Amex Plum Card benefits
The Amex Plum card offers a variety of perks for small-business owners, including some American Express shopping and travel benefits.
Business benefits
Businesses can leverage the Plum card to support cash flow and expense management.
Some pertinent benefits include:
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The ability to choose your billing cycle. Select when you want to receive your bill each month to match your business budget or accounts payable processes.
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Expense management tools. Set up notifications to receive reminders to pay your bill or alerts about purchases. You can also get statements online and annual summaries to help track expenses or manage tax processes.
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Additional employee cards at no annual fee. Add employee cards to streamline your expense processes.
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Vendor pay by Bill.com. Use the Plum card through Bill.com to pay vendors and business partners.
You can use the American Express Plum card anywhere Amex is accepted and enjoy the following shopping benefits when you do:
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Purchase protection. You’re covered when you pay with this card for items that are stolen or damaged in accidents. The coverage period is 90 days from the date of purchase, and you can receive up to $1,000 per covered incident. Protection is limited to $50,000 annually.
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Extended warranties. If you buy items with a manufacturer’s warranty of up to five years with this card, you get an extended warranty of an extra year. This can be helpful if items you purchase for your business, such as laptop computers, have problems right after the manufacturer’s warranty is over.
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Return protection. When you pay with the Plum card, you can return items through American Express, even if the original vendor won’t take the items back. You can get a refund of up to $300 per item, but this benefit is limited to $1,000 annually.
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Amex Offers. Enroll in this benefit to earn rewards and discounts when you make qualifying purchases with your card.
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.
Travel benefits
American Express cards often come with travel benefits. That’s true even when you hold an Amex card that’s not a travel rewards card, such as the Plum card.
Some travel benefits you get with this card include:
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Global Assist hotline. If you’re more than 100 miles from home, you can call this 24/7 hotline for emergency assistance to help with missing luggage, cash wires or referrals for medical services.
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Car rental loss and collision damage insurance. When you pay for car rentals entirely with this card, you can decline the optional collision damage waiver offered by the car rental business. That’s because you’re covered for theft or accidental damage to the rental car under this benefit — this can help businesses save money on travel expenses.
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No foreign transaction fees. You won’t pay extra fees when making purchases or booking travel internationally.
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.
Other benefits
Using your Amex Plum card to cover tickets or admission for entertainment events can open up some VIP doors.
Benefits can include:
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Special entertainment access. When you purchase tickets with your Amex Plum card, you may get access to special entrances, concession offers and other perks that can enhance your outing.
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By Invitation Only® events. Amex cardholders have access to VIP events and special presale tickets, including for sports, theater and music events.
American Express Plum card rewards
The Plum card isn’t a traditional rewards card, and it doesn’t come with a welcome bonus offer. However, you can earn cash back with this card by managing your statement payments well.
Earn Plum card rewards
When you make a payment on your account within 10 days of your statement closing, you get 1.5% cash back. This is a pay-in-full card, so you don’t carry a balance over each month. By arranging to pay your entire balance off early each month, you can rack up some substantial cash back.
The table below gives you an idea of how much you might earn per year with this cash-back credit card.
| Monthly spend |
Cash back earned monthly by paying early |
Cash back earned yearly by paying early |
| $1,000 |
$15 |
$180 |
| $5,000 |
$75 |
$900 |
| $7,000 |
$105 |
$1,260 |
| $10,000 |
$150 |
$1,800 |
| $12,000 |
$180 |
$2,160 |
Redeem American Express Plum card rewards
The cash back you earn by making early payments on your American Express Plum card is automatically credited to your statement, reducing how much you need to pay the statement cycle after the credit applies.
Business owners might think of the 1.5% cash-back benefit on the Plum card the same way they consider an invoice discount for early payments. For example, you might have a vendor that offers you 2% off your invoice if you pay Net 15 versus Net 30. The Amex Plum card cash-back benefit is the same type of opportunity to reduce business expenses by paying early.
Amex Plum card fees, rates & limit
When considering any business credit card, review the fine print to understand how much card ownership costs and what type of spending flexibility the card offers (see rates and fees).
American Express Plum card fees
The Amex Plum card has a $250 annual fee. You’ll need to spend $16,667 annually and pay those charges off early to earn enough cash back to cover this fee. That’s around $1,389 in spending and early payments monthly, which many businesses can easily achieve by using the Plum card to fund regular expenses.
Late payments can result in a fee of $39 or 1.5% of the late balance, whichever is greater, and you’ll also pay $39 for returned payments. There are no foreign transaction fees with this card.
Amex Plum Card interest rates
Because you can’t carry a balance on this card, you don’t pay interest rates. There also isn’t any type of introductory APR offer.
Amex does offer up to 60 extra days to pay off a balance without interest as long as you make the minimum payment on your statement, however. If you take advantage of the extra time to pay, you won’t earn the cash-back reward for early payment.
American Express Plum Card credit limit
The Plum card doesn’t come with a preset spending limit. Your spending is limited by your ongoing credit history as well as your past spending and payment history with American Express.
Current cardholders have reported spending up to $30,000 with the Plum card, and you can call American Express if you want to know more about your spending limits or request options for spending more.
How the Amex Plum card compares
The American Express Plum card is a decent card for business use, especially for organizations that have well-managed financial workflows.
If you can pay your statement off early every month, you can earn a good amount of cash back and make up for the $250 annual fee on this card. As a cardholder, you also get a number of Amex perks that can be helpful for your business or you personally.
That being said, many small-business owners may be looking for a credit card that offers other types of rewards and lets them carry a balance longer than 60 days. American Express offers a number of options to meet those needs.
American Express Plum card vs. The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card
The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card is a traditional credit card, so you can carry a balance month-to-month. It comes with an introductory APR offer of 0% for the first 12 months and a regular purchase APR of 18.49% to 26.49% after that. It has no annual fee (see rates and fees), so if you pay off your balances before interest hits, you’ll save money with this card over the Plum card. However, if you carry balances into interest months, you may end up paying out more with this card.
The Blue Business Cash card offers opportunities to earn cash back. A welcome offer lets you earn $250 when you spend $5,000 in the first six months and $250 additional cash back when you spend $10,000 more in the first year. You also earn 2% cash back on purchases up to $50,000 spent annually and 1% cash back after that.
Read our full Amex Blue Business Cash card review
Is the Amex Plum card right for me?
With this card, you can earn 1.5% cash back when you pay early each month. This is a great benefit for small-business owners who have their accounting in order, as it’s really like a 1.5% discount on all expenses you pay with this card.
The card also offers some flexibility, as there isn’t a preset spending limit, and you can carry a balance for up to 60 days without any sort of fee or interest. While you get the most from this card by paying early, knowing you have some extra time to pay when needed can provide peace of mind.
If you’re looking for more diverse rewards and the ability to carry a balance for more than 60 days, American Express also has options that meet these needs.
Look into these other Amex business cards to see if you find a better fit:
You can also check out Chase business cards or Capital One Spark business cards to see if you find a better card match.
How do I apply for the American Express Plum Card?
You can learn more about The Plum Card from American Express and apply online.
When you apply, you will need your name, Social Security or tax ID number, and your business name. You will also need to provide addresses and other contact information for you and your business, and you may need to provide some basic information about your business finances.
Amex will likely pull your personal credit, as you are considered the guarantor for any amount you charge on the card. You’ll need a good to excellent credit score to get approved for this Amex card.
