Choosing a Business Credit Card – Amex Business Platinum or Amex Business Gold?

by Daniel | Last Updated June 29th, 2022

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If you’re running a business or are self-employed, having a good business credit card can be really useful.

And getting a Business credit card with American Express is not necessarily that difficult, Amex is generally considered to be relatively flexible when applying for one of their Business credit cards.
If you working as an Uber driver, selling products on Etsy, Amazon, or eBay even just a Freelancer, this should be sufficient to apply as a sole proprietor.
There are also a few benefits that come with owning a business credit card, 

First of all, you will be able to get past the Amex once-per-lifetime rule.
So, if you already have a personal credit card with Amex, you will be able to collect the sign-up bonus with one of their Business credit cards as well, assuming you have never held one in the past.

Also keeping your expenses separate from your personal spending will be a lot easier and save you time when it comes to doing your taxes.
Now if you do run a larger business it is possible to get up to 99 Employee Cards on your account with either of these cards.

In this article, I’m going to review and compare both the Amex Business Gold and Platinum card.
Basically, I’ll talk about all of the related costs of owing each card and what benefits and user perks you can expect to receive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63SxstoFQqk

Who Are These Cards Good For?

If you run a business that has employees or you are a sole proprietor either of these Business cards from Amex can be beneficial to you.
Having the ability to keep your expense separate from your personal spending is really helpful, especially when it comes to doing your taxes, as it will forgo the need of sorting through hundreds if not thousands of transactions that you have made over the course of a year.
Also, you will be able to simply export all of your transaction histories to QuickBooks which is a nice benefit to have.

APR and Related Fees

Now for the APR with both of these cards, the Platinum Business card does actually have an advantage over the Gold Business card as it is offering a 0% intro APR for the first 12 months of card ownership.
After the 12-month period is up the APR for purchases will revert to between 15.74% to 23.74%.
And the Amex Gold Business card will have the same rate, but it will not have the intro APR offer.
Both cards have the same Penalty APR of 29.99% which will come into effect if there is a payment that is returned by your bank, you don’t make a minimum payment by the due date, or if you make 2 or more late payments within a 12 month period.
A late payment can incur a fee of up to $39 or 2.99%, whichever amount is more.
And for a payment returned by your bank or missing a minimum payment will incur a $39 fee. 

Annual Fee

Now when it comes to the annual fee, the Business Platinum card is more than twice the price of the Business Gold card.
And this can definitely make a difference in which card you ultimately choose, especially if you need to stick to a tight budget.

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Sign up Bonus

Now when it comes to the sign-up bonus that each card offers there is a fair bit of difference in value, as you would expect due to the large price difference between each card.

Also, you can potentially earn a higher signup bonus with each card by either using a few different web browsers or reopening the same specific Business credit card page that you want over the course of a couple of days, as your cookies should be saved on your computer which means Amex knows that you have been considering the card and will most likely offer you a sweeter deal.

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So one way to look a the signup bonus with each card is that if you do manage to spend the required amount to receive the bonus, it will actually cover the cost of the annual fee for both cards for the first 2 years if you get the higher sign-up bonus offer.

Points Earning Potential

Now having a credit card that can earn you a reasonable amount of points is really important, as it can make up a large part of where you get most of the value from a credit card.
And as you will see, both of these cards do vary in where you can earn points from and how much you can actually earn, so take note of where each of these cards offers the most point-earning potential and if it makes sense for you and your business.

And the list of approved categories is:

• Airfare purchased directly from the airlines
• Purchases for US advertising in select media which includes: online, TV, and radio)
• Any purchases that are made directly from a few select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud companies.
• US gas stations
• Purchases at US-based restaurants that include takeout and delivery
• U.S. purchases for shipping

Then finally, all other purchases will earn 1 point per dollar spent.

Now when using Membership Reward Points to book flights through American Express Travel it is possible to get 25% of the points back, as long as the booking is made with one of the qualifying airlines listed on their website.

Also, this is limited to a total of 250,000 points back each calendar year.

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Then from here, it is possible to earn 1.5 x points on business purchases that include the following categories:

• Electronic goods retailers
• Software & cloud system providers
• U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers
• Shipping providers

Now along with this, it is also possible to earn 1.5x points on any purchase that is $5,000 or more, and the maximum spend amount each year for the 1.5x points is $2 million
Finally, all other purchases will receive 1 point per dollar spent.
Now similar to the Amex Business Gold card, there is the possibility to receive up to 35% Membership Rewards Points back when using the Pay With Points feature in American Express Travel, and this is limited to a total of 1,000,000 bonus points back each calendar year.

