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Nov
American Express Business Gold Rewards: 50,000 points after $5000 spending within 3 months, no fee the first year.
The standard offer for this card doesn’t even come with any signup bonus at all. Most of the time when they do offer a bonus it requires a $10,000 minimum spend. That makes this limited-time offer especially appealing. It’s available only through November 26th.
Points transfer of course to partners like Delta, British Airways, Aeroplan, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Alitalia, and others.
There’s no fee the first year, $175 thereafter, and the card earns triple points on airfare and double points on purchases in the U.S. for advertising in select media, gasoline at U.S. stand-alone gas stations, and shipping, as well as of course one point on other purchases.
If you’re looking for ways to help meet the reduced $5000 minimum spend requirement, you may want to read this post from April on several ways to get there easily.
Since folks often ask whether they can get the card again if they’ve had it in the past. Folks that have had this card “or any other Business Gold, Green or Platinum Card® account within the last 12 months” are ineligible. Which suggests to me that having had the card farther in the past shouldn’t be disqualifying in and of itself.
I got the card myself back in December when there was a 50,000 point signup bonus and $10,000 required spend. So I cannot get it again. It was worth it to me with the higher spending requirement, so the lower one is certainly attractive. I was quite fortunate, my 50,000 point signup bonus posted twice 
Small business cards are great because they’re a whole separate avenue for bonus rewards than personal cards, I know I’ve maxed out on many of the best offers that personal cards have (and that it’s tough to get a second time) but still have several business cards as future options.
I do prefer the Chase Ink Bold Charge Card small business charge card and Chase Ink Plus business credit card over this card on an ongoing basis, both of those come with 50,000 points after $5,000 spending within 3 months. The annual fee is waived the first year and then lower (only $95 vs. $175).
And both Chase small business cards earn quintuple points (5x points up to $50,000 in spending) on office supplies, cable television, internet, and cell point service, and double points (up to $50,000 in spending) on gas and hotels. And the points transfer to an array of airlines and hotels.
But it’s great to have both options — from Chase and from American Express — to earn points… and especially signup bonuses.
Do know that the credit card links in this post, which represent the best available offers I’m aware of for each card, do offer referral credit to me if you use them to apply. So I greatly appreciate it if you choose to. Thanks!
Grant said,
I applied for this card last week and called Amex to be approved. The rep told me it was a charge card, not a credit card. I was also told that I can have a max of 4 credit cards (including personal and business cards). But since this was a charge card, it did not effect my 4 card max. Any thoughts?
nknight said,
Question (background first). I am in the middle of fullfilling my Ink Plus spending requirement. I signed via the original $5k/3 months “mistake” and they denied my request to honor this. I’ve recently got them to say that “if” I don’t make the 10k in 3 months to call in and they’ll see if they can add the extra 25k points manually. Still, I had planned on just spending the 10k to make sure. Paying my Home Equity line and car payments using BlueBird make this relatively easy even at only 1 point per BB dollar. I should be done my 1/1, which is technically 2 months. I think.
So, now this card comes along and I can see this fitting in my plans. Finally, my question!
When does the 3 month ticker start on these? I saw once a mention of application date. That seems silly, since it was 3 weeks after my Ink app that I actually had possession of my cards. Or is it the date you receive the card(s)? How do you tell when the actual deadline is?
Thanks in advance.
Robert Hanson said,
I don’t know about AMEX charge cards, but everyone needs to know that most ccs start the time for minimum spend on the date that you are approved. Even though that may be as much as 10 days before you even receive the card in the mail. If you are going to spread out the minimum spend, it’s best to call the bank and find out the date they are using, to avoid missiog out on your points.
nknight said,
@Robert Hanson: Thanks. I didn’t really finish my thought, but you pretty much confirmed my need for caution when timing these things. My plan is to finish my 3 month Ink spend in what seems to be 2, because of the 3 weeks I waited for the cards.
The second part to this is that, if I apply for THIS AMEX card on 11/26 … I’m already quite commited with all my spending going to Ink until 1/1. If I can delay the start of the timer for the AMEX card, it would help me. In this case, if I don’t get instantly approved, how much time do I have to call the reconsideration line? I’m assuming if I wait for an official letter, then wait a week, I might be well into December when/if I finally do get approved. Eh?
Robert Hanson said,
I’m no expert on this, so maybe better to wait for an answer from Gary. But anyway, here is my two cents. The only time I’ve been denied for an app was when I waited to get a denial in the mail, then called in to try and get it reversed. My gut tells me if you call in right away, the same day as the app or the next day, they haven’t decided to deny it yet, and it’s easier to get them to approve it. Once they have said no, you now have to get the person on the phone to take responsibility for reversing the denial. I think it’s easier to get a yes, than to get someone to reverse someone else’s already established no. Anyone else with insight on this?
Murtuza said,
@Gary: Does using business card for baking expenses (to meet $5k in 3 months) have any affect on the “income” part when you report your business income to IRS? What are the tax consequences of putting let’s say $50k/year on these cards without the actual business generating that much of cost.
Gary said,
@Murtuza – baking expenses? While rebates earned by a business are theoretically taxable, the IRS does not tax miles and points except those earned as prizes.
JoC said,
@ Murtuza
I guess using credit card to pay business expense will give a trail vs paying your venddors with cash.
If the IRS ever audits your return, they will certainly look at the documents such as bank, credit card statements to get a feeling how pay out expenditures justify the gross revenue.
Glenn said,
Well, this is a problem…
My 91 days since Amex application date is Nov 30th, e.g. 4 days after this expires. But I’m ready to go on other lenders (Chase and BofA this time) so I could do my churn early if I were to go for this.
How strictly do you think we should stick to the 91 day rule with Amex Gary?
Gary said,
I don’t think it’s TRULY strict, at least in my own experience.. This offer will go away but then maybe just be ready to jump on the next 48-hour offering of 75k after $10k spend?
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