I just got my green card, thinking that the annual fee would be worth it, using it as a debit card and earning about 20,000 points a year but now that I think about it I am reconsidering my decision and have only had it for a few days, are there any benefits to having the green rewards card besides earning double points on everyday purchases and the coupons they send you for deals on hotels and such? I may have made a stupid decision for 65 a yr:-(
My opinion about AmEx: Rewards come out of merchant fees ONLY, not from annual fees. It's economically impossible for annual fees to pay for rewards. American Express charges higher merchant fees than other CC companies, so they have more money to distribute as rewards. AmEx Green is probably a good way to get started with them, although you can probably get another card later with no annual fee, for example Blue Cash. I think Green is a good way to get started with AmEx, and although annual fees can't pay for rewards, it's likely that in this case the rewards will more than pay for the annual fees. You might also check out some other rewards or rebate cards with no annual fees. But if this is both your first AmEx card and your first rewards card, I think it could be a good deal for you. It's important to get started with AmEx sooner or later. Not everyone can get a Blue Cash card or a Starwood Platinum card right away.
Thanks for the reassurance to keep my green card I actually already had a blue card and applied for a green to use as debit and get double points for everyday stuff, and for them to send me all the great hotel offers and stuff which they don't do with blue but with a green or gold like my GF has they send you coupons for stuff like everyday, and have linked my blue and green to each other, green as debit and blue in case I need to carry a balance so that the rewards points go into the same account.
Very interesting. It sounds like you've set it up well. I wasn't aware that Green had more rewards than Blue, for example. But if it does, then I hope you earn them and enjoy them nonstop. BTW, since rewards come out of merchant fees, it would be possible for AmEx to offer double rewards on EVERY card. But since they don't, you have to work the system so a big chunk of those high merchant fees gets returned to you.
I've tried, and as long as the places I go take amex then I am pretty well set, since these are the 2 cards I use the most, I have read many threads on this forum to guide my decsion for these 2 cards, however, maybe you can give me your opinion on this, I do have a chase platinum as a back up and was wondering if someone got a platinum card with an 800$ limit and called to ask for it raised and they said no would you cancel it and go for something else? and if so, could you recommend some other good visa's or MC's?
It's funny that I have a Chase card too, stuck at $1000 for the past 3 years. They repriced me twice, from P+1.4 to P+7.9 to P+11.9. I would have dumped them a long time ago, simply to avoid the repricing, but it was more important to get rid of my subprime cards first. Plus I had to keep some cards to show account histories. If you're using the Chase card and making substantial payments, you should expect a higher credit limit than $800. If you have good credit, almost any offer you get in the mail would result in a better credit limit than that. I say keep Chase for the account history, but use the card once a year and go on to something else. IF, that is, you've already tried using the card and making substantial payments. BTW, I have good/bad credit and I rarely make substantial payments. That's why I'm so pleasantly surprised to have $9000 in credit from Citibank.
