Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I recently read a great blog post on Frequent Miler about maximizing American Express credits and it made me realize that there are a ton of AMEX credits out there right now with various frequencies (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and yearly). After reading the blog post, I took a look at my current American Express credit card lineup and it hit me… I don’t have any of those credits anymore and I’m not sad about that.

Simplifying My American Express Lineup

Over the past 1-2 years, I’ve simplified my American Express credit card lineup and significantly reduced the amount I pay in annual fees. Just last month, I downgraded my American Express Business Platinum Card to the American Express Business Green Card, and I received a prorated annual fee refund in the process. I have two upcoming AMEX FHR hotel bookings that I want to protect and I’m holding out for the possibility of a decent upgrade offer to the American Express Business Gold Card or back up to the Business Platinum Card. We will see if I get either upgrade offer.

When I first had the Business Platinum Card, I enjoyed going to the American Express Centurion Lounges (when there was no line to get in) and using the Wireless Phone credits, Dell credits, Hilton credits, and Airline Fee credits. Now that we have a 7 month old baby girl and haven’t traveled much over the past year, those credits just aren’t as useful as they once were.

Last December, I downgraded from the $150 American Express Hilton Surpass Credit Card to the no annual fee American Express Hilton Credit Card. Therefore, I no longer have to use the quarterly $50 Hilton credits. I won’t miss my overpriced $50 snack and drink shopping spree at the DoubleTree hotel (or explaining to the front desk agent why I want to spend $50 at the lobby market when I’m not staying at the hotel).

As of March 2026, here is my current American Express credit card lineup:

• • American Express Business Green Card: waiting for an upgrade offer to the American Express Business Platinum Card. $95 annual fee with no coupon book.
  • American Express Hilton Credit Card: waiting for an upgrade offer to the Hilton Surpass or Hilton Aspire cards. No annual fee and no coupon book.
  • American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card: 2x Membership Rewards Points on everything (up to $50k spend), with no annual fee and no coupon book.
  • American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card: 35K Marriott Free Night Certificate each card member year for a $125 annual fee and no coupon book.

Statement Credit I Used to Know

Here is a “short” list of AMEX credits Laura and I used to chase after:

• $300 every 6 months at AMEX FHR (Business Platinum)
• $200 Delta Stays credit (Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business)
• $200 airline incidental credit (Business Platinum)
• $150 every 6 months at Dell (Business Platinum)
• $50 every quarter at Hilton (Business Platinum and Hilton Surpass)
• $20 per month at Staples (Business Gold)
• $10 per month at AT&T (Business Platinum)
• $10 per month at Grubhub (Laura’s AMEX Gold)
• $10 per month at Uber / Uber Eats (Laura’s AMEX Gold)

Those are just the credits that immediately come to mind and I am sure I am forgetting a few others.  That list requires a lot of mental bandwidth and there were months where the only charges posting to my AMEX cards were purchases to trigger the statement credits.  That is when I realized that by paying the AMEX annual fees, I was essentially prepaying for a book of coupons that I had to redeem.  It was fun at the beginning since it was easy to “win” and come out ahead, but with a baby at home and less travel in my near future, it seemed more like homework I assigned myself.

With ever increasing coupons (and more credit card issuers joining the coupon book party), am I the only one who is done with the coupon book era of credit cards? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.  Have a great day everyone!