The American Express Green Card is best for strictly military members. For the full guide on the best credit cards for active-duty military, check out this post!

This card struggles to compete with its bigger brother, the American Express Gold Card. The only benefit I see in this card is to take advantage of the $450 sign-up bonus, and then upgrade it to an AMEX Platinum card for the yearly benefits. Most individuals will struggle to truly find value in this card that exceeds the $150 annual fee.

American Express Green Perks [2021]

• $150 annual fee WAIVED for military members and their spouses
• Earn 45,000 Membership Rewards® points (worth $450+) after you spend $2,000 on purchases in 3 months
• Earn 3X points on restaurants, takeout, and delivery
• Earn 3X points on transit (trains, buses, ferries, subway, and more)
• Earn 3X points on travel (airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, and more)
• Earn 1X points on all other purchases
• $100 CLEAR credit
• $100 lounge access credit (Through LoungeBuddy)
• Free 1 year Uber Eats pass ($0 delivery fees, & 5% off $15 or more orders)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Heavy Metal Card

Apply Here!

Who Is This Card For?

I would recommend this card to military members upgrading the card to an American Express Platinum after one year.

While the ($450) sign-up bonus is the easiest to hit of nearly any of the American Express cards, the benefits virtually end here.

The 3X points on travel are heavily overshadowed by 5X points on travel/hotel with the Platinum, as the 3X points on restaurants are beaten out by the 4X points from the American Express Gold. The only truly unique cashback category that is on the table is for transit, which may only benefit those who rely on public transportation.

Upgrade to American Express (After One Year)

A great strategy for military members and their spouses is to hold multiple American Express Platinum cards.

Since you can hold an unlimited number of Charge cards (Platinum, Gold, & Green), and the rewards stack, you can get serious value from holding multiple of the same card. The “Catch” is that you can only get the sign-up bonus for each card one time.

So rather than continually rack up American Express Platinum cards to get the highest recurring benefits, it is best to first take advantage of the American Express Green card sign-up bonus and then upgrade it to Platinum after one year.

After a couple of years of credit card churning, you and your spouse get 10 American Express Platinum cards. Ten AMEX platinum cards would equate to $2,000 in Uber eats $2,400 in digital entertainment, $2,000 in Hotel credit, $2,000 in Airline credit, and $1,000 in Sak’s credit, every single year.

Sign-Up Bonus

Possibly the only big win for this card is the very easy sign-up bonus to hit.

With the sign-up bonus requirement of spending $2,000 in 3 months, as long as your monthly expenses are roughly $675 or more per month, you will have no issues raking in $350+ cash back, just for spending money on things you really need.

$100 Clear Credit

For military service members who can gain TSA-Precheck often with just your common access card (CAC), this CLEAR perk can often be useless.

If you are not military and travel a lot, it may be more worth it, but I would much prefer this to be an easier credit/cash equivalent.

$100 Lounge Access Credit

This credit is for lounge access through the LoungeBuddy network. You simply visit the website: https://www.loungebuddy.com/, and check if the airport you are visiting has any lounges that are eligible.

I personally have never used LoungeBuddy as I use Centurion Lounges or other options from the American Express Global Lounge collection. That being said, there are certainly some lounges that will NOT be eligible for this credit.

For instance, if we look at lounges that you could be reimbursed for at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), we see there are none available.

While I anticipate that LoungeBuddy will expand its coverage in the future, as it stands it may be hard to use this credit.

Summary

This card can be an easy way to earn an easy $450 in cashback on your way to owning another American Express Platinum card. You can apply here for the American Express Green card, then look into getting the American Express Aspire Card once you hit your sign-up bonus.