Did Amex Just RUIN the Green Card? + New Chase Sapphire Bonus, 20 New Lounges

In this video, we talk about a benefits cut on the Amex Green Card, new lounge access for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, a new high bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and new details on the hotly anticipated U.S. bank's Smartly Visa signature card. Hey, credit warriors. My name is Ben Hedges, aka The Credit Shifu. And on this channel, I cover news on the U.S. credit card market, specifically how you can use credit cards to build up cashback and points to enable you to travel for free. If you like the sound of that, why not subscribe? But let's get into it. So our first story today is that the American Express Green Card has just ditched the $100 annual lounge buddy credit. It used to be listed as a benefit on their website, but now it is not. And in the terms and conditions, it says that the lounge buddy credit is going away on January 13th, 2025. For those that already have a card. Now, there could be a few different things that this means are happening. First of all, what is Lounge Buddy? Well, it is a website and app that was bought by Amex about five years ago where you could search for info on and book airport lounges. So the Amex Greens Lounge Buddy credit would refund you for lounges that you booked through Lounge Buddy. It would normally get you a couple of lounge visits per year for free. However, this year, Amex announced that the Lounge Buddy app would be discontinued on July 1st, 2024. Even though the app was discontinued, the web version of Lounge Buddy remains active, and Android users had been using the web version all along. It was only ever an iOS app that they had in the first place. Supposedly, just providing the Lounge Buddy service as a website is cheaper. But now eliminating the credit on the green card could suggest that they are going to shut down Lounge Buddy altogether or at least shut down the booking system on Lounge Buddy and just have it as an informational service only. Personally, I think it would make most sense for them to roll the Lounge Buddy system into the American Express website and app. They have a page where you can search lounges and oh, would you look at that? Okay, so the Lounge Buddy team is already providing the Amex Lounge Collection search tool information. So maybe the whole brand that is Lounge Buddy will shut down. I don't know. But then this also could just be a planned refresh of the Amex regardless of whether Lounge Buddy keeps going or not. And we could see another credit being added for something else. Currently, the green card's annual fee is $150 and that is offset by a $199 clear credit. But you just lost the $100 lounge credit, meaning that you lost a third of the value in offsetting the annual fee. So my guess is there will be something else coming. We've also seen a similar situation with the Business Platinum card where the Dell credit, Indie credit and Adobe credit all now have an end date of the end of 2024 and Amex hasn't yet announced what will replace them. But I'm guessing that something must be planned to replace those because that is $910 in value that cardholders are losing right there. They haven't announced anything yet, but I think they will. And thus, I think that they will add something new on the personal green card too. Just my opinion. What do you think? Let me know in the comments down below. All right, let's now move on to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which just increased its airport lounge offering with access to 20 Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges. So the Sapphire Reserve is Chase's premium credit card. It rivals the Amex Platinum. And like the Platinum, it offers priority pass lounge access and access to Chase Sapphire lounges, which are the equivalent of Amex Centurion lounges, the bank's own lounges, which typically are a bit better quality than most priority pass lounges. And now we have these new Air Canada lounges that are joining. So here is how it'll work. Now you have access to three Air Canada lounges in the U.S., L.A., LaGuardia, New York and San Francisco, two in Europe at Frankfurt, Germany and London Heathrow, and then at every major airport in Canada, with the notable exception of Montreal. So it's 20 lounges in total. You don't need to register. You just show your card to get in. It's free for the cardholder, but you'll have to pay $59 in the U.S. or 59 Canadian dollars in Canada or 59 euros in Europe for each guest. Apart from the fact that you don't get free guests, this is a very positive development for this card and gives you another lounge option at three of the biggest airports in the U.S. and several major international ones, too. If you guys are interested in learning more about the Sapphire Reserve, I will put a link to the card below. Do check it out. The card currently offers a 60,000 point welcome bonus. Alternatively, if you don't have immediate travel plans now, you could get the Sapphire Preferred, which currently has a limited time high bonus of 60,000 points plus a $300 travel credit for Chase Travel. Those together are worth at least $1,050 in free travel. And then you could always upgrade to the Sapphire Reserve after your first year if you want that lounge access. All right, let's now get into our final story of the day. And that is that we have some new details on the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, the card that potentially could earn you 4% unlimited cash back on all of your spending. And here's how you get that. Similar to Bank of America Preferred Rewards, you need to have certain amounts of deposits with U.S. Bank. It should be pretty easy for most people to get 2.5% on all their spending, though, because it starts at just $5,000 in deposits, which is actually really low. And many other people will also be able to get the higher rates. Now, this card isn't out yet, but we do have a couple of updates from Doctor of Credit. First, the card will have 3% foreign transaction fee. So that's a bit of a negative piece of information. But you also have 0% APR on purchases for the first 12 months and also 0% APR for 12 months on balance transfers that are made within the first 60 days. There's a 3% fee after that. They're saying the 0% APR on purchases is kind of like a welcome bonus. You could view it from that perspective because this card is thought to not be offering any kind of bonus for signing up. So when is it coming out? Well, the rumored release date is October 21st. Again, that is a Doctor of Credit rumor from an insider source. But often these things do tend to be accurate. So I look forward to seeing this card coming out later in the month, most probably. And we will, of course, do a full review video when it does come out. All right, guys, that is the video for today. Don't forget to check out the new welcome bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred, 60,000 points plus a $300 travel credit for Chase Travel, over $1,050 in value, at least, depending on how you redeem it. Link for that to learn more is below. And as well, if you want to check out the Sapphire Reserve, I'll put a link for that below, too. Please subscribe to our channel if you're new. We'll see you in the next video. Bye-bye.