End of an era as American Express retires its iconic ‘Green’ card
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Today is a symbolic moment for the UK payment cards industry, although – in a sign of the times – it won’t actually impact many people.
The American Express Green Card has been removed from the UK market.
This is the first half of a two-part announcement today. Amex has also announced that The Platinum Card will become a credit card and not a charge card – with a huge sign-up bonus of 60,000 points and an extra £200 to spend on travel – you can apply for that here.

Originally launched in 1969 in the United States, the Green Card was, at least when I was young, the symbolic archetypal American Express card. Despite that, it wasn’t actually the first Amex card, which was purple.
If you are a certain age, as I am, the words ‘American Express’ immediately conjure up a picture of the card above.
You probably also remember TV ads like this one, with the ‘Don’t Leave Home Without It’ strapline:

Click here to see the original of that ad on YouTube. Note the bit at the end recommending that you go to Oracle page 196 for more information ….
Today, American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is arguably the most high profile of Amex’s own brand cards. The British Airways cards dominate the co-brand side. There is no real role for The Green Card.
Neglected, but The Green Card had its fans
The Green Card has been neglected. We didn’t even mention it on HfP until a couple of years ago, and even recently our coverage was limited to one card review per year. It has never been on our main credit card directory page.
That said, it wasn’t entirely useless. I know that there are HfP readers who have the card primarily for its purchase protection coverage, which is NOT standard across other Amex cards.
To quote from the old Amex Green website:
- When the manufacturer’s warranty expires on your favourite new purchase, we’ll give you a year’s Extended Warranty up to £1,500 per item
- Enjoy Refund Protection on eligible items. If the UK retailer won’t refund or replace the eligible item, we will, up to a maximum of £200.
- You also get Purchase Protection. If you bought it on your Card and it’s stolen or damaged within 90 days, we’ll replace or repair it, or refund you up to £2,500 per eligible item.
A surprising (to me) number of people were happy to pay £60 per year for The Green Card in order to access the purchase protection benefit.
That said it also, of course, got you access to Shop Small, kept your Membership Rewards balance from expiring if you were cancelling a more expensive Amex card and came with the usual Amex statement credit offers. You were very likely to get your £60 back in savings over the year.
An iconic image
The Green Card is, without a doubt, one of the iconic consumer images of our time.
Whilst Andy Warhol never got around to painting one, when I was in Palma last year, I saw this image – which is about three foot wide – for sale in a gallery:

I doubt we’ll be seeing the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard credit card treated the same way in a hurry …..
The Green Card was, apparently, originally known as the Money Card and the colour was chosen to match dollar bills. It was launched at the same time as the Boeing 747 opened up international travel to the American middle class (Pan Am started operating the 747 in early 1970, The Green Card was launched in 1969) and was intended to work alongside the key American Express business of issuing travellers cheques.
The card became a status symbol and was promoted – as per the Roger Daltry ad above – as something to be used for travel and business. It wasn’t meant to be the card you used at Tesco. The idea that Costco would eventually become the biggest American Express co-brand partner in the US would have been anathema. (The Costco deal was lost in 2014, a blow so hard that the Amex share price fell by 50% and took three years to recover).
Faded glory
Over the years, of course, The Green Card has faded. As competition in the payment card space increased, American Express was forced to add better rewards and benefits to its products.
Rather than wreck the ‘purity’ of Green, and potentially to keep annual fees from Green cardholders coming in without offering anything extra, new cards such as Amex Gold were introduced.
It soon made little sense to pay £60 per year for The Green Card, a card which didn’t even come with a sign-up bonus.
With the closure of The Green Card and the conversion of The Platinum Card to a credit card (437.9% APR!), American Express is getting close to exiting the charge card business in the UK.
For consumers, the charge card model has few benefits except for people who want a card which forces them to repay their balance every month.
Whilst the charge cards used to be promoted as ‘you don’t have a credit limit so you can buy anything you like’, this has not been the case for a long time – the charge cards do have limits, albeit unpublicised to users. The Amex app even has a ‘Check Spending Power’ button. Click it, type in a transaction value and you will be told if it will be accepted or not.
The Green Card isn’t totally disappearing, at least for now. It will continue to exist in other markets and, if you really want one, American Express will let UK residents apply for the International Dollar Card or International Euro Card. I have an Amex Green card in a US$ version via this route, something I use purely to access different Membership Rewards partners.
For clarity, if you currently hold The Green Card in the UK, nothing changes. It will continue to function as usual and will be renewed. The card is only withdrawn today for new applicants.
Want to earn more points from credit cards? – May 2023 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:
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard is doubled to a crazy 50,000 Avios! Apply here.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard is doubled to 10,000 Avios. Apply here.

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
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Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
10,000 Avios for signing up (only to 30th May) 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.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points. Apply here.

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
60,000 points AND a £200 Amex Travel voucher until 13th June! Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
30,000 points bonus (to 13th June) 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:

American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points bonus and a £200 Amex Travel credit every year Read our full review

American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

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

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.

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1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review
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