American Express® Business Gold Card review: A highflying card for everyday business expenses

The American Express Business Gold card’s high spending cap for everyday purchases and business categories offers plenty of variety. The card’s welcome offer can offer a lot of upfront value for businesses. There’s also the advantage of Pay Over Time; all charges that are not added to a Pay Over Time balance, monthly payment plan, or Cash Advance balance must be paid in full each month by the payment due date. 

Welcome offer: Valuable points for Amex points enthusiasts

The American Express Business Gold Card offers a promising 100,000 Membership Rewards® points welcome offer after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership (terms apply). This offer is 30,000 points higher than the previous one, requiring a slightly higher spending threshold but holds a ton of value in the right hands.

American Express Membership Rewards points are extremely flexible and valuable. The Amex Business Gold’s welcome offer could be worth around $1,000 toward eligible flights booked through the American Express travel portal. However, according to our latest points valuation, these points can be worth an average of $2,000 when transferred to the right American Express transfer partner.

Rewards rate: Amazing travel redemption value 

The rewards process automatically tracks your transactions after each billing cycle to determine which two of the following eligible categories you'll earn rewards in:

• U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
• Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.
• Transit purchases, including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses and subways.
• Purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV and radio)
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• U.S. purchases at gas stations

You’ll earn 4X points on those two eligible spending categories for up to $150,000 in combined bonus category spending for the calendar year (from six eligible categories). Afterward, you’ll earn only 1X points on those purchases. 

The Business Gold also earns 3X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com. Amex used to include this category as part of its capped spending category, so it's great that you won’t need to factor travel into your spending caps — especially if you travel frequently for business. Other qualifying purchases still earn 1X points.

Rewards value: Some of the most flexible and valuable points available

The maximum value of the American Express Business Gold Card’s rewards lies with the Membership Rewards point program. You can pool points with other Amex cards in the program or transfer them to travel partner loyalty programs for greater value. Although you can get the best redemption value with transfers, you’ll still retain great value with travel redemptions on AmexTravel.com.

If you want to keep it simple, booking flights through the Amex portal provides the best value, as you get a 1:1 redemption rate.

If you’re looking for maximum value with strategic point transfers, your best bet is to find the right transfer partner to net around 2.0 cents per point. Other travel and non-travel options get you a value of 0.5 to 0.7 cents per point.

Perks: Statement credits can help offset the annual fee 

If you were previously uncertain about applying for the Amex Business Gold, now is a great time to revisit the card. In addition to updated bonus categories, Amex has simplified offsetting the card’s annual fee. 

The Amex Business Gold Card now offers several statement credit opportunities to help make the $375 annual fee worth it. You can earn up to $20 in statement credits monthly after using the Business Gold Card for eligible U.S. purchases at FedEx, Grubhub and Office Supply Stores — an annual savings of up to $240. You can also receive a Walmart+ monthly membership reimbursement when you pay with your Amex Business Gold Card. This is valued at $12.95 monthly, which can add up to $155 if you pay for 12 months.

Booking an eligible property within The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel for at least two consecutive nights can also net up to $100 in hotel credits toward qualifying activities (like eligible dining, spa and other resort activities that vary by property).

American Express has also added cell phone protection to its perk lineup. You can receive reimbursement for the lesser of the costs to repair or replace your damaged or stolen cell phone, up to a maximum of $800 per claim. Claims are limited to two approved requests within a 12-month period, provided that your cell phone line is listed on a wireless bill and the previous month's bill was paid using your Business Gold Card.

Overall, the American Express Business Gold Card offers solid travel and business rewards, but the Amex Business Gold’s benefits aren’t nearly as substantial. You’ll need to rely on rewards category spending to earn enough points to offset the high annual fee, which is easier for some cardholders than others. If your spending won’t push your rewards balance past a total value of $375 annually, you may want to find a more affordable card, even if it has lower rewards rates.

Rates and fees: Possibly difficult to offset the annual fee 

One drawback of the American Express Business Gold Card is its annual fee, which is higher than most business credit card annual fees. While it isn’t as difficult to make up for this annual fee as it once was, thanks to the card’s statement credit opportunities, these credits may not help your business needs. You can still offset that cost with rewards, but you’ll need to spend a little more than $400 in your 4X categories each billing cycle (based on an estimated point value of around 2.0 cents per point) to earn enough rewards value to offset the annual fee.

That also assumes you can get a high redemption value by transferring to a top airline or hotel travel partner. With a more straightforward redemption method, such as booking travel via the Amex portal, you’ll need to spend around $800 each billing cycle throughout the year in 4X categories to break even with your points (assuming you get a value of 1 cent per point when you redeem for eligible flights on AmexTravel.com).

The $375 annual fee may seem overwhelming, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to offset if you spend heavily in the card’s 4X categories and take advantage of the card’s statement credits.

The average small-business owner can expect to earn just under $700 in rewards per year via card spending, based on a redemption value of 1 cent per point and our business card value scoring formula, which assumes a $40,000 annual spend. Big spenders who maximize the card’s 4X rewards rate could earn even more — around $6,000 in annual rewards value — by spending $150,000 in the card’s 4X bonus categories with a redemption value of 1 cent per point. 

Here’s a look at how your earnings may unfold in the first year and beyond based on our business card value scoring formula and a redemption value of 1 cent per point:

Bankrate credit cards writer Ryan Flanigan uses his American Express Business Gold card wisely to fill gaps in spending for big rewards.

I love the flexibility of this card. Based on what I need for my business, I’ll use it to spend in different bonus categories almost every month. The value of the points I earn makes it a keeper for me because I can never have enough Membership Rewards points, and this generates a lot of them. I’m meticulous enough to focus my spending in two categories each month based on my current needs, so I can easily max out this card’s potential. The flexibility of the American Express Business Gold covers many of my needs, making it valuable to my overall card-earning portfolio.

— Ryan Flanigan, Writer, Credit Cards

The Amex Business Gold card is a great choice if you have large business expenses that fall into the card’s select bonus categories. But the following options might be better if you’re looking for premier perks, like lounge access or a card with a lower annual fee that still earns decent rewards.

For maximum value, you should only use the American Express Business Gold Card for spending within two of the card’s six bonus categories. When covering the other four categories and purchases that would only earn 1X points, find a rewards credit card that charges no annual fee and offers high rewards on all purchases or in specific categories relevant to your business.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here
For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Card from American Express, please click here.

Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit AmericanExpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

Our proprietary card rating system takes into account a mix of factors when scoring business credit cards, including each card’s rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more.

We analyzed over 50 of the most popular business credit cards and scored each based on how its key features stacked up compared to those of other cards in its category.

Here are some of the key factors that gave this card its score: