Compare the Features and Benefits of American Express® Green Card and
Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards Credit Card

American Express seems to have positioned the Green Card to more directly compete with high performing mid-tier cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Citi Premier card, offering a few more direct benefits than each of them in exchange for a $150 annual fee (vs. $95 on those other cards). (Rates and Fees)

The American Express Green Card is a Powerhouse for Travel, Transit and Dining

Whereas the The Platinum Card® from American Express is all about the benefits (elite statuses, statement credits galore, etc), the American Express® Green Card is all about the 3X Membership Rewards points on all things travel (including Transit!) plus 3X on dining – all for a relatively low annual fee of just $150 (Rates and Fees). It’s great for frequent travelers, especially if you don’t already have a card that earns at least 3X on travel purchases.

And it does have a couple of benefits that can cover the annual fee. If you don’t have access to CLEAR (which lets you go ahead of most other people at airport security in select airports / terminals), this card will cover $189 in CLEAR fees which is enough for a whole family to have a membership. And you also get up to $100 in credits for airport lounge access with LoungeBuddy.

It’s worth considering this card in combination with other American Express cards. One solid Trifecta that maximizes points would be an Amex Gold Card, an Amex Green Card, and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express. You’d use the Gold for Dining and U.S. Supermarkets, the Green for 3X points on travel and transit, and the Blue Business Plus for 2X on other eligible purchases (up to $50,000 a year; 1X Membership Rewards points per dollar thereafter).

In another Trifecta replace the Gold Card with a Platinum Card and enjoy all the perks and benefits of the Platinum card while putting all non-airfare travel and transit charges on the Green Card and the rest on your Blue Business Plus.

In short, I don’t think anyone should have the Green Card as their sole credit card, but I do think it has a nice place among a handful of American Express cards that earn Membership Rewards points.

Keep in mind that American Express Membership Rewards points never expire and combine among all of your Membership Rewards-earning cards. All points earned from various American Express cards have the same transfer partners.

The Amex Green Card Functions as a Credit Card

The Amex Green card is part of the same family of Amex proprietary cards formerly referred to as charge cards. However, the Green Card has a built-in Pay Over Time feature, making it function in many ways as any other standard credit card. Unlike a typical credit card, the Green Card allows you to carry a balance for certain charges, but not all.

What this means: Amex generally limits a cardmember to 5 credit cards (personal and small business combined), while they have a limit of 10 on proprietary Amex cards (formerly known as Charge).  This means that even if you already have 5 Amex credit cards, you would still be eligible for a Green Card.

Bonus Eligibility: They still state that if you had the Green Card before, you are not eligible for a welcome bonus on this card. So you’ll be eligible if you have less than 10 Amex charge cards and have never had the Amex Green card before.

Rates and Fees for the American Express® Green Card

With over 3,800 branches, Bank of America is a retail banking giant. It offers its Unlimited Cash Rewards Credit Card to customers who are looking to earn strong rates of cash back on all purchases, but don’t want to pay an annual fee.

Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases

This card offers 1.5% cash back per dollar spent on all purchases, with no limits. This is very competitive for a card with no annual fee. This high rate of return comes at the expense of bonus categories, as this card doesn’t have any, like other cards do for things like travel and dining purchases.

Cash back rewards can be deposited into a Bank of America savings account, redeemed as a statement credit, or applied to an eligible Merrill account.

And unlike a Bank of America Travel Rewards card, you don’t get any statement credits towards baggage fees, or the purchase of vacation packages, just cash rewards.

However, Bank of America Preferred Rewards members can earn a 25%, 50% or 75% bonus on their rewards, depending on which tier they are in. And these are simple cash rewards, so you don’t have to redeem points to be rewarded.

Many cardholders will find this simple formula better than earning bonuses on some purchases, but a mere 1% on other purchases.

And your cash back rewards never expire so long as your account remains open and in good standing.

But what makes this card exceptional is the ability for Bank of America Preferred Rewards customers to earn as much as 2.625% cash back. That’s what you’ll get if you’re in one of the higher tiers of their program and earn a 75% bonus on your rewards earned. Others will earn a 25% or 50% bonus, which is still enough to take this card from competitive to remarkable.

Otherwise, this simple card is also one that’s light on benefits. There’s very little to no travel insurance or purchase protection policies, but you do get a free credit score, which most cards offer these days. One notable benefit is Bank of America’s Museums on Us program, which offers free access to hundreds of museums on the first full weekend of the month. This unique benefit can offer significant value to families, parents and other museum lovers.

There’s no annual fee for this card, but there is a 3% foreign transaction fee imposed on purchases processed outside of the United States. That leaves this card as a solid choice for those looking for a competitive, but basic cash back card rather than a travel rewards credit card.

However, if you also happen to be a Bank of America Premier Rewards member, then using this could be the most rewarding card that you could ever use.