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Late last year, American Express relaunched the Amex Green Card. With this relaunch, Amex increased the annual fee on the card but also added new benefits. One of those benefits was the Away Luggage credit. Over the last few months, we’ve seen different versions of sign-up bonuses for this card. Which one should you get?
Card Benefits
Before we dive into the different versions of the sign-up bonuses, let’s have a look at some of the benefits of the card. The revamped Amex Green Card has some pretty useful bonus spend categories:
- 3X Membership Rewards points on travel including flights, hotels, transit, taxis, and ridesharing services
- 3X Membership Rewards points on dining all around the world
- $100 credit for CLEAR per calendar year
- $100 LoungeBuddy credit per calendar year
In addition to these lucrative bonus spend categories, the Amex Green Card has no foreign transaction fees, but carries an annual fee of $150. You can read the full benefits guide here. These benefits are pretty standard across different bonuses that we’re seeing for this card. So, what’s different in these different versions?
Version 1
This is the standard public offer on the card. With this bonus, you’ll earn 30,000 bonus Membership Rewards points after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months. In addition, you’ll get a $100 Away Luggage Credit for the first 3 months if you get approved before January 15, 2020. This is the worst publicly available bonus. As we go ahead and look at the other bonuses, you’ll find out why.
Application Link
Version 2
The second offer is available by referral. This offer is marginally better than the offer in Version 1, which is inarguably the worst.
With this bonus, you’ll earn 35,000 bonus Membership Rewards points after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months. Contrary to the first offer, you’ll get a $150 Away Luggage Credit for the first 3 months after you’re approved. This offer is also valid until January 15, 2020.
Please note, that if you’re looking to self-refer, it’s a very risky proposition. We’ve already seen Amex crack down on customers for self-referrals. They’ve updated their terms and conditions to explicitly prohibit self-referrals. If Membership Rewards points aren’t what you’re looking for but would like the extra $50 in Away Luggage Credit, then this would be a good offer to go with.
Application Link
Version 3
If you’re looking for Membership Rewards points and don’t care about the extra Away Luggage Credit, then by all means you should go for this offer. You can access this offer by going to the American Express website in the incognito/private browser mode.
With this bonus, you’ll earn 45,000 bonus Membership Rewards points after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months. You’ll also get $100 in Away Luggage credit in the first 3 months if you get approved for the card before January 15, 2020.
The Pundit’s Mantra
With these limited time offers, we have three choices on the Amex Green Card. Version 1 is clearly the worst bonus out of the three options. If you like some extra Away Luggage credit, then go for Version 2. If you really want to stack up American Express Membership Rewards points, then go for Version 3.
Irrespective of which option you apply for, you’ll annual fee and other benefits will not change. Which sign-up bonus option would you apply for the Amex Green Card? Let us know in the comments section.
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