The AMEX Business Plum Review

The American Express Plum Business Card is the most flexible card on the market—you’ll be able to earn 1.5% cash back for the spending you pay off early and then access a 60-day grace period for any spending you have to take some time to pay off. Nota bene: The AMEX Business Plum Charge Card won’t allow you to carry a balances after that 60-day grace period is up.

This is the sweetest part of the AMEX Plum Card deal—its balance fees won’t apply to you as long as you pay off your monthly spending within 60 days of its due date.

As long as you make your minimum payment on time and you pay the remaining statement balance within the Plum Card’s 60-day grace period, you won’t have to pay any extra on your spending.

However, keep in mind that the Plum Card is a charge card. Charge cards operate on the assumption that you’ll pay off your balance in full every month, so after the 60-day grace period, if you still have a remaining balance, you’ll incur heavy late fees. These will end up costing you way more than a business credit card’s interest fees would cost you.

If you aren’t certain you’ll pay your balance in full every month, err on the side of caution and opt for a business credit card rather than a charge card.

You won’t be able to access any welcome offer or 0% intro APR period with the AMEX Business Plum Card, so if you’re eager to access those perks specifically, then the Plum Card might not be the right card for you.

With this American Express business credit card, the rewards are only available if you pay off your spending within 10 days of your statement closing date every month.

But those rewards are pretty significant if you’re able to swing an early payment—you’ll get a 1.5% discount on every dollar you spend and pay off early.

Even better?

When you earn these rewards for early payments, there’s no cap on how much you can earn.

To be a Plum cardholder, you’ll have to pay a $250 annual fee, which can be a pretty significant portion of a small business’s yearly cash flow.

• You’re looking for incomparable payment flexibility.
• You want to be rewarded for early payments.

• You’ll need to carry a balance.
• You don’t want to pay an annual fee for your business credit card.
• You can’t manage early payments and still want cash back.

While most cash back rewards cards confine you to certain eligible categories, the Plum Card doesn’t limit the way you earn. Instead, the AMEX Business Plum Card gives you cash back on all your purchases.

When you pay ahead of schedule—within 10 days of your statement closing date—you’ll earn 1.5% cash back on all your purchases, with no cap on what you can earn.

Here are some numbers to show just how much you can get back on your expenses when you use the Plum Card.

Say you spend about $8,000 each month for your business. Just by paying ahead of schedule, you’ll earn $120 back on your expenses each month, and when you think about that in the long term, that’s $1,440 you’re saving on purchases each year.

Business credit cards will typically have a grace period of about 25 days to pay your bill without incurring a late fee. And when it comes to business charge cards, it gets even worse. With other charge cards, you must pay your balance in full every month to avoid hefty fees.

Here’s where the American Express Business Plum Card shines: it gives you up to 60 days to pay your bill without having to worry about any late fees or penalties.

To qualify for this, you’ll need to pay just 10% of your balance initially. As long as you’ve paid that 10%, you can take the remaining 60 days to pay your balance.

As any small business owner knows, running your own company can be an unpredictable game.

One month you might have a surge in sales, making your cash flow the strongest it’s ever been. But the next month might be a different story—maybe your customers are slow to pay up, or you need to cover an emergency. With the unexpected dip in your cash flow, you might worry how you’ll pay your credit card bills.

The AMEX Business Plum Card is the perfect credit card for businesses who can’t count on a regular cash flow and could use some flexibility in how they repay.

During the best months, you can pay your balance off early—and earn significant cash back for it. When business is slow, you can take the time to pay without having to worry about being punished for it.

The AMEX Business Plum’s annual fee is $250.

That might seem steep for a business credit card, but here’s why we think you should still consider using the AMEX Business Plum Card:

The right kind of spender will easily make up for the annual fee in what they save on cash back. If you spend just $1,400 each month on your small business—and pay it off early—you’ll break even on the AMEX Business Plum Card’s annual fee.

If you spend at least this much money on your business expenses each month, don’t hesitate on the Plum Card because of the annual fee.

But remember: in order to qualify for cash back and make up the annual fee, you’ll need to pay your bill within 10 days of your statement closing date—every month.

Additionally, when deciding whether or not to do your business spending with the AMEX Business Plum Card, be sure to keep in mind that it is charge card.

This means that you won’t be able to carry a balance after the designated grace period, or you’ll incur heavy fees for doing so.

Again, if you’re not certain you’ll be able to pay down your balance in full every month, then you’ll be better off shopping your business credit card options rather than opting for this business charge card.