by Daniel | Last Updated August 29th, 2022
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If you’re looking for a business credit card that can help you better manage your business and provide you with added benefits that can be worth quite a lot of money, then any of the Amex Business credit cards in this review are worth considering.
In this review I’m going to review and compare 4 different Amex Business credit cards which are:
- The Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card
- The Amex Business Green Rewards Card
- The Amex Business Gold Card
- The Amex Business Platinum Card
All of these cards come with a sign-up bonus and a variety of different benefits, user perks, and insurance coverage.
So keep on reading to find out how all of these cards differ.
Who Are These Cards Good For?
If you run a small or large business or are a freelancer looking to get a business Credit card, any of these cards can provide you with some added value.
Now if you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of capital to spend then either the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card or the Amex Business Green Rewards Card would be a good option.
Then if you have access to more capital, or have multiple employees either the Amex Business Gold Card or Amex Business Platinum Card would be a better option.
Now with the more expensive and exclusive cards, which are the Gold and Platinum card, it’s worth considering if the benefits they offer make sense for you and your business.
If you don’t see the need to spend more for the annual fee with either one of the cards, then the lower-cost Blue or Green cards are perfectly fine.
Annual Fee
So for the first section of this review let’s take a look at how all of these cards vary in terms of their annual fees, and you will see that there is something for everyone.
Starting first with the most affordable of the four cards, the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card has no annual fee at all.
Next up, with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card the first year of card ownership is actually free, and then each year thereafter is $95
Then for the Amex Business Gold Card, the annual fee is $295.
And finally, the most expensive and exclusive card of them all, the Amex Business Platinum Card has an annual fee of $695.
So if you don’t have a large budget and need to save as much money as possible, the Amex Blue Business Plus Card is a decent option.
Sign-up Bonus
Now let’s see what sign-up bonus comes with each card and if it can offset the cost of the annual fee.
And for this example, I’ll value Amex Membership Rewards Points at 1 cent per point, which is the highest valuation you can receive when redeeming them through American Express Travel.
Starting first with the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card, it is currently possible to earn 15,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of card ownership.
And these points are worth approximately $150.
Next up, with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card the sign-up bonus is the same as the Blue Business Card, which is 15,000 points after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months of opening the account.
So it is also worth $150.
Now with the Amex Business Gold Card, it is possible to receive 70,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending at least $10,000 on the card within the first 3 months of opening the account.
And these points are worth $700.
Finally, with the Amex Business Platinum Card, it is currently possible to earn 120,000 Membership Rewards Points if you are able to spend at least $15,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of card ownership.
And these points are worth $1,200.
So as you can see, the more expensive and exclusive the card is, the more membership rewards points you can earn.
And all of the cards that have an annual fee provide enough points to easily offset the cost of the annual fee and then some.
Earning Points
Now when it comes to earning membership Rewards Points, as you might expect, the more exclusive the card is, the more points earning potential you will have.
So starting first with the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card there are only 2 possible ways to earn points.
The first is the ability to earn 2x points on eligible business purchases up to a total of $50,000 each calendar year.
Then all other purchases made after this will receive 1 point per dollar spent.
Next up, with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card, there are also only 2 options for earning points, but they are for different categories and don’t have a limit on how many points you can earn each year.
So initially it is possible to earn 2x points on flights and pre-paid hotels that are booked through amextravel.com.
And then everything else will earn 1 point per dollar spent.
Now with the Amex Business Gold Card, there are some more options for earning points.
The first is the ability to earn 4x points on your top 2 business categories each billing cycle.
Also, this is limited to a maximum spend of $150,000 each calendar year.
And the list of categories are:
- Any airfare purchased directly from airlines
- Purchases for advertising within the US through select media which includes (online, TV, and radio)
- Purchases made directly at US technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
- Purchases made at US gas stations
- Purchases made at restaurants, including takeout and delivery within the US
- Purchases for shipping from within the US
All other purchases will earn 1 point per dollar spent.
Now a nice extra benefit that the Amex Business Gold card offers is the ability to receive 25% membership rewards points back if you use them to book a flight through American Express Travel, and this is limited to a total of 250,000 points back each year.
And how this works is pretty straightforward.
