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A few months after the release of the refreshed American Express® Gold Card, Amex lifted the lid on its revised business counterpart, the American Express® Business Gold Card. The new card replaces a long-time favorite of the points and miles community, the Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express, and features a revised earning structure, bonus categories, lightly revamped perks and an increased annual fee.
- Airfare purchased directly from airlines
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
- U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- U.S. purchases at restaurants
- U.S. purchases for shipping
4X points applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year; then earn 1 point per dollar.
To account for the higher annual fee, Amex has adjusted the bonus categories on the Business Amex Gold, increasing the return on business expenses to 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar on the two categories where you spend the most each month. Since the relaunch, Amex has experimented with multiple welcome offers including a traditional Membership Rewards® bonus as well as discounts and rebates with select providers of business services.
Business Amex Gold Welcome Offer
After a few underwhelming offers, the Business Amex Gold is sporting a welcome offer of 50,000 Membership Rewards® after you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
The Business Amex Gold can be a great asset if you can maximize its spending categories, but there are plenty of other small business cards out there with better welcome offers.
Points Earning Potential and Category Bonuses
The revised earning structure on the Business Amex Gold is a card highlight, and a big step up from what was offered on the Business Rewards Gold Card. Where you could earn 3x points on the category of your choice on the Business Rewards Gold Card, you’ll now earn 4x points per dollar on your top two spending categories each month, without the need to pick a category from the list. The two highest spending categories each month will automatically be assigned 4x points per dollar, on up to $150,000 per year in combined spending across bonus categories.
Amex has also added U.S. restaurants to the list of bonus categories, which now includes:
- Airfare purchased directly from airlines
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
- U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- U.S. purchases at restaurants
- U.S. purchases for shipping
If you max out the 4x categories up to $150K each year, you’ll land 600,000 Membership Rewards points on your business expenses, an increase of 150K over the maximum you could earn on bonus category purchases each year on the Business Rewards Gold Card. If you conservatively value those points at 1.5¢ per piece, the additional points are worth a tidy $2,250 which more than accounts for the cost of holding the card over the long term.
If you want to tackle a multi-card strategy to maximise the points earned on business expenses, pair the Business Amex Gold card with The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, which receives a solid 2X Membership Rewards points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners (applies to first $50,000 spent each year, then 1X). The Blue Business Plus charges no annual fee , making it the perfect companion card to the Business Amex Gold card and providing a minimum 2x points per dollar on your first $50K of business expenses each year.
Combine these two cards with The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, and you’ll get a minimum of 2x points on every dollar spent up to the first $50K, great bonus categories through the Business Amex Gold card, and industry-leading travel perks from the Business Platinum Card including top-tier lounge access and complimentary elite status in a bunch of top rewards programs! (Terms Apply)
Not familiar with the Membership Rewards transfer partners, or need some inspiration to help redeem your points? Check out some of our favorite sweet spots and transfer partners!
Business Amex Gold Feature Benefits
25% Airline Bonus via Pay With Points
The Business Amex Gold joins the Business Platinum Card in offering a rebate when using Amex’s Pay with Points program, however, providing a 25% rebate rather than the 35% offered on its Platinum stablemate. All first and business class flights qualify, and any economy fare booked on your pre-selected airline. As you're redeeming points for a cash ticket (Amex books these as a revenue fare), you’ll earn elite status credits and airline miles for flights booked through Pay with Points. This benefit is capped at 250,000 points rebated per year.
No Pre-Set Spending Limit
As a charge card, the Business Amex Gold doesn’t have a pre-set spending limit, allowing you to make substantial purchases on the card without hitting a pre-defined cap. Amex determines the purchasing power of your card by factoring in your previous use of the card, payment history, credit record, and the financial resources available to you, providing lots of flexibility for earning points on business expenses.
Pay Over Time Option
Where most charge cards require you to pay down the entire balance of the card each month, Business Amex Gold cardholders are automatically enrolled in Amex’s Pay Over Time program, which allows you to carry a balance (with interest) on purchases over $100.
