Amex Green Card, 45K Welcome Bonus and $189 CLEAR Credit

American Express has updated the CLEAR benefit for the Green Card. Until now the card only offered a $100 CLEAR credit. But new cardholders can now get the full $189 annual fee back. For current cardholders this benefit will likely be updated on November 15th. There’s also an increased offer through select referrals, where you can get a welcome bonus of 45,000 points instead of 40,000. Check out the details below.

Offer

• Earn 45,000 Membership Rewards Points after you spend $2,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first six months.
• Annual Fee: $150
• APPLY HERE (make sure you see the 45K offer, try a clean browser)

Card Details

• Earn:
  • 3X Membership Rewards points at:
    • restaurants worldwide
    • takeout and delivery in the US.
    • transit including trains, buses, ferries, subway, and more.
    • travel including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, and more.
  • 1X on all other purchases
• Up to $189 in statement credits per calendar year towards purchase of CLEAR membership.
• Up to $100 in statement credits per calendar year towards purchases with LoungeBuddy to relax at airport lounges around the world.
• No foreign transaction fees
• Use the Pay Over Time feature to carry a balance with interest
• Use Plan It to select large purchases and split them into monthly payments with a fixed fee
• Trip Delay Insurance up to $300 per trip, maximum 2 claims per eligible account per 12 consecutive month period.
• Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
• Baggage Insurance Plan
• Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty

Applying for the Card

Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card. If you’re not sure whether you’ve had this card in the past, you can use this trick to find out. Sometimes cards that you’ve had more than 5-7 years ago, will no longer show up in your Amex history. They may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility. Amex has a tool that will let you know whether you qualify for the bonus during the application process.  If you’re an existing American Express customer they will only do a soft pull for new card applications.

American Express has a limit of one approved credit card every 5 days and two approved cards every 90 days. There’s also a maximum of 5 or 6 total American Express credit cards that you can have at a given time. However, the Amex Green Card is a charge card, so you can combine the application with another Amex card.

Guru’s Wrap-up

A 45,000 points bonus is not the best offer we have seen for the Amex Green Card. We saw a targeted 60K offer last year, and a Resy offer for 50K plus $150 in credits. The best way to apply is through a referral link, especially if the person referring you also get a good bonus of 25K or 30K points.

The card has now been improved with the $189 clear credit. This is a useful perk for frequent travelers.

If you have referrals that show the 45K bonus, please join our Facebook Group so you can have them featured on the site.