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At a glance
- Best for: Businesses with dynamic spending habits
- Annual Fee: $375
- APR: 19.99%-28.99% Variable
- Reward Rate: 1X-4X
- Recommended Credit: 670-850
American Express® Business Gold Card
100,000 Membership Rewards® Points
Offer Details:
100,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
Why we like it
The Amex Business Gold card is designed for business owners with a dynamic spending pattern. By offering a strong 4x points per dollar rate on the top two spending categories in each statement, cardholders can rest easy knowing their big purchases are being covered in the best way—whether that’s marketing expenses or treating clients to lunch. While that earning is capped at $150,000 a year, that still represents a potential 600,000 super-valuable Amex Membership Reward points on offer.
Its massive 100,000-point intro bonus is also a significant draw, offering more than $2,000 in travel if transferred to one of Amex’s 21 partners. This is a card that knows its target market and rewards them generously.
Reward details
4X Membership Rewards® points on the top two eligible categories where your business spends the most each month from 6 eligible categories. While your top 2 categories may change, you will earn 4X points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year (then 1X thereafter). Only the top 2 categories each billing cycle will count towards the $150,000 cap.
3X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com using your Business Gold Card.
1X is earned for other purchases.
Pros & Cons
Pros
-
Incredible 100,000-point intro bonus
-
Strong earning rates that adapt to your spending
-
Valuable points currency
-
Useful business statement credits
-
Intro 0% APR for qualifying purchases
-
Insurance protection benefits
-
Up to 99 employee cards allowed
Cons
-
The annual fee is high
-
Small businesses may struggle to hit the intro bonus spending threshold
-
Stronger earning rates elsewhere for more stable spending habits
Overview
Choosing a credit card that fits your business or lifestyle can be difficult — especially if you opt for a one-card system. That product might work overtime for printing and office costs but leaves your frequent client lunches earning next to nothing.
In these situations, it’s often best to use a few different cards to maximize your rewards earnings.
Or…you could try the American Express® Business Gold Card, and let the card automatically adapt to your spending habits.
While its 100,000-point welcome bonus, after spending $15,000 in the first 3 months, is a showstopper in its own right, it is the card’s unique and adaptive rewards-earning feature that sets it apart from the competition, allowing you to earn more points where you spend most.
Plus, it looks damn cool, too.
Who is the Amex Business Gold best for:
The Amex Business Gold card is best for dynamic business owners with shifting priorities. For example, you might have heavy marketing costs at the start of the year, before hitting the road for some conventions. In most cases, you’d be forced to pick one card with good earnings on marketing or travel.
The Gold card allows you to maximize these categories when they matter to your business, as it adapts to your spending habits and gives you bonus rewards for whatever you’re spending the most on. Those with steadier expenses may find more value in another product, but the earning rates on this card are still quite epic.
The Bottom Line:
The Amex Business Gold is perfect for business owners with shifting needs who want high earnings on their spending. Throw in an excellent introductory offer and some strong business-related perks, and this card starts looking like the full package. The $375 annual fee (see rates and fees) may put some potential card owners off, but a few quick calculations should show how easy it is to recoup that value.
Intro Bonus
The immediate draw of the Amex Business Gold is its incredible introductory offer. New cardholders can earn 100,000 points after spending $15,000 within three months of opening an account.
Thanks to an incredible list of transfer partners, we value Amex Membership Rewards points at around 2 cents each, meaning the bonus is worth at least $2,000 in travel if used well. Don’t worry, we’ll point you in the right direction later on how to best use your points.
Your business must spend at least $5,000 a month on average to ensure you hit the minimum spending requirement, as it’s rarely a good idea to force purchases to hit a bonus.
*It’s worth noting that an even bigger 175,000-point targeted bonus is doing the rounds. You’d need to hit the same spending goal, so nothing else would change besides another 75,000 points for you to use. Not everyone will see that, however.*
Pros & Cons
No card is perfect, but the Amex Business Gold makes a good go of it. To help give you more insight, I’ve narrowed down the good and bad aspects of the card, helping you decide if it’s the best tool for your business.