You can either book a First class or Business class ticket on any airline, or if you prefer to fly economy, you will need to choose a flight on your selected qualifying airline that can only be changed once each year.
Now finally, with the Amex Business Platinum Card, there is the best points earning potential of all four cards.
The first is the ability to earn 5x points on Flights & Prepaid Hotels that are booked through AmexTravel.com
Then it is possible to earn 1.5x points on the following Business Categories:
- Construction material and hardware from U.S. suppliers.
- Electronic goods retailers, software & cloud system providers from within the U.S.
- U.S. shipping providers
Along with this, it is also possible to earn 1.5x points on any purchases that are $5,000 or more.
And the ability to earn 1.5x points is limited to a total spend of $2 million each calendar year.
Then all other purchases will earn 1 point per dollar spent.
Now similar to the Amex Business Gold card there is also the ability to earn points back, but with the Platinum Business card, you can receive even more value.
Basically, it is possible to earn 35% points back up to a total of 1,000,000 bonus points back each year.
And the terms of use are the same as the Gold card.
Benefits and User Perks
So now let’s take a look at what benefits and perks actually come with these cards.
And you will notice that the more expensive and exclusive Gold and Platinum cards offer substantially more benefits than the Blue and Green cards.
Starting first with the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card the only notable benefit that this card comes with is the fact that you can get additional Employee cards at no additional cost, which is better than nothing.
It will allow you to earn even more Membership Reward points which can then be redeemed in a multiple of different ways.
Next up, with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card, there are no additional benefits to what you get with the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card.
Now with the Amex Business Gold Card, the main difference is that it is possible to receive a $100 credit when making a booking of 2 nights or more at The Hotel Collection which can be accessed through American Express Travel.
This benefit also includes the possibility of a room upgrade when checking in if it is available.
Now finally with the Amex Business Platinum Card, you actually get a huge range of benefits that you can take advantage of.
And although the card does cost a lot more on an annual basis than all of the other cards, if you can make use of these benefits, it will easily cover the cost of the annual fee and leave you with a whole variety of nice user perks to choose from.
So the first section of benefits that are mostly for business-related costs include:
- A $400 statement credit which can be used at Dell Technologies.
And this is split into 2 credits, which are $200 for the first half of the year and then another $200 for the second half of the year. - There is then a $360 statement credit that can be used through ‘indeed’ which is a jobs website that helps businesses find employees.
And this is provided in $90 credits each quarter - Then there is a $150 statement credit for use through Adobe Creative Solutions
- And finally, there is a $120 statement credit for wireless telephone service purchases within the US.
So just these business-related benefits offer up to $1030 in value each year.
And if you can take advantage of just these benefits, you won’t have to worry about the annual fee at all.
Now there is also quite a lot of personal befits that come with this card.
One fantastic benefit is access to The Global Lounge Collection.
And this basically provides complimentary access to the following Airport Lounges all over the world:
- The Centurion Lounge
- The Delta Sky Club (When flying on Delta marked Flights)
- Plaza Premium Lounges
- Escape Lounges
- Airspace Lounge
- Lufthansa Lounges (When flying on Lufthansa marked flights)
And along with this, there is also a complimentary Priority Pass membership Select Membership that also provides access to well over 1,000 different airport lounges around the world.
Now there is also a $200 airline fee credit that can be used for incidental fees that are charged by an airline such as baggage fees, inflight food and beverages, and more.
Although you will need to select a qualifying airline through your Amex account, and this can only be changed one time per year.
There is then a $189 credit that can be used for CLEAR membership, and this basically helps you to skip the queue when going through airport security.
Similar to this is a $100 credit for use at either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
Then there is access to the Fine Hotels & Resorts Program which provides daily breakfast for two, room upgrade upon arrival if available, a $100 amenity credit, guaranteed 4 PM late checkout, and noon check-in if it is available.
But just note that this is based on a booking of 2 nights or more.
Another nice benefit is access to the Cruise Privileges Program.
And this can provide a credit of between $100 – $300 when booking a cruise of five nights or more from one of the 19 different cruise partners.
