The American Express Business Gold Card has been said to be one of the best business cards on the market. This card offers many enticing benefits to holders whose spending fits within a particular range each year.
By offering a very desirable rate of rewards on certain purchases giving holders certain luxuries during their travels, and flexibility in their payment options, the Amex Business Gold card ensures that it will be one of the top business card contenders for many businesses.
Amex Business Gold Card Overview
The Amex Business Gold card offers businesses 4X point rewards on purchases in the top two business categories, making frequent spending in the same categories very rewarding. This card further rewards business travel with a sizable rebate on eligible flights, meaning frequent flyers could experience more value than anyone else.
The Amex Business Gold card also allows delayed payment for eligible purchases, meaning businesses can pay their bill on their own time, with applicable interest. With a very generous rewards rate up to a certain value of purchases in your businesses’ top spending categories, significant travel benefits, and flexible spending with Pay Over Time, this card has a lot to offer for businesses that can bear the relatively high annual fee.
American Express Business Gold Key Features
Amex Business Gold boasts a high rewards rate for purchases in a business’s top two out of six business categories. Categories include airfare purchased directly from an airline, advertising for your business, gas station purchases, restaurants, shipping, computer hardware, software, and cloud purchases directly from supported providers.
After each billing cycle, your transactions will be tracked to determine which two categories your business has spent the most in. Subsequent purchases in these two categories will earn 4X rewards points up to a purchase value of $150,000 per year.
With this card, you can also earn rewards points back when you redeem your points towards eligible Amex Travel flights. Whether you pay for all or part of one of these flights with rewards points, you can earn back 25% of the points you put towards it, up to a maximum of 250,000 points back every year. You can then use the points you save towards other redemptions, maximizing the value of every point that you earn.
The card’s Pay Over Time option allows you to choose whether to pay off purchases of over $100 in full each month or pay it off over time, accruing interest on the payment. This can add a measure of flexibility to your payment options but will cost a relatively high fee for that flexibility. With the Pay Over Time option, interest rates vary based on your credit history and market conditions.
This card also has a welcome offer for new businesses, further incentivizing new sign-ups. New cardholders will be rewarded with 70,000 bonus rewards points upon spending $10,000 within the first three months of signing up. This kind of bonus can be very desirable for many businesses but may not be sufficient to choose this card over another if your business does not meet this spending threshold.
Amex Business Gold Rewards
The rewards can be earned fast with 4X point rewards on purchases in your business's top two business categories. Further purchases in these categories will earn 1X rewards after this point. The opportunity to save points while spending them can be very valuable.
As the Amex Business Gold card gives back 25% of the points you use for eligible flights, this card gives you more opportunities to use your points for all the rewards you want. With the Amex Membership Rewards program, points are redeemable for flights, hotels, travel upgrades, car rentals, and even with Amex’s partnering airlines and hotels. Beyond this, you can use points for statement credits, gift cards, and other rewards with companies like Amazon.
The 4X point rate only applies to purchases in your business’ top two categories up to a purchase limit of $150,000 per year. Because of this, companies that quickly exceed this limit will only earn 1X point rewards on their purchases and may not find as much value from these bonus rewards in the latter half of the year. These limits may not be ideal for big-budget companies that intend to greatly exceed the card’s 4X bonus rewards cap of $150,000 in a year. These kinds of businesses may be served better by another card.
Business Gold Card Benefits
The Amex Business Gold card offers the following benefits:
Traveling with the Amex Business Gold card includes travel insurance, such as carry-on luggage, checked baggage coverage, and insurance if your trip is delayed for 12 hours or more.
Eligible purchases can be protected by accidental damage or theft for up to 90 days, up to a $1,000 value per occurrence, and up to $50,000 per account per year. The manufacturer’s warranties of 5 years and under can also be extended by one year with this card.
Earn $100 hotel credit when booking a stay for at least two consecutive nights at eligible hotels.
Costs and Fees
The Amex Business Gold has an annual fee of $295. This is a relatively high fee for a credit card. With this card, there are no additional fees if you pay off your balance in full each month. Using the Pay Over Time option, however, will incur variable fees. Interest is applied if you use the Pay Over Time feature.
In the event of late payments, a surcharge applies. Businesses that do not want to deal with this card’s high annual fee could be well served by dash.fi, which has no annual fees. Other fees, such as late fees, returned payment fees, or cash advance fees, can be avoided altogether by using the card responsibly.
Pros and Cons of the Amex Business Gold Card
Pros
Up to 4X point earnings for purchases in major business categories
25% rebate on point redemptions for eligible flights, up to 250,000 points back per year
Pay Over Time option for unforeseen purchases
Cons
High annual fee
4X point earning is limited to $150,000 of spending in only 2 out of 6 business categories
Must spend $10,000 within the first three months to experience the full benefits
Alternatives to the Amex Business Gold Card
Some businesses might find the offerings of other cards preferable to that of the Amex Business Gold card. Below are some alternatives that could prove to be more valuable to certain businesses than the Amex Gold:
dash.fi - This card offers 3% cash back and has no limits on what you can earn for eligible purchases with online advertising platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and more. dash.fi replaces physical cards with digital ones, allowing you to instantly create new cards with unique names, addresses, and zip codes for all your needs. dash.fi even provides discounts on advertising through their agency partners. With dash.fi, you will find a flexible experience for your businesses’ individual needs.
Chase Ink Business Preferred - This card offers a lower annual fee than the Amex Business Gold card while offering a similar deal in terms of rewards. Holders can earn three rewards points for every dollar spent on qualifying travel and business categories each year, up to a certain limit. This type of card is preferable for smaller businesses over the Amex Gold.
Capital One Spark Business 1.5% Cash Select - For those who want to minimize their fees, this card has no annual fee and earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase, free from purchase categories or limits. You can also receive unlimited 5% cash back on hotel and rental car bookings made through Capital One Travel. The card’s $500 cash bonus upon spending $4,500 within the first three months means that if your expenses are lower than most businesses, you could experience more benefits with this cost-effective card than with other business rewards cards.
Is the American Express Business Gold Worth It?
The American Express Business Gold card can provide enough benefits to be a good choice for businesses that can justify the high annual fee that this card charges. On the other hand, many businesses that spend a large amount of money on ad campaigns, for example, might exceed the card’s bonus rewards limit in the span of a single month or so, earning only a quarter of the maximum rewards that the card offers, which is not preferable.
This card is an excellent choice for businesses that consistently purchase in the same business categories and keep spending within the card’s maximum benefits range. If your budget doesn’t fall within this range, check out the dash.fi card for a more flexible option.
