American Express Membership Rewards - Any chance AMEX would waive the green card annual fee for a college student?

Title says it all. :p

Perhaps they will lower it for a problem with customer service, etc.

Perhaps on a one-off, one-time, on-request basis...but Amex charge cards typically don't have finance charges so Amex wants the annual fee revenue. An alternative would be one of the Amex credit cards that don't have annual fees.

They do have a green card for College students (with fee)

I don't see why they would. If you're charging a lot, and thus a good customer, they'll probably figure that you can pay the fee. They might work something out if you threaten to cancel -- maybe.

If you're not charging anything because you're a poor college student, they probably won't care to keep you as a customer. Now, from a long term perspective, it would probably make sense to keep you happy now so that when you graduate and have money you'll be a profitable customer, but AmEx doesn't seem to think long-term.

When I was approved for my card and had to sign the form, I called confirming I could fax it in and asked if they did a student discount on the £275 annual fee...no luck :(

When I was approved for my card and had to sign the form, I called confirming I could fax it in and asked if they did a student discount on the £275 annual fee...no luck :(

Wow. That's a heck of an annual fee. Even the annual fee on the Gold MR card in the US is significantly less than half of that. If that fee is typical of a non-plat. AX outside of the US, I'm clearly showing my ignorance. That rate is close to what a Plat. AX in the US would cost.

Wow. That's a heck of an annual fee. Even the annual fee on the Gold MR card in the US is significantly less than half of that. If that fee is typical of a non-plat. AX outside of the US, I'm clearly showing my ignorance. That rate is close to what a Plat. AX in the US would cost.

The annual fee for a UK Gold charge card is £95, and for a UK Plat card £275. The UK PLat does include a number of benefits (e.g., Priority Pass membership) that are not included with the US Plat.

When I was a student a few years ago, the furthest I got was by threatening to cancel. The CS rep insisted she could not cancel or discount the membership fee, but offered something a "gift" of something like $35 which could be applied to selected retailers, which was good enough for me.

If you keep doing it, though, they might say no and try to steer you toward their no annual fee college card, Blue for Students (http://www66.americanexpress.com/cards/Fmacfservlet?csi=2/20/b/3/3373425514/337093601755/20/n).

When I was approved for my card and had to sign the form, I called confirming I could fax it in and asked if they did a student discount on the £275 annual fee...no luck :(

They probably thought you were taking the pyss. I thought there was a minimum income requirement for UK Platinum (£30K)? ... I guess you're not the 'typical student' then.

What exactly is it you're looking for from the Green card that Blue doesn't offer? What country? I might be missing something, but I don't see any case where US Green is better than US Blue w/ full payoff every month.

What exactly is it you're looking for from the Green card that Blue doesn't offer? What country? I might be missing something, but I don't see any case where US Green is better than US Blue w/ full payoff every month.

One advantage of Green is the car rental insurance, which Blue for Students does not include.

Also, Green has much greater spending power than Blue. With Blue and other Amex credit cards, you can only charge up to the amount of your credit limit during each statement cycle even if you make a payment mid-cycle. The Green card and other pay-in-full charge cards instead have an unpublished "exposure limit" (mine was $1000 when I first got the card as an undergrad). As long as you make adequate payments to keep you under your exposure limit at all times, you can charge as much as you want in a given month.

The Green card and other pay-in-full charge cards instead have an unpublished "exposure limit" (mine was $1000 when I first got the card as an undergrad). As long as you make adequate payments to keep you under your exposure limit at all times, you can charge as much as you want in a given month.

And if you want to put something very expensive on the card, you can call and get it approved by showing you have the funds or whatever. With blue, you have your limit and only the limt.

Also, IMHO, the green looks a bit classier and a bit less cheap as well as the fact that CHARGE cards are better than CREDIT cards (IMO, of course)

Well guys I have the Blue for Students card now, and am interested in upgrading to a "real" AMEX card, however the annual fee is a hindrance since I seem to be getting many of the same benefits as with my Blue card (purchase protection plan, buyer's insurance) as I would get with a Green card. The only difference is the Green card wants me to pony up $55.

They probably thought you were taking the pyss. I thought there was a minimum income requirement for UK Platinum (£30K)? ... I guess you're not the 'typical student' then.

Yes the minimum income requirement is £30,000 a year...I'm lucky enough to have a few more luxuries than other students, and it's not all "daddy's money", I run 2 businesses...

I wasn't taking the piss, although I knew they'd say no. The key is to save money wherever possible, i.e. 2for1 at supermarkets (and of course savings on Amex annual fees :p )

Well guys I have the Blue for Students card now, and am interested in upgrading to a "real" AMEX card, however the annual fee is a hindrance since I seem to be getting many of the same benefits as with my Blue card (purchase protection plan, buyer's insurance) as I would get with a Green card. The only difference is the Green card wants me to pony up $55.

So why bother??? :confused:

Well, here we are a year later... has anyone had any luck getting AmEx to waive a fee for a customer in school? I've had a Gold card for a couple of years but now would rather not pay the fee since I'm in school and trying to save money.

Applying for a Blue for Students card may impact my credit score and cost me $$ in higher student loan rates. So has anyone had luck since the last post? Do I really have to threaten to cancel?

As far as I know, unpublished waivers of annual fees rarely happen with American Express. You can try to threaten to cancel, explain to them that you're a student, etc. and typically end up without success to get a reduced or waived annual fee. Like an earlier OP suggested, CS is more than likely to recommend an Amex no-free Credit Card than waive a portion of the fee. Plus, if you are that sensitive to the annual fee, then getting a fee based card is not even a good idea since you probably don't spend that much. I think Amex figures, and all fee based cards for that matter, that the fee is only a small fraction of what you would spend in 1 year. I know there are thrifty people out there--I one of them, but I wouldn't waste my time on the phone to try to get the fee waived. In the end, I am paying for a service.