Now finally there is access to the following programs:
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status
- Hilton Honors Gold Status
- Premium Car Rental Privileges through – Avis, Hertz, and National Emerald Club
- Premium Private Jet Program
Insurance Related Benefits
So for the next section of this review, I’m going to go over all of the insurance-related coverage that comes with each of these cards.
Starting first with the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card there is Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance that covers up to $50,000 in the event of damage or theft of a rental vehicle.
And this is secondary coverage.
There is Purchase Protection that provides 90 days of coverage on new purchases and covers up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per card member per year.
Finally, there is an Extended Warranty that provides 1 additional year of coverage on warranties that are 5 years or less.
And this covers up to $10,000 per item and a total of $50,000 per card per year.
Next up, with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card, there is the same Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance that covers up to $50,000.
The Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty is exactly the same as the Blue card.
Then you get one additional option which is a Baggage Insurance Plan that covers up to $1,250 for carry-on Baggage and $500 for checked Baggage.
And this is for lost, damaged, or stolen Baggage by a Common Carrier, and the trip must have been paid for with the card to be valid.
Now with the Amex Business Gold Card, you get everything that is included with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card but there is also Trip Delay Insurance that can provide up to 300 if your trip is delayed for more than 12 hours.
And this can be claimed a maximum of two times in a 12-month period.
Now finally with the Amex Business Platinum Card, you get quite a lot more coverage than the other cards.
First of all, there is Cell Phone Protection which covers up to $800 per claim with a maximum of 2 claims in a 12-month period.
Also, each claim will incur a $50 deductible fee.
Then there is Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance which covers up to $75,000.
Purchase Protection provides the same 90 days of coverage as the other cards but it will cover up to $10,000 per item and the same $50,000 per card per year.
There is an Extended Warranty that is the same as the other cards.
The Baggage Insurance Plan offers up to $3,000 for checked and carry-on Baggage.
Trip Delay Insurance covers up to $500 if your trip is delayed for 6 hours.
And this can be claimed 2 times in a calendar year.
Then there is also Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance which covers up to $10,000 per covered trip and $20,000 per eligible card per 12-month period.
So the Amex Business Platinum Card clearly offers a lot more insurance coverage than the 3 other cards.
APR
Now for the last part of this review let’s take a quick look at what the current APR is for each card and what associated fees they charge for transactions such as a cash advance or balance transfer.
And starting first with the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card, it is the only card out of the 4 cards that has a 0% introductory APR on Purchases for the first 12 months of card ownership.
After the intro APR is over, the rate will revert to between 15.49% – 23.49%.
The card does offer the ability to do a balance transfer for some customers and will incur a fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever amount ends up being more.
Then there is a Penalty APR of 29.99% that will be put in place if the following instances occur:
- Making 2 or more late payments
- Not making the Minimum Payment due by the closing date
- Having a payment returned by your bank
And Late Payments or Returned Payments will incur a fee of up to $39 each.
Then finally there is a Foreign Transaction fee of 2.7% for each transaction that is made overseas, which makes this card not ideal to travel with and use if you are outside of the United States.
Next up, with the Amex Business Green Rewards Card the APR for purchases is between 16.49% and 24.49%.
The Penalty APR is also 29.99% and has the same rules and penalty fees as the Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card.
And finally, there is the same Foreign Transaction fee of 2.7%.
Now with the Amex Business Gold Card just about everything is the same as the Amex Business Green Rewards Card except there are no Foreign Transaction fees for purchases made overseas, which makes this card a lot easier and cost-efficient to use if you do travel outside of the United States a lot.
And finally, with the Amex Business Platinum Card, everything is the same as the Amex Business Gold Card.
Final Thoughts
So that pretty much covers everything there is to know about these four credit cards from American Express
And even though there is quite a big difference between all of the cards, they all offer some decent value.
In my opinion, the Amex Business Platinum Card is clearly the best card and has the most benefit and user perks.
But it doesn’t mean that any of the other cards don’t serve a purpose.
As I said at the beginning of this video, it just depends on what you actually need the card for and if the benefits will actually serve a purpose for you and your business.
Now if are interested in one of these Amex cards or you already have one, I recommend checking out this review where I show you how you can get a huge amount of value when redeeming your Membership Rewards Points.