Is the Amex Business Gold card worth it?
The American Express® Business Gold Card has a whopping $375 annual fee (see rates and fees), which can be a bit daunting. The reality is, however, that the card offers so many ways to get statement credits, earn points and avail yourself of other key services that it’s hard to not come out ahead.
If you’re running a business and find yourself swiping your card throughout the day, the Amex Business Gold could be the business rewards card you’ve been waiting for.
Here are some pros and cons to help you decide.
Pros and cons of the American Express Business Gold Card
Amex Business Gold card rewards
While you’re busy making purchases to support your thriving business or get your startup off the ground, you might as well maximize your ROI. With Amex Business Gold card rewards, you make your money work for you via these reward-generating opportunities.
Welcome bonus
The Amex Business Gold card has a welcome offer on tap for newly approved cardholders. By spending at least $10,000 on eligible purchases (all bought with your Amex Business Gold card, of course) within the first three months of membership, you can earn 70,000 rewards points.
Earn American Express® Business Gold rewards
You get 4x points per dollar for the two categories your company spends the most in each billing cycle. That rate applies to the first $150,000 of applied purchases and then drops to just 1 point per dollar.
There are six eligible categories in total:
- Transit purchases (taxis, rideshares, trains, driving tolls, subway cards, buses, parking fees, etc.)
- U.S. purchases from software providers and retailers dealing in electronic goods
- U.S.-based monthly wireless phone charges but only when paid directly to a wireless carrier
- Fuel purchases at U.S. gas stations
- U.S. purchases at dining establishments (delivery and pickup included)
- U.S. media purchases (online ads, TV spots, radio ads, etc.)
Redeem American Express® Business Gold rewards
You can redeem your Membership Rewards points online via the American Express website or using the mobile Amex App. Some of the easiest redemptions are gift cards for spas, travel and Amazon shopping.
You can also transfer your points.
Hotel programs eligible for Amex point transfers include (with point redemption ratios in parentheses):
- Hilton Honors (1:2)
- Marriott Bonvoy (1:1)
- Choice Privileges (1:1)
These are 18 high-value airline programs open to Amex rewards points transfers.
Here are their names as well as their transfer ratio:
- Aer Lingus AerClub (1:1)
- Aeromexico Club Premier (1:1.6)
- Air Canada Aeroplan (1:1.6)
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue (1:1)
- All Nippon Airways Mileage Club (1:1)
- Avianca LifeMiles (1:1)
- British Airways Executive Club (1:1)
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1)
- Delta SkyMiles (1:1)
- Emirates Skywards (1:1)
- Etihad Guest (1:1)
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (1:1)
- Iberia Plus (1:1)
- JetBlue TrueBlue (250:200)
- Qantas Frequent Flyer (1:1)
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club (1:1)
- Singapore KrisFlyer (1:1)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (1:1)
Amex Business Gold card benefits
The Business Gold card by American Express is brimming with benefits that take business needs and preferences into account.
Travel benefits
These American Express travel benefits might come in handy if you run into any hurdles away from the office.
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Trip delay insurance: If your trip is delayed for 12 hours or more, you can get up to $300 per covered trip to pay for incidentals and essentials.
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Baggage insurance: Pay for travel with your Gold Business card and you may be reimbursed for up to $1,250 per person for lost carry-on luggage and $500 per person for lost checked baggage.
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Rental car insurance: Supplement primary auto insurance with a secondary policy capped at 30 days of rental and $50,000 per rental agreement.
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Global Assist Hotline: If you’re more than 100 miles from home and run into trouble, you can call the hotline for help with everything from legal referrals to translation services to assistance with replacing a lost passport.
Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.
Buy products for your business with your Amex Business Gold card and take advantage of these shopping-related benefits.
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Purchase protection: If items are damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase, cardholders are eligible for up to $1,000 to repair or replace that item. Coverage maxes out at $50,000 per calendar year.
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Extended warranties: Items purchased with an accompanying manufacturer’s warranty of 5 years or less get an extra year of warranty protection worth up to $10,000 (also maxed at $50,000 per calendar year).
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Cell phone protection: You get up to $800 per claim to fix or replace a broken or lost phone, with just two claim opportunities per year and a $50 deductible each time.
Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.
Business benefits
It makes sense for a business card to come with business benefits, and Amex Business Gold delivers perks that are designed with entrepreneurial needs in mind.
Benefits include:
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QuickBooks integration: Make accounting easier by connecting your Amex Business Gold and Intuit QuickBooks accounts.
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Year-end summaries: Get all the details on the previous year’s spending with year-end summaries available through your online account and downloadable in both PDF and Excel formats.
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Bill.com vendor pay: You need to pay your produce guy and the smallwares company that provides silverware and plates and everyone else. Pay them with Bill.com and you earn rewards points to help defray all that overhead.
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Additional employee cards: Add up to 99 employees to your account and get cards for them all at no cost to you.
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Mobile account management: Turn to the Amex app to manage your money on the go.
Dining and entertainment benefits
American Business Gold benefits extend to eating out and entertainment.
These benefits include:
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American Express Preferred Seating: Snag preferred and presale seats for the hottest summer concert tour or key sporting events with this Amex service only available to cardholders.
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American Express Experiences: Similar to Preferred Seating, American Express Experiences gives cardholders exclusive access to invitation-only events like concerts, sports matches, food and wine experiences, fashion shows, theater performances, etc.
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The Hotel Collection: Use your Business Gold card to book at least two consecutive nights at a The Hotel Collection property and get a $100 experience credit. Bookings must be made through Amex Travel, and the credit has to be used on-site for experiences like a day at the spa or dinner for your sales team.
Statement credits
Another perk of the Amex Business Gold card is monthly statement credits of up to $20 per month for a possible total of $240 per year. Spend those credits on delivery services (package or food) or office supplies and you could essentially cancel out nearly two-thirds your annual fee.
There’s a second opportunity as well. Sign up for a Walmart+ monthly membership and get up to $155 each year ($12.95 per month) — plus free shipping, deals on gas at affiliated gas stations and extra-deep deals during promotional periods like Black Friday.
Amex Business Gold card fees, rates & limit
Before you apply, get to know the Amex Business Gold card through its fees, credit limits and interest rates (see rates and fees).
American Express® Business Gold card fees
Here’s what you may have to pay to use your Gold card:
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Annual fee: $375
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Balance transfer fee: N/A
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Cash advance fee: N/A
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Foreign transaction fee: None
American Express® Business Gold card interest rates
The Amex Business Gold card has two interest rates for purchases based on how or when you pay.
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Pay over time: If you carry a monthly balance, your purchases fall under pay over time. That means your balance will be subject to an interest rate of 19.49%-28.49% variable APR. There is a fluctuating limit to how much of your balance you can leave to pay over time — anything over that rolls into the pay in full category.
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Pay in full: Purchases that are paid off in their entirety each month won’t incur any interest. You can also choose to make purchases by pay in full simply by not using the option to carry a balance.
Other rates are as follows:
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Purchase intro APR: N/A
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Balance transfer intro APR: N/A
American Express® Business Gold card credit limit
There are no Amex Business Gold card limits. Instead, you’ll need to call Amex to see what each month’s spending cap is and ask for more if you’re anticipating a large purchase.
Over time, you can increase your credit limit by using only a small portion of your available credit and making all your payments on time. This includes putting most of your purchases under pay in full rather than pay over time.
How the Amex Business Gold card compares
The Amex Business Gold card is a solid rewards card with lots of opportunities to rack up points for everything from airfare to gas to shipping costs. You might earn more for travel on other cards, but the Gold is stellar for making your everyday purchases work in your favor.
American Express® Business Gold card vs. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Both of these Amex business cards are intended to help business owners earn points and support their business simply by making purchases they’d make anyway. But the Business Gold card’s rewards setup caters more toward everyday business expenses, like client lunches, paying utility bills and ensuring you have enough inventory to open shop. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is more concerned about business travel (see Business Platinum rates and fees).
Both cards are backed by American Express, have no preset spending limit and are best suited for people with good to excellent credit scores. There is a slight edge to the Platinum card in terms of welcome offers. Their deal is 120,000 points if you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within three months of kicking off your card membership. The Gold card offers just 70,000 points for $10,000 spent within those first three months.
Overall, though, the cards are fairly evenly matched; it’s just Gold for everyday expenses and Platinum for travel-minded business expenses.
Read our full Amex Business Platinum Card Review
Is the Amex Business Gold card right for me?
The Amex Business Gold card may be right for you if you’re looking for a way to help your business recoup expenses and maximize its financial outlook.
Something as simple as generating rewards for purchases you’d need to make anyway feels smart. You get maximum points for the spending categories you use most, and those categories can change monthly, so your rewards setup evolves alongside your business.
However, if you don’t charge many business expenses or your expenses don’t fall in one of the six covered categories, you might want to skip the Amex Business Gold.
If you don’t think the Amex Business Gold card is the best credit card for you, consider these alternatives to see if you find a better fit:
You can also check out Chase business cards or Capital One Spark business cards to learn more about your options with other card issuers.
How do I apply for the Amex Business Gold card?
You can learn more about the American Express Business Gold Card and apply online. You will need a good to excellent credit score of at least 670-700, plus documents that will help you fill out key information about yourself.
The application will likely ask for your:
- Full legal name
- Birth date
- Address
- Phone number
- Job status
- Annual Income
- Social Security number (to run a credit check)
