Credit Card Review: American Express Business Gold Card

American Express has revamped each card in its charge card portfolio over the past several years. These changes have added new cardholder benefits and increased Membership Rewards point-earning opportunities, but unfortunately, they’ve also resulted in increased annual fees

The Gold version of the card, previously known as the Business Gold Rewards card, has been rebranded as the Business Gold Card. If you’re considering signing up for this card or any other American Express business credit card, we’d be grateful if you used our link. Every referral earns us Membership Rewards points, which play a crucial role in keeping Your Mileage May Vary HQ running smoothly. Your support means the world to us!

Are the new benefits of the card worth the higher annual fee?

American Express Business Gold

Annual Fee

$375 per year

Sign Up Benefits

This card is subject to AMEX’s one sign-up bonus per lifetime rule. To read more about that, check out this article from Doctor of Credit. AMEX also has added this stipulation to their cards:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.

 

If you have a history of cancelling or downgrading American Express Card accounts within your first year and you cancel or downgrade your new Card account within your first year, we may not credit, we may freeze, or we may take away Membership Rewards^® points from your account. If we determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this offer in any way or that you intend to do so, including if you return purchases you made to meet the Threshold Amount, we may not credit, we may freeze, or we may take away Membership Rewards^® points from your account. We may also cancel any accounts you have with us.

Our referral link for this card currently offers a 130,000-point bonus once you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening an account.

Spending Bonus Categories

The Business Gold card earns 4X Membership Rewards on the 2 categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle from the list below, plus earn 1X on other purchases:

• U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers,
• Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.,
• Transit purchases, including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways,
• Purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio),
• U.S. purchases at gas stations, and
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery.

4X points are applicable on the first $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year.

Cardholders earn 3X points for all airfare and prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com.

The ability to switch bonus categories monthly is great for businesses that may have large expenditures in one category for a month but not on an ongoing basis. A drawback of this card is that the bonus categories only count for charges made in the U.S.

Statement Credits

There are two monthly statement credits for AMEX Business Gold cardholders.

• $240 Flexible Business Credit: earn up to $20 in statement credits each month after using the Business Gold Card for eligible purchases at FedEx, Grubhub, and Office Supply Stores. Enrollment required.
• Walmart+ Membership Credit: use the Business Gold Card to pay for a monthly Walmart + membership (subject to auto-renewal) and receive a statement credit for up to $12.95 per month.

Cell Phone Protection

• Cell Phone Protection: With Cell Phone Protection, you can be reimbursed for the cost to repair or replace your damaged or stolen cell phone, up to $800, with a $50 deductible, for 2 approved claims per 12-month period. This coverage applies when your prior month’s wireless bill was paid using an Eligible Card Account.

Having Cell Phone Protection is a great deal because you can also earn 4X points on your cell phone bill if it’s one of your top two categories.

Rose Gold Option For Business Cardholders

Previously, only cardholders of the personal Gold Card could get a Rose Gold card. AMEX now offers a Rose Gold variant of the Business Gold Card.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

As you would hope for a card that earns points that you can use for travel worldwide, the Business Gold Card does not charge any foreign transaction fees.

Membership Rewards

With the American Express Business Gold card, you’ll earn points in AMEX’s transferrable points program, Membership Rewards. While there are many uses for Membership Rewards, the best one is transferring points to one of AMEX’s travel partners.

• Are Lingus Aerclub
• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France / KLM Flying Blue
• ANA Mileage Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Delta SkyMiles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest Miles
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
• Iberia Plus Miles
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore KrisFlyer Miles
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel Programs

• Choice Privileges Rewards
• Hilton Honors
• Marriott Bonvoy

Pay Over Time

Since this is a charge card, the balance is due in full every month. Now, if you’re using your cards to earn points and miles for travel, you’re hopefully paying your balance every month on every card. If you need to carry a balance on this card, there is an option to do so.

Eligible charges made by you or any additional Card Member on your account can be paid over time. Ineligible charges and any charge that would cause your Pay Over Time balance to exceed your Pay Over Time Limit will be due in full each month. The following types of charges are ineligible for the Pay Over Time option: Cash and Express Cash, American Express^® Travelers Cheques and other cash equivalents, certain insurance premiums, casinos and other gambling transactions, any fees owed to American Express except foreign transaction fees, and other transactions designated by us. In addition, statement credits for eligible purchases, or any reversals of a statement credit, may be applied to either your Pay Over Time balance or Pay In Full balance regardless of where the eligible purchases originally posted.

The option is automatically turned on, but here’s how to deactivate it and why you should do so.

Additional Cardmembers

The annual fee to add an Employee Business Gold Card is $95 for the first five cards and then $95 for each additional card. The maximum number of Additional Cards on an account is 99.

Final Thoughts

The American Express Business Gold Card has various bonus categories. Getting the bonus multiplier on the two categories with the most spending each month is much better than having to pick one or multiple categories for the entire year.

If you max out the statement credits each month, you’ll erase the $375 annual fee. For businesses with significant expenses in one or two of the spending categories, the Business Gold Card allows you to earn up to 600,000 Membership Rewards per year.

While most of the American Express card portfolio changes seemed lackluster, I think the Business Gold card changes are intriguing. It would take serious number crunching to see if the $375 annual fee is worth it. You’d really have to take advantage of the 4x bonus categories to make the numbers work in your favor.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary