American Express® Business Gold Card Review
The American Express® Business Gold Card - earn 4x on your top 2 eligible categories like social ads and U.S. shipping.
By Sebastian F.|Updated on 11/29/2022
Back
The American Express® Business Gold Card is one of the best cards to earn points for business owners. The card is ideal for businesses with moderate to high spend on relevant categories.
American Express® Business Gold Card
Earn 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.*
Point Multipliers
The American Express® Business Gold Card earns 4X Membership Rewards (MR) points on your top two spend categories each billing cycle from the following categories:
- Airfare (purchased directly from airlines)
- U.S. advertising (in select media such as online, TV, and radio)
- U.S. gas stations
- U.S. purchases made directly from certain technology providers (computer hardware, software, cloud solutions)
- U.S. restaurants
- U.S. shipping
The 4X rate applies to the first $150,000 in combined spending from two categories from the above list each calendar year. After this, it’s 1X. Terms apply.
Optimal Strategy
The American Express® Business Gold Card is only really useful if you have spend in the 4X categories. If not, there are other cards that might be a better fit.
Given the $295 annual fee, you need to earn enough points to outweigh the fee.
Redeeming Points
The card earns Membership Rewards (MR) points, and the base redemption rate (as a statement credit) is 0.6 cents per point (CPP). This means 4x = 2.4%.
Luckily, Amex has many other redemption options for things like travel that yield 1 CPP (4x = 4%).
Amex points are great if you’re looking to do aspirational travel (first and business-class flights) and are the perfect option for small business owners who want to earn a vacation.
Alternatives
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (i.e., 3x on advertising, etc.) offers similar categories but with a lower annual fee. Depending on your spending level and which ecosystem you’re in, that might be a better fit.
If your business spending is low – or not in these categories – it might make sense to consider The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (2x on everything for the first $50,000 spent per calendar year).
On the flip side, if you have very high business spend, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus might be better, earning 2% on everything.
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
New Cardmember Offer! Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
0.0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening, then a variable rate, 18.49% - 26.49%, based on your creditworthiness and other factors at account opening. APR will not exceed 29.99%
Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Earn a $1,200 cash bonus once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months of card opening..
Main Takeaway
The American Express® Business Gold Card is one of the best points earners for business owners who have relevant spend and want to earn MR points.
For rates and fees of The American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here.