Is the American Express Green card a viable alternative to cancelling an Amex Gold?
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Many Head for Points readers find themselves in the following dilemma from time to time. They want to close their American Express Preferred Rewards Gold or American Express Platinum card, but they do not want to empty their Membership Rewards account.
One of the great benefits of Membership Rewards, after all, is its flexibility. You can transfer the points to a large number of airline partners and hotel partners or even redeem for something totally different. If you don’t need to book any travel in the short term, you may find that you transfer them to the ‘wrong’ programme.
One option for Amex Gold cardholders is to downgrade to the little-discussed American Express Green card.
The home page for that card is here.
Amex tries to pretend that this card no longer exists, hiding it away at the bottom of its website. The benefits are certainly not designed to excite, because there aren’t any. There isn’t a sign-up bonus either.
You pay a £60 per year annual fee. The marketing material suggests that you must also pay a £24 annual fee for being able to participate in Membership Rewards but the comments below from readers suggest otherwise. You earn 1 Membership Rewards point for every £1 you spend. That’s it.
When the annual fee on Amex Gold was £125 per year, it made little sense to downgrade to Green. You were, admittedly, swapping a £125 fee for an £60 fee. However, as you were giving up your Lounge Club passes and the other benefits of Gold, it didn’t seem worth it.
Now that the fee for Amex Gold is £140, you may want to reconsider. An Amex Green card with Membership Rewards activated will save you (£140 – £60) £80 per year. That is worth more than the lounge passes.
If you are in two minds about cancelling an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold, you need to choose between the following three options:
pay £140 per year for Gold, keep your Membership Rewards account open, keep the benefits of Gold
pay £60 per year for Green, keep your Membership Rewards account open, lose the benefits of Gold
close your account, transfer your Membership Rewards points to a partner within 30 days, restart the 6-month clock on being able to apply for another Preferred Rewards Gold or Platinum card
There is, of course, the little known 4th option.
Amex still includes the following language in its terms and conditions: “If you end your Card Account agreement and there are no other Linked Cards on your Points Account, or if you end these Terms and Conditions, you will have 30 days from the date you request this to redeem your Points. You can also transfer them to another Points Account, including transferring to a Points Account held by someone else (for a fee that we will inform you of at the time).“
I wrote this article about what happens if you try to request this – it isn’t pretty. Legally, however, you should be able to enforce Amex, kicking and screaming, to do it.
Want to earn more points from credit cards? – March 2024 update
If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Earning miles and points from small business cards
If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Huge 60,000 points sign-up bonus (until 9th April) and free for a year Read our full review
Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.
Barclaycard Select Cashback credit card
2% cashback on all your business spend for 3 months (1% thereafter) and no annual fee Read our full review
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