Throughout my credit card journey so far, I have been a user of American Express Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards, and the initial sign-up bonuses more than paid for the first-year annual fees. The monthly or semi-annual credits both cards offer can offset if not entirely eliminate the annual fees which are pretty steep ($695 for AmEx Platinum and $550 for CSR as of the time this article was written). Both cards also offer lounge access and various forms of extended warranties, purchase protections, trip interruption protection, lost baggage protection, and car insurance.
However, as it was time to renew the cards for the second and third years, those benefits did not make much sense to me anymore – I realized I am not a big fan of crowded lounges with 30 minutes waitlists to get in, I don’t like using DoorDash or Uber Eats as I prefer to cook my own meals, and I have read too many stories on Reddit when an advertised extended warrants and such other benefits were denied or greatly limited based on issuers’ policies and specific circumstances. Keeping track of all the coupon-book credits was a big hassle.
As such, I started looking for another option, without a steep annual fee, with travel-focused multipliers categories, and without me needing to have an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the credits to offset the annual fees. I found one card which I personally overlooked for long as it rarely has any flashing advertisements and does not look as rewarding as the cards mentioned in this article – American Express Green card.
Earning multipliers
To sum up its benefits, the card earns elevated multipliers in the following categories in the form of AmEx points (which many reputable credit card websites value as high as 2 cents per points but which can be redeemed for at least 1 cent per points for flights purchased through AmEx travel portal):
3 AmEx points back on “travel” category (which is not limited to flights and hotels directly with AmEx portal compared to AmEx platinum) – eligible purchases include airfare, hotels, cruises, car rentals, campgrounds, trains, taxis, ridesharing, tours, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, subways, third-party travel sites and amextravel.com.
3 AmEx points back on dining worldwide (including all restaurants that accept AmEx outside the US)
1 AmEx point on all other purchases
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