Credit Card Reviews
Why I Downgraded From the Amex Gold Card to Amex Green Card
This week, I did something I’d never actually done before: I canceled a credit card. Well, technically, I did a product change — but that’s close enough. That’s right, I made good on my threat to ditch the Amex Gold Card after the recent update and, instead, will now be an Amex Green Card customer for the first time.
So, why did I decide to make this change, what was the process like, and how do I plan to use my new card? Let me answer those questions and more as I explain my switch from Gold to Green.
Why I’m Leaving the American Express Gold Card
The higher annual fee
In July 2024, American Express debuted its latest refresh of the Gold Card. Following what has been the Amex template, the update brought an increase to the annual fee alongside some new credits. Now, the card costs $325 per year — up from $250 previously.
On paper, this $75 increase is more than offset by the $100 per year Resy credit (split between the first and second half of the calendar year) and a $7 per month credit for Dunkin’ Donuts. We’ll talk more about each of those in just a moment.
The bottom line is that $325 is quite a hefty fee for a credit card. Thus, I want to make sure I’m getting at least that much in value. Unfortunately, I’m no longer sure that’s the case. Previously, between the $120 a year in Dining Credit and $120 a year in Uber Cash, I was effectively only paying $10 per year for the card since I could use the $240 in credit fairly naturally. Sadly, while those credits remain and do help offset the fee somewhat, I still don’t think the $75 increase is justified in my case.
The lack of Resy availability in my area
The biggest thing holding back the Gold Card’s value for me involves the Resy credit. While I did find that this credit is pretty simple to use — only requiring that you use your card to pay when dining at a restaurant listed on Resy rather than requiring that you actually book a table using the service — the problem is that there is literally one Resy restaurant anywhere near me (and that must have been recent as I swear it wasn’t there when I first looked a few months ago). So, although I guess I could hope that I can use the credit while traveling like this past year, I don’t want to have to count on that.
Without that $100 per year credit being a sure thing, the value proposition of the updated Gold card was off to a rocky start for me.
The Dunkin’ credit (AKA usable versus valuable)
As mentioned, the other new credit added to the Gold card is a Dunkin’ credit. This is $7 a month for a total of $84 per year. Unlike Resy locations, there are plenty of Dunkin’ shops near me — including one not a mile from my house. Sure enough, since the update was instated, we’ve made a few trips there in order to use the credit.
Of course, just because I’m able to use the credit doesn’t mean that I truly value it. Even though Amex wants me to think that this benefit is worth $84 per year, in reality, it’s worth far less to me. That’s because I wouldn’t regularly go to Dunkin’ if it weren’t for the credit itself. In turn, it’s not that Amex is really giving me $84 — they’re giving me a monthly obligation to buy some donuts in order to feel as though I’m getting my money’s worth.
This isn’t to say that the treats I’ve picked up in recent months weren’t tasty. But, there’s no doubt that I’m still paying for these donut runs even if it’s technically credited to me.
Why the Amex Green Card?
Lower annual fee
In contrast to the now $325 Gold Card, the American Express Green Card currently carries an annual fee of $150. You’ll notice that this is less than half the cost, making it easier to swallow. On top of that, the card has some key perks and benefits that I think will help me get positive value from it.
My new generic travel go-to
One of the features of the Green card I’m most looking forward to is its 3x on Travel category — which also extends to Transit. While my Amex Platinum card is great for earning on-flight purchases, the 5x on hotels category is limited to just bookings made via Amex Travel. That’s not so with the Green Card’s category, which not only covers hotel bookings but also “tours, campgrounds, car rentals, cruises, vacation rentals, and more.” On top of that, the 3x on Transit category includes taxis, rideshare services, parking, etc. Seeing how wide a net these categories cast, I’m excited to have a card that will fill the gap left by my other rewards cards.
Decent dining multiplier
Of course, in saying goodbye to my Gold card, I’m saying goodbye to 4x at restaurants. Luckily, that won’t hurt too much as the Amex Green card earns 3x at restaurants worldwide as well as on delivery orders domestically. Here, the 1x difference isn’t make or break for me, so it seems like a good trade-off.
What will hurt a bit more is that I’ll also be missing out on the Gold Card’s 4x at grocery stores perk. Unfortunately, the Green Card has no answer for this one — but, honestly, we mostly shop at warehouse clubs, so we weren’t making great use of this anyway. And, come to think of it, we also have a Capital One Savor card to earn 3% back on groceries (or at restaurants if we prefer cashback to Amex Membership Rewards Points). In other words, we’ll be just fine.
