Link: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN Application

For a limited time American Express is offering a sign-up bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points on the Business Platinum card. Interestingly American Express doesn’t ordinarily offer sign-up bonus on their Membership Rewards branded business credit cards, aside from promotions. The Business Gold card, for example, sometimes has one-day periods where there’s a sign-up bonus.

Anyway, while this isn’t the best sign-up bonus for a Membership Rewards branded credit card, it is the best business card sign-up bonus at the moment.

The Business Platinum card has a $450 annual fee, but for that you get:

• A $200 airline fee credit, which past experience suggests can be used to purchase American Airlines gift cards. The annual fee is per 12 month period, while the airline fee credit is per calendar year. This means with one year’s annual fee you can actually get two years worth of the airline fee credit, which is up to $400. For me that essentially lowers the annual fee to $50.
• Lounge access with American, Delta, and US Airways, which is extremely valuable to me.
• Access to American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts.

So I do consider the annual fee well worth it.

The Mercedes Benz Platinum card still has a more lucrative sign-up bonus at 50,000 Membership Rewards points, though keep in mind you can get both a business and personal card at once.

So this isn’t an offer I’d personally jump on, but if you’re looking for a business credit card that will earn you Membership Rewards points and you value the benefits of the card, it’s a decent offer in my opinion.

(In the interest of full disclosure, the link to the Business Platinum card does earn me a referral bonus, while the link to the Mercedes Benz Platinum card doesn’t — thanks for your support!)