Pros
- Incredible 100,000-point intro bonus
- Strong earning rates that adapt to your spending
- Valuable points currency
- Useful business statement credits
- Generous Intro APR for qualifying purchases
- Insurance protection benefits
- Up to 99 employee cards are allowed, and these can all be free
Cons
- $375 annual fee
- Some businesses may struggle to hit the intro bonus spending threshold
- Potentially better rewards-earning rates elsewhere for more stable spending habits
Benefits & Perks
The Amex Business Gold comes with several benefits and perks to help alleviate some business expenses. As the $375 annual fee is pretty high, you’ll want to take advantage of them.
$240 Flexible Business Credit
The card comes with an up to $240 statement credit for certain business purchases. It’s applied in $20 monthly segments and can be used for U.S. purchases made at FedEx, GrubHub, and Office Supply Stores (think Staples, Office Depot, etc.). The cardholder needs to enroll for the credit but isn’t limited to one of the options, so each month the credit will be applied automatically when the Business Gold Card is used to make purchases at any of the three options.
If you’re able to take advantage of these credits every month, you’ll effectively cut the annual fee down to $135.
$155 Walmart+ Statement credit
The card also offers up to $155 Walmart+ statement credit, which should fully cover the cost of your membership. Walmart+ is an Amazon Prime competitor that offers free delivery on thousands of items, scan-as-you-go shopping, member prices at the gas station, a Paramount+ subscription, and more.
Similarly to the flexible business credit, it’s shown as a monthly credit when the card is used to purchase a Walmart+ membership. If you use Amazon Prime but think Walmart+ could be a suitable substitute, this could result in real savings.
Business benefits and insurance
The Amex Business Gold also comes with a few added perks and protections that can be useful depending on the cardholder’s individual situation. Here’s a rundown of these benefits:
- Free Vendor Pay membership for the first cardholder
- Pay over time (with 0% APR within the first six months)
- Auto expense categorization in Intuit Quickbooks
- Ability to add an account manager
- Cell phone protection
- Dispute resolution
- Extended warranty
- Purchase protection
(Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions, and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company).
Earning rewards & redeeming points
The Amex Business Gold is a strong rewards earner for the right business. When designing this card, Amex understood that the modern business world is dynamic and that spending can shift from month to month. Its earning structure is built around this concept, making it perfect for some, but it may fall short for others.
Earning rewards
4x points per dollar on your top two spending categories
The Amex Business Gold uses a dynamic earning scheme that adapts to your monthly spending patterns. In each statement period, the cardholder will earn 4x points per dollar in the top two spending categories. These are:
- Purchases at US media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
- U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
- U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways
- Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S
So, if a business owner invests heavily in marketing and on software purchases at the start of the year, that spending will earn 4x points per dollar. But if things shift and they have a month packed with client lunches, dinners, and travel, the 4x points per dollar would be applied to restaurants and transit.
Businesses with more predictable spending habits may prefer another product. But even so, earning 4x Amex points per dollar in these categories is excellent, and not many other business cards from other issuers have that high of an earning rate.
The 4x points per dollar earning rate is capped at $150,000 per year, offering potential earnings of 600,000 points annually.
3x points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotels
The card also offers a strong 3x points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotels booked on Amex travel. While the rate is strong, cardholders are tied to using Amex’s own travel portal. This means that shopping around for a better price on airline websites and third-party aggregators isn’t possible. It’s up to the business owner to decide whether booking on Amex Travel for the points is worth it.
1x points on everything else
Any other purchases outside of the categories mentioned above, and purchases in the 4x bonus categories beyond the $150,000 cap will earn 1x point per dollar.
Redeeming points
I mentioned earlier that the card’s 100,000-point introductory offer is worth more than $2,000 in travel. While that’s true, it’s important to understand that all redemption methods are not created equal and won’t achieve that big of a return.
Transferring to travel partners
If getting high value is your goal, the best way to use your points is to transfer them to one of Amex’s travel transfer partners. The issuer currently has a strong list of 18 airlines and three hotel programs allowing points transfers.
Some of these, like Air Canada Aeroplan, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and KLM/Air France Flying Blue boast sweet spots allowing you to book thousands of dollars worth of travel for a fraction of the cost. We value Amex points at 2 cents each when redeeming this way, although you can do much better if you play your cards right.
