The American Express Business Gold Card Review

The AMEX Business Gold Card is a card that won’t set a limit on your monthly spending—which means you’ll be able to earn even more rewards points by spending big on your business. The American Express Business Gold also provides the option to pay over time on eligible purchases.

The AMEX Business Gold welcome offer is one of a kind. For a limited time, you can earn 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months.

As you spend with the AMEX Business Gold Card, you’ll automatically earn as many points for your spending habits as possible. That’s because AMEX will retroactively apply a 4x rewards rate to the two expense categories where you spend the most each month. These two categories will be from a list of the six business-friendly spending categories:

• Airfare purchased from airlines
• Advertising in select media
• Gas stations
• Shipping
• Restaurants
• Technology purchases from select providers

Plus, you’ll earn 1x rewards on every dollar you spend otherwise.

What are Membership Rewards good for, exactly?

Pretty much anything, actually.

You can redeem these rewards as travel, merchandise, gift cards, charitable donations, and Amazon.com purchases to name a few. And if you redeem them for travel through amextravel.com, they’ll be worth 25% more.

The annual fee that you’ll have to pay to be an American Express Business Gold cardholder is where you might start to hesitate. For all of the perks and rewards that the AMEX Business Gold comes with, you’ll have to pay a yearly $295.

• You’re a big spender who’s looking for flexible spending limits but wants the option to pay down big purchases over time.
• You do a lot of your business spending abroad and want to dodge foreign transaction fees.
• You want to feel warmly welcomed with a generous, easy-to-access signing offer.
• You want your rewards program to work for you and not against you.

• You don’t want to pay an annual fee for your business credit card.
• You’ll need to carry a balance from month-to-month frequently.

When you sign up for AMEX’s Business Gold Card, you’ll earn 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first three months.

The AMEX Business Gold Card is a smart choice for business owners who are in it for the rewards, but don’t want to bother with shaping their spending to specific top-earning categories. With this card, you have the ability to earn Membership points for a variety of your business expenses.

Here’s the deal:

• Earn 4x rewards for the two categories you spend the most in each month, for up to $150,000 in annual purchases:
  • Airfare purchased directly from airlines
  • Restaurants in the US
  • Purchases at gas stations in the US
  • Purchases for print advertising in select media in the US
  • Purchases for shipping in the US
  • Purchases for computer hardware and software in the US
• Earn 1x rewards for every other dollar you spend

As the owner of your small business, your biggest expenses will often shift from month-to-month. The Business Gold Card gives you the most points on the categories you spend the most on—even if it’s constantly shifting.

The AMEX Business Gold Card isn’t a traditional credit card.

Instead of having a preset spending limit decided by your personal and business financials, you won’t have a preset spending limit.

That means you have the flexibility to make large purchases without hitting your limit or restricting your purchases down the line.

Nonetheless, the AMEX Business Gold Card isn’t a charge card either. Because they offer the option to pay over time for eligible purchases, AMEX makes their Business Gold Card one of the only cards on the market that offers the flexible spending of a charge card with the flexible payments of a credit card.

With the Membership Rewards system, you’ll earn a certain amount of points as you use your AMEX Business Gold Card. You can then redeem those points through AMEX and use them at eligible retailers and services—think restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, gas stations, airlines, and more. Even better—when you redeem the rewards points you earn with the AMEX Business Gold Card on travel through amextravel.com, those rewards points will be worth 25% more.

AMEX lets you use your points in an easy, flexible way. Here’s their three-step process:

1. Log into your statement. Select your “Current Statement,” then click on “Use Points for Your Charges.”
2. Select your charges. Choose the eligible charges that you want to use your points towards.
3. Get your credit. Your credit will be applied to your account within the next 48 hours.

And that’s it!

Pretty simple, right? With the AMEX Business Gold Card, you can easily make use of the points you’re earning on your business purchases.

If you’re not willing to pay an annual fee, then the AMEX Business Gold Card might not be for you—the $295 annual fee you’ll have to pay for this cardholder experience is easy to balk at.

However, if a higher annual fee isn’t an automatic deal-breaker, this card could be totally worth it for you.

If you even come close to maximizing the rewards that this American Express business card offers, you’ll be able to make up for the annual fee.

Do the math on your normal spending habits and see if they’re hospitable to earning big with the AMEX Business Gold Card.

If they are, then the annual fee will feel like small change.

Unless you intentionally elect your pay over time option with interest for a large purchase, then AMEX will require you to pay down your balance in full each month. This might be a deal breaker for business owners who often need to carry a balance from month-to-month.

The upside to using the Business Gold Card is that you won’t have a set credit limit. But remember, you’ll have a late fee if you don’t pay off your balance each month—which can really put a ding in your finances.

When you pay late, you’ll either fork over $39 or pay 2.99% on any past due amount in your balance—whichever amounts to more.