Amex Classic Green: is the $150 fee worth it?
The honest math on the American Express Classic Green Card: which credits you'd actually use, what its points earn beyond a plain 2% card, and what its protections would cost to buy — against the $150 annual fee.
American Express · $150 annual fee · earns Membership Rewards
Closed to new applicants.
Earning rates
- 3x Travel — airfare
- 3x Travel — hotels & vacation rentals
- 3x Other travel & transit
- 3x Restaurants worldwide
- 1x Everything else
Statement credits (1)
- $219 CLEAR Plus Credit — Covers a CLEAR Plus airport security membership (up to $219 per calendar year).
Protections and perks (6)
- Trip Delay Insurance — Up to $300 per trip for expenses when a covered trip is delayed more than 12 hours.
- Baggage Insurance — Up to $1,250 for carry-on and $500 for checked baggage that's lost, damaged, or stolen.
- Secondary Rental Car Coverage — Secondary collision/damage coverage — pays after your personal auto policy.
- Purchase Protection — New purchases covered 90 days against damage, theft, or loss, up to $1,000 per occurrence.
- Extended Warranty — Adds a year to eligible manufacturer warranties of 5 years or less.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees — No surcharge on purchases abroad.
Recent changes to this card's data
2026-09-21 — American Express Classic Green Card
- Verified accurate — no changes. Closed-to-new status, fee, earning rates, the $219 CLEAR+ credit, and trip delay/baggage coverage terms re-confirmed against americanexpress.com and nerdwallet.com.
2026-08-24 — American Express Classic Green Card
- Verified accurate — no changes. The card remains closed to new applications (since July 2026) with benefits unchanged for existing cardholders. Fee, earning rates, the $219 CLEAR Plus credit, and all coverage ceilings re-confirmed against Amex's own benefit guides and the archived issuer product page.
2026-08-20 — American Express Classic Green Card
- Added
amex-green (new card, $150 fee), initially marked discontinued — closed to new applicants since 2026-07-23, obtainable only by product change, and renamed "American Express Classic Green Card" effective 2026-08-20 (YMMV, Upgraded Points). - Credit: up to $219/calendar-year CLEAR Plus credit (raised from $209 when CLEAR's price rose 2026-07-01), enrollment/auto-renew membership. It now shares one answer with Amex Platinum's identical credit — one CLEAR membership; a second card's credit can't buy a second one (Amex CLEAR benefits page).
- LoungeBuddy credit confirmed gone — not included (YMMV).
- Earning: 3x travel (airfare / hotels & vacation rentals / other travel incl. transit — one entry per bucket), 3x restaurants worldwide, 1x else (Upgraded Points).
- Coverages: trip delay $300/trip (12+ hr, 2 claims/12mo), baggage insurance $1,250 carry-on / $500 checked, secondary rental CDW $50k, purchase protection $1,000/occurrence $50k/yr (90 days), extended warranty +1yr ($10k/claim $50k/yr), no FTF — ceilings secondary-confirmed. No trip cancellation/interruption (correct for this card, not an omission) (Upgraded Points).
- Points presets copied from Amex Gold (same Membership Rewards currency): 0.6¢ statement floor, 1.0¢ portal flights (default), 2.0¢ typical transfers.
Card data verified against American Express on 2026-09-21.
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