Here’s a full list of Amex’s travel partners:
Aer Lingus | Choice Privileges | Iberia |
Aeromexico (1:1.6) | Delta | JetBlue (1:0.8) |
Air Canada Aeroplan | Emirates | Marriott Bonvoy |
ANA | Etihad | Qantas |
Avianca | Flying Blue (Air France and KLM) | Qatar Airways |
British Airways | Hawaiian Airlines | Singapore Airlines |
Cathay Pacific | Hilton Honors (1:2) | Virgin Atlantic |
Using these programs, you could book trips like this:
- Transfer 48,000 points to British Airways for two round-trip flights from Miami to Nassau with American Airlines (worth $600+)
- Transfer 40,000 points to KLM/Air France Flying Blue for a round-trip flight from NYC to Paris ($750+)
- Transfer 50,000 points to Etihad for a one-way Business class flight from the US to Hong Kong with American Airlines (stopovers allowed, worth $6,000+)
- Transfer 88,000 points to ANA for a roundtrip business class flight with United from the US to Europe (worth $3,000+)
Booking through the Amex Travel Portal
Another redemption method is Amex’s own travel portal. While you’ll only redeem points at a value of 1 cent each for airfare and .7 cents each for hotels and car rentals, it’s a far easier way to book travel. The portal operates similarly to a travel aggregator like Expedia or Booking.com, allowing you to purchase flights, hotels, and rental cars. The only difference, in this case, is opting to use points at checkout instead of cash.
You’ll likely want to stick to redeeming your points for flights here, as the rate for hotels and car rentals is quite low.
Cash-back and gift cards
The bottom rung of points redemptions is reserved for cashback and gift cards. While they may offer you flexibility, your value will be 1 cent per point at best for gift cards and .7 cents when used for cash back. On occasion, you may find discounted gift cards that give you a slightly better rate, but generally speaking, it will still be worse than flights on the travel portal or transferring points.
Qualifying for a small business credit card may be easier than you think
When you think of a “small business,” you may envision a revenue amounting to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, multiple employees, a storefront, etc. But in fact, none of these things are required to get a small business card. You can qualify for the Amex Business Gold if you perform services such as babysitting, driving for Uber or DoorDash, tutoring, freelance writing, selling items on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, and more—the list goes on.
A small business doesn’t even have to be your main job. As long as you’ve got a for-profit venture, you qualify for the card—though whether you’re approved will depend on additional factors like your credit score, income, and more.
A small business doesn’t even have to be your main job. As long as you’ve got a for-profit venture, you qualify for the card—though whether you’re approved will depend on additional factors like your credit score, income, and more.
Is this card right for you?
The Amex Business Gold Card is the perfect card for many types of businesses given its dynamic bonus rewards categories. With an outstanding intro bonus, and stellar, dynamic earning rates, it represents an excellent opportunity to earn tons of points with your business’s spending. The nature of the card, however, means that its strengths for some are its weaknesses for others, so it’s important to do some calculations before applying.
- Best for: Businesses with dynamic spending habits
- Annual Fee: $375
- APR: 19.99%-28.99% Variable
- Reward Rate: 1X-4X
- Recommended Credit: 670-850
American Express® Business Gold Card
100,000 Membership Rewards® Points
Offer Details:
100,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
Why we like it
The Amex Business Gold card is designed for business owners with a dynamic spending pattern. By offering a strong 4x points per dollar rate on the top two spending categories in each statement, cardholders can rest easy knowing their big purchases are being covered in the best way—whether that’s marketing expenses or treating clients to lunch. While that earning is capped at $150,000 a year, that still represents a potential 600,000 super-valuable Amex Membership Reward points on offer.
Its massive 100,000-point intro bonus is also a significant draw, offering more than $2,000 in travel if transferred to one of Amex’s 21 partners. This is a card that knows its target market and rewards them generously.
Reward details
4X Membership Rewards® points on the top two eligible categories where your business spends the most each month from 6 eligible categories. While your top 2 categories may change, you will earn 4X points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year (then 1X thereafter). Only the top 2 categories each billing cycle will count towards the $150,000 cap.
3X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com using your Business Gold Card.
1X is earned for other purchases.
Pros & Cons
Pros
-
Incredible 100,000-point intro bonus
-
Strong earning rates that adapt to your spending
-
Valuable points currency
-
Useful business statement credits
-
Intro 0% APR for qualifying purchases
-
Insurance protection benefits
-
Up to 99 employee cards allowed
Cons
-
The annual fee is high
-
Small businesses may struggle to hit the intro bonus spending threshold
-
Stronger earning rates elsewhere for more stable spending habits
by your friends at The Daily Navigator