Benefits and Perks 

So when it comes to the benefits and perks that each card offers, you will see that the Amex Business Platinum card has a lot more options than the Amex Business Gold card, which makes sense as you are paying an extra $400 each year just for the annual fee.

But it’s worth thinking about which of the benefits that come with each of these cards will actually be useful for you and your business.
It’s not uncommon for some credit cards to offer a whole range of different perks that don’t really make sense for some users. 

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And starting with business-related benefits there are a few.

• Receive up to $400 in statement credits each year from purchases made at Dell Technologies.
• When spending through ‘Indeed’ to find new employees, it is possible to earn up to $360 back in statement credits each year.
• Purchases from Adobe made with the Amex Business Platinum card will receive up to $150 back in Statement credits each year.
• And then finally it is possible to receive up to $120 in statement credits for wireless telephone service purchases.

Then in terms of the more personal benefits that you can receive with the card, one that I really like is access to the Global Lounge Collection.
This basically gives you access to a large range of different airport lounges from all over the world and includes the Centurion Lounge, Delta Sky Club (when flying on a Delta Flight), Plaza Premium, and select Lufthansa Lounges when flying Lufthansa.
Along with this, there is also a free Priority Pass Select membership that is worth $429 each year and provides access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide.

Then with the Cruise Privileges Program, it is possible to get a credit of up to $300, there is a $200 Airline fee credit, a $189 CLEAR credit, a $100 credit for either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, and a $100 credit for bookings made through the Fine Hotels + Resorts Program or The Hotel Collection Program. 
And finally, there is Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status.

Insurance Related Coverage 

Now for the last part of this review, I’ll just go over all of the insurance-related coverage that comes with these two cards.

And most of the coverage is the same with each of these cards with a few little differences which I’ll point out.

So both cards come with Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance which is Secondary Coverage and covers up to $50,000 for the Amex Business Gold card and up to $75,000 for the Amex Business Platinum card.

Then there is a Baggage Insurance Plan, and with the Amex Business Gold card this covers up to $500 for checked-in baggage and $1,250 for carry-on baggage, whereas with the Amex Business Platinum card the coverage is up to $2,000 for checked-in baggage and $3,000 for carry-on baggage.

With Trip Delay Insurance the Amex Business Gold card offers up to $300 per covered trip if the trip is delayed for more than 12 hours, with 2 claims allowed in a 12-month period and the Amex Business Platinum card offers up to $500 per covered trip if the trip is delayed for just 6 hours, again with a maximum of 2 claims allowed in a 12-month period.

Extended Warranty is the same with both cards and offers one additional year of warranty on Original Manufacturer warranties that are 5 years or less, and coverage is for up to $10,000 per covered purchase and $50,000 per eligible card.

And with Purchases Protection the Amex Business Gold card provides 90 days of coverage which covers up to $1,000 per covered purchase and up to $50,000 per card per year. 
The Amex Business Platinum card offers the same 90 days of coverage but covers up to $10,000 per covered purchase and the same $50,000 per card per 12-month period.

Then for here, just the Platinum card offers the following coverage.

Trip Cancellation Interruption Insurance covers up to $10,000 per covered trip and $20,000 per card per 12-month period. 
And then finally Cell phone protection of up to $800 per claim with two claims allowed in a 12-month period, with each claim incurring a $50 deductible fee

Final Thoughts 

So at the end of the day, I think both of these credit cards from Amex offer some great value with their sign-up bonuses, and points earning potential.
When it comes to choosing one of the cards, it really comes down to whether you will use all of the benefits that are offered with each card.
 
If you don’t travel much and know you won’t make use of the business credits that are offered with the Business Platinum card, then the Business Gold card would make the most sense for you and still provide you with some decent benefits and perks.
However, if you are making a reasonable amount of money from your business, travel a lot, and know you will use most of the benefits that are on offer with the Platinum card, it is a fantastic choice.

Now if you are interested in 3 of the best personal credit cards available now, why not check out my article here, where I review and compare the Capital One Venture X card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and the Amex Platinum Card.