What would you do with 100,000 American Express Membership Rewards points? That's the question every small business owner should be asking themselves as Amex just rolled out a sweet new welcome bonus on the *biz gold*.
Right now, you can earn 100,000 points after spending $15,000 in the first three months of card membership. That's way up from the previous offer of 70,000 points … albeit with an additional $5,000 worth of spending.
But as good as this bonus is, you might even be able to earn a bigger bonus. We're seeing reports of some business owners being targeted for 150,000, or even 200,000 points, through special referral links. If you know a fellow business owner who has this card, be sure to check with them before applying!
But no matter if it's a 100,000- or 200,000-point offer, this card is worth your attention for all the bonus points you can earn on your continued business spending.
With the Business Gold card, you earn 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar (up to $150,000 combined) spent in the two select categories where you spend the most each billing cycle. Eligible categories include dining, gas stations, advertising, transit purchases, wireless providers, and electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers. Except for transit, all these bonus categories are limited to purchases in the U.S.
You also have access to some useful money-saving monthly statement credits like the up to $240 flexible business statement credit for office supply and shipping costs, and up to $155 Walmart+ Membership Credit. Both of which help offset the card's $375 annual fee (see rates & fees).
Learn more about the *biz gold*.
Think you're not eligible for a small business card like this one? You just might be!
Just remember: Credit cards are serious business. You should never apply for a credit card if you’re already in debt, and never charge more to a credit card than you can afford to pay off immediately. That’s especially true when looking at business credit cards, as the spending required to earn a big bonus is often much higher than what you will find on the everyday consumer cards side.
Read on for full details on the Amex Business Gold Card.
Amex Business Gold Overview
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- Earn 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent in the two select categories where you spend the most each billing cycle. Eligible categories include dining, gas stations, advertising, transit, wireless providers, and electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers.
- Earn 3x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on prepaid purchases for flights and hotels made through Amex Travel with your Business Gold Card.
- Global Assist Hotline: From lost passports, medical assistance, translation services, and missing luggage, you can call the hotline to help you when you need it the most. You're on the hook for any third-party service fees.
- The Hotel Collection: Get a $100 credit to use on eligible charges for The Hotel Collection stays of at least two nights, noon check-in, late check-out, and room upgrade, when available.
- Cell Phone Insurance: Get up to $800 per claim twice every 12 months in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay for it with your Amex Business Gold card. A $50 deductible will apply to each approved claim.
- Foreign Transaction Fees: None
- Annual Fee: $375 (see rates & fees)
Learn more about the *biz gold*.
So what makes this card so special? Think of it as the business version of the longtime-favorite, *amex gold*.
First off, the card is a good one for racking up Amex Membership Rewards points well beyond the initial welcome offer. It earns 4x points in the two select categories where you spend the most each billing cycle. Eligible categories include: dining, gas stations, advertising, wireless providers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and transit services. All these bonus categories are limited to purchases in the U.S., except for transit.
4x point-earning is limited to the first $150,000 in combined spending, across all categories, per calendar year. While some businesses will no doubt hit that cap, being able to earn up to 600,000 points in some pretty common business spending categories is quite valuable.
Also, prepaid purchases for flights and hotels made through Amex Travel with your Business Gold card earn 3x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent. Other eligible business purchases earn 1x.
Like many other Amex Cards, the Business Gold comes with use-it-or-lose it statement credits that can help offset the annual fee. The biggest of which is an annual up to $240 flexible business statement credit that gets doled out in $20 increments each month.
This credit can be used at the following retailers:
- FedEx
- Grubhub
- Office Supply Stores
You'll also get a monthly credit of up to $12.95 (up to $155 annually) to cover the cost of a Walmart+ membership.
Nothing says “premium travel small business credit card” like a Walmart subscription, right? Odd or not, there are some decent perks with a Walmart+ membership that could make it worth signing up for if you hold an Amex Business Gold Card, including:
- Free next-day shipping from Walmart.com, with no order minimums
- Free local delivery of groceries and other items, with a $35 order minimum
- Discounts on prescriptions from Walmart pharmacies, with savings of up to 85% (according to Walmart)
- Save 5 cents per gallon on gasoline from Walmart and Murphy stations.
- Skip the checkout lane: Scan your items with your phone using the Walmart app, pay, and go.
Plus, a Walmart+ membership now gets you free Paramount Plus for at-home streaming of popular channels like CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, and Nickelodeon as well as many live sports events and movies.
Just head to Walmart.com/plus and pay for your membership with your Business Gold Card. The statement credits should kick in automatically.
How Good is This Offer?
If you're eligible for business cards – and odds are, your small business or even a side-hustle qualifies – this is an amazing offer. Earning 100,000 Amex points from one card is pretty great. And if you've got a fellow business owner who can refer you for an even bigger offer, it's all the better.
When it comes time to use those points, you can typically squeeze the most value out of them by transferring points to one of Amex's travel partners and using them to book an award flight or free hotel stay.
Take a trip to Europe, for example. You can transfer Amex points to Spanish flag-carrier, Iberia, to book a lie-flat business class seat to Europe for as low as just 34,000 points one-way.
After earning this big bonus offer, you'd have more than enough points to fly roundtrip to Europe – in business class – for just the cost of taxes and fees with points left to spare. Considering these flights regularly sell for $5,000 or more, I'd say that's pretty valuable.
Read our Iberia business class review for full details of what it's like!
If business class to Europe isn't what you're after, you could also transfer these points to Hawaiian Airlines to book a first class suite from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands!
Hawaiian Airlines charges as low as 40,000 Hawaiian miles each way. That means a first class roundtrip flight to Hawaii in a lie-flat suite is well within reach with the current bonus. Heck, you'd even have points leftover to put towards a hotel.
Why This Card is Worth Your Attention
The card's new, welcome offer is really exciting easily makes our list of the current best business credit card offers. While the card has always been a good one to have, the bigger bonus offer makes it more appealing than ever.
Given that it's a business card, it won't appeal to everyone … but maybe it should: Even if you have just a small business, or plan to start one, you may still be eligible. A part-time side hustle, a freelance job, doing consulting work, or even selling goods on Etsy or Facebook Marketplace are all things that would qualify you for this card.
Given the flexibility of Amex points, this is a card that any business owner should want to have in their wallet. And there's no better time to grab it than right now.
Bottom Line
The Amex Business Gold Card is the perfect fit for many small business owners – and now there's more reason than ever to get one, as it comes with a bigger welcome offer of 100,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 in the first three months. Plus, the card's strong bonus earning and benefits make it a keeper for the long term.
If you'd been eyeing this card and all it has to offer, now's the time to apply.
Learn more about the *biz gold*.
If you’re hitting the $150k spend it’s likely due to shipping. This sucks and we will likely be dropping the card.
Great post, thanks! It looks like the Walmart+ benefit does not require enrollment though.
Thank you! We’ve updated the story to reflect that.
Thanks for the heads up Nick. Just to be careful on the 4x spending categories. For instance, if you high spend on airlines, restaurants, and gas, you will only get the two highest spent categories, like you mentioned. If restaurants and gas come in higher than airlines, I believe you will only get 1x for airlines when you could get much higher on some other card?
That is correct. But one point of clarification, 4x on airline spending is going away with this update.