Purchase and Travel Protection Benefits
Unlike its premium cousin, Business Platinum Card which features a stellar list of travel benefits, the Business Amex Gold focuses on points over perks, and the feature benefits aren’t particularly enticing. In addition to the perks listed above, cardholders receive an array of purchase and travel protection benefits including:
- Extended Warranty
- Purchase Protection
- Return Protection
- Baggage Insurance
- Secondary Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
- Roadside Assistance
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Access to Amex Offers
Application Restrictions
The Business Amex Gold card features the once per lifetime language for existing or previous cardholders, meaning you won't receive the welcome offer if you’ve held this card in the past.
“Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.”
The Business Amex Gold card is a charge card, allowing you to bypass another Amex application restriction, restricting you to five Amex credit cards at any one time. Even if you’ve maxed your five card limit out for Amex credit cards, you shouldn’t have any troubles getting an application approved for the Business Amex Gold card due to its status as a charge card.
It’s also a perfect card to apply for if you’re holding off on personal card applications to get back under 5/24. The Business Amex Gold card is a business card, and won’t count towards your 5/24 count as it doesn't show up on your consumer credit report across the 3 major bureaus.
Final Thoughts
The Business Amex Gold is a rewards focused card aimed at maximizing the number of points received from your annual business expenses, although it's a little light on benefits for the annual fee. The most recent welcome offer is a bit of a disappointment, providing 50,000 (Terms Apply) but only with a single merchant that may not be relevant for many businesses.
Still, the Business Amex Gold remains a great choice for those with high spend among the 4x categories. Paired with other cards in the Membership Rewards business card portfolio like the Blue Business Plus and Business Platinum Card, the Business Amex Gold can generate a lot of Membership Rewards® which remains an elite transferrable rewards currency.
If you're looking for a more exciting welcome offer, you might want to consider the Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card.
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I haven’t seen anything about this yet from American Express. I have an ad agency so this changes my potential bonus points from 300K to 600K. I just went on to look at benefits and see nothing about this. Will this go into effect in 2019? Thank you for letting me know!
You should reach out to American Express to see how they’re handling your conversion.
Howie, just got off w/Amex. There will be no conversion. They are sending no emails and no information out to their current Amex biz gold cardholders. This is a new product. I have the choice of either applying for this new one (receiving g-suite & ziprecruiter) or upgrading. If I upgrade they offer me nothing and no waiving the annual fee. He said there might be a promotion to upgrade down the line but not now. For what it’s worth…
Isn’t this card being classified as a new product the best possible outcome???
Will do. Thanks Howie. This is huge for me. I will post again should I find out anything regarding timing.
great details!! Thank for compiling all this!!
Do Amex Business cards definitely not count towards 5/24?
Correct, they do not.
4x points works but if it only counts towards the first $15k does not seem like much for business spending
150. not 15.
4x points will really add up. This looks like a good card to have.
Where can I get more information on exactly what qualifies under these two categories:
-U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
-U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
Which select media for advertising?
Which technology providers for purchases of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions?
Is there a list somewhere that details these out?
Andrea
Yes, here you go: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/rewards-info/business.html
Perfect! Thank you.
@Andrea I know a lot about the advertising because I have an ad agency. All radio, tv, print, digital (including google and FB) have been credited pretty easily. It has to do with the SIC code or category of the company. There have been occasions, one recently, where the charge has been from a company that goes by something else. Amex usually will do a bit of research and give me the bonus points and from then on that company won’t be a problem. On a side note, the Chase Ink card although only says social media and search engine spend, will also apply 3x points on tv, radio, print and everything digital.
Thanks Nina! Valuable insight.
Great cover on the new biz gold! and thanks for letting us know that this is a new product!!
Fee makes this not what we want.
This one misses so many of the great benefits of the personal card so I’ll pass.
Not a fan of the new welcome bonus personally, but for those that use those services, I can see the benefits.
Bummer that they are not offering bonus Membership Rewards points.
The lack of traditional welcome bonus renders this card not very useful for me. The free services are not particularly useful for my business so it will be the personal Gold Card for me. Thanks for the information.
Still conflicted about this card.
I love the new Amex Gold Card, I got it in rose gold metal!
Does anyone know if advertising on Amazon is included in the bonus category?
Amex Gold Cards, there are a few varieties is an excellent way to earn points. Most have a 1:1 transfer to all major airlines and provide 50K or higher bonus after spending about $3K in the first 3 months.