores and have enough total purchases to get past the $6,500 marker early in the year, you can do quite well with this card. But if you are a light spender, you will probably be better off with a card with no tiers and higher cash rewards overall for lower volume users. And note that the rewards reset each year -- so you have to spend a minimum of $6,500 per year to bump you up to the higher cash rewards. Cash back is paid annually at the end of the earning period. Doesn't pay to get a rewards card if you don't PIF each month.

$0               - $6,500 = 1% Cash Back on gas, groceries and drug stores   .5% Cash Back on All Other Purchases

$6,500.01 - or more = 5% Cash Back on gas, groceries and drug stores   1% Cash Back on All Other Purchases

Many other rewards cards give you 1% cash back on everything with no tier structures. The rewards will change over time so research it anew when you're ready for a different card.

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All correct.  The program that allows carrying a balance on some purchases used to be called "Sign and Travel," and once upon a time the customer had to ask the merchant to put a special code of some kind on the transaction to flag it as a Sign and Travel purchase.  Technically it was not even part of the Amex balance, it was a special loan through their subsidiary Centurion Bank.  Eventually all this got folded into my Amex Gold account, now my bill just says "XXXX due in full charges, YYYY flexible charges, ZZZZ total."  Until 2008 the interest rate wasn't too awful, I forget what it was but it was not as low as the 5.25% APR on my Chase card.  Then in 2008 everybody raised my rates, including both Amex and Chase.  I have not bothered to learn the arcane rules defining which transactions are flexible versus pay in full because I pay all of them in full every month anyway.

AMEX keeps trying to get me to switch from Gold to Platinum, and the AMEX Platinum card does have some nice extra features beyond Gold, but most of the extra stuff I would get with Platinum only matters while travelling, and I don't travel enough to justify the increased annual fee.

One feature that comes with my Amex Gold that I have used from time to time is emergency road service in the event of car trouble, which means I don't need AAA, so that's part of my annual fee anyway.

I must admit, the main reason I still keep this Amex card is because it's my oldest tradeline since I got my first Amex Green card in 1982.  Once upon a time, before international ATM networks, my preferred way to access my US bank account when overseas was to cash a personal check at the local Amex office (which as an Amex Cardmember I could do) wherever I was, but with ubiquitous ATM networks I don't remember the last time I cashed a personal check.