CLEAR Plus credit
Something that’s interesting about the Green card is that, while its annual fee is only $150, it includes a $199 annual credit for CLEAR Plus. As it turns out, this could come in handy for us as CLEAR continues to increase its prices. Back in the day, thanks to the discount I received as a Delta SkyMiles SkyMiles member, the Platinum card’s CLEAR credit not only covered my membership but I was also able to add my wife as a second member and still be under the credit limit. Alas, that’s long since changed as the discount for SkyMiles members is not nearly as generous and the fee to add a secondary member has increased significantly, currently coming in at $119!
The thing about CLEAR is that, while it’s nice to have, it doesn’t do me much good if only I have it and my wife doesn’t. At the same time, paying upwards of $100 for the service doesn’t seem worth it to me either. So, the Green card is now my solution as I plan to remove my wife from my membership so that she can have her own. Then, we can pay for that with the Green card, and — voila — we’re back to being covered.
As I was writing that, I realized that this means that the $150 annual fee isn’t truly being offset if I don’t value CLEAR Plus enough to pay the current overage. Nevertheless, I’ll still end up making use of the credit, so I’ll call it a small win.
Refresh incoming?
I should mention that there is technically another included credit for the Green card — although it’s one set to go away soon. Currently, the card features a $100 credit for LoungeBuddy. But, with that service being discontinued, the perk is also being removed.
This has me thinking that an update to the Green card could be in the works. And, judging by Amex’s recent history, I’d bet that any potential refresh also comes with an annual fee hike. Therefore, I figure I can get the card now, see what might change about it in the next few months, and then hopefully test drive any of those new features before a presumably higher fee hits.
Will this strategy work out or will it all be moot? We’ll have to wait and see on that one.
The Process of Product Changing
Amex chat
When I decided I wanted to downgrade, I elected to start by using Amex’s chat feature. I figured that this would be the easier option, but did anticipate that I’d get some pushback upon trying to cancel. Well, that didn’t happen at all! Perhaps that’s because I mentioned the lack of Resy availability in my initial message and also noted that I might be interested in downgrading. Thus, rather than asking me or bribing me to keep the Gold card, they were more than happy to move forward with my request.
The annual fee refund/charge
As the Amex rep informed me, as part of the product change process, my Gold Card fee would be refunded on a prorated basis while the Green Card fee would be charged on the same prorated basis. For context, my Gold Card fee hit on November 22nd. So, looking at my transactions today, I see that I was refunded $316.12 for my Gold Card and charged $145.50 for the Green. Sure enough, doing the math, that accounts for the 10 days that I had the Gold.
In the meantime, my card number
After I confirmed my product change, the rep let me know that it would be approximately 7 to 10 business days before my new card arrived. However, while I wait for that, I can continue to use my Gold card. In fact, it seems as though my Green card actually has the same card number as my previous Gold card.
For what it’s worth, while I chatted with Amex in the morning and my account still showed Gold throughout the day, it was about 12 hours later when my card updated. This change also automatically happened in Apple Pay, which is kind of nice. So, while I’ll need to wait for the physical card before I can officially confirm that it is indeed the same number, this experience leads me to believe that it is.
Tips
Admittedly, there are a few things I probably should have done differently given my situation. For one, had I not volunteered to downgrade from the jump, it’s possible that I would have been presented with other options. After all, it’s not uncommon for reps to offer retention bonuses (basically like welcome bonuses but for current customers) or even partial annual fee reimbursements. Granted, I’m not sure I would have received any such offer seeing as I’m surely not the most valuable customer, but I am curious if I shot myself in the foot.
I also realized after the fact that I should have made an effort to redeem my monthly credits before contacting Amex. While I happened to use my Dining Credit and Dunkin’ credit on the last day of November, I could have taken another bite of the proverbial apple at the start of the month. Well, that does assume that the credits would still process even if they didn’t post before the product change… but it may have been worth a shot.
Yet, the most egregious mistake I made was not just opening a separate Green Card and then canceling. Why? Because, in theory, I could have opened a new Green Card, claimed a welcome bonus, and then just canceled the Gold Card (or tried for a retention bonus). Instead, I’ve now locked myself out of ever getting a Green Card welcome bonus.
Although I realize this wasn’t the savviest move on my part, to be honest, I just really didn’t want to go through the hassle. Maybe that’s silly to some but, for me, I’m fine going the route I did since I ended up right where I wanted to be.
Final Thoughts on Moving from Amex Gold to Amex Green
For the time being, I’m excited to have the chance to try out the American Express Green Card first-hand after writing about the card for years. Plus, should the card undergo the revamp I’m somewhat anticipating, I’ll also be able to share an informed opinion on that. At the same time, I will miss my Amex Gold Card overall… but the $325 annual fee was just more than I can swallow. That might sound strange since I recently wrote about why I love my $695 Amex Platinum card — however, the difference is that the Platinum card’s credits provide me with real value whereas the same can’t be said for the adjustments to the Gold card.
As I wait for my physical card to arrive, I look forward to sharing more about my experience with the Amex Green Card in the future.
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