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Offers for the SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
Update: As of July 2019, the SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express is no longer open to new applicants. If you currently have the card, this post covers the benefits in detail. If not, here are our recommendations for top small business cards.
When it comes to business credit cards, you may not hear much buzz about the Amex SimplyCash Plus. While many American Express credit cards earn Membership Rewards points, this card does not. Instead, it earns cash back and warrants some attention with how much you can potentially earn.
Even though this card does not earn Membership Rewards, that does not mean the Amex SimplyCash Plus is not extremely valuable, particularly if you look at the value this card can deliver, starting with a great new cardmember welcome offer and no annual fee.
What Happened to the Amex SimplyCash Plus?
The Simply Cash card has been discontinued and replaced by the Amex Blue Business Cash. If you're looking for a great cash-back card with simple rewards and no annual fee (Rates & Fees), click the link above to check out our full review.
Everyday Spending
The Amex SimplyCash Plus is great for everyday office expenses. The card earns 5% cash back at U.S. office supply stores and on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers. Additionally, the Amex SimplyCash Plus earns 3% cash back on one of the following eight categories:
- Airfare purchased directly from airlines
- Hotel rooms purchased directly from hotels
- Car rentals purchased from select car rental companies
- U.S. gas stations
- U.S. restaurants
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
- U.S. purchases for shipping
- U.S. computer hardware, software and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers
Best of all, you can choose which of these eight categories earns 3% cash back. All remaining categories will earn 1% cash back. Look at where you currently make your purchases and identify the category that'll get you the biggest return!
The 5% and 3% cash back bonuses are awarded on the first $50,000 in eligible purchases annually, within the corresponding bonus categories. 1% cash back is awarded for purchases that exceed $50,000 per calendar year across all categories.
NOTE: The Amex OPEN Savings program has ended as of May 31, 2018.
As an American Express business credit card, the Amex SimplyCash Plus grants access to the Amex OPEN Savings program, which provides 5% cash back on purchases with select partner merchants such as Hertz, HP, and FedEx.
Limitations
With the exception of Airfare purchased directly from airlines, Hotel rooms purchased directly from hotels and Car rentals purchased from select car rental companies all of the 3% and 5% bonus categories on this card are for purchases made solely within the U.S.
Additionally, if you use this card internationally you'll have to pay foreign transaction fees of 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to US dollars. We would steer clear of using this card for foreign purchases, and if you're traveling out of the country, you might look to a card that doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee.
The cash back earned with the Amex SimplyCash Plus is just that, cash back. You cannot convert or transfer the cash back into American Express Membership Rewards points, regardless of which other Amex credit card you have.
Conclusion
For a business card that charges no annual fee, it does not get much better than the Amex SimplyCash Plus. If you are interested in earning cash back for your business purchases, this is certainly a card worth considering.
To put this cards earning potential in perspective, if you spend $10,000 in the 5% cash back categories, $8,000 on your selected 3% cash back category and $5,000 on other purchases per year, you would earn $790 in cash back. If you maximize the cash back across the 3% and 5% category, you could earn $4,000 in cash back annually within those categories alone. Not bad for a card with no annual fee.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (Rates & Fees)
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