American Express Business Gold benefits guide

The American Express® Business Gold Card doesn’t come cheap: It charges a hefty annual fee of $295. But with that fee comes plenty of perks that can help boost the bottom line of your business.

Is this card right for you? That largely depends on the expenses your business racks up and how much you travel throughout the year. Read on for key benefits of the Amex Business Gold.

American Express Business Gold benefits at a glance

What do you get for the $295 annual fee charged by the American Express Business Gold card? A lot, it turns out.

The Business Gold card comes with a valuable rewards program in which you can earn up to 4 points for every dollar you charge on certain purchases. It also comes with a generous welcome offer.

Perks are plentiful, too. The Business Gold card offers benefits such as trip-delay insurance, a big points rebate if you book airfare through American Express Travel, purchase protection, extended warranty and lost-baggage insurance.

The card doesn’t even saddle you with a preset spending limit. Depending on your credit and payment history, the Business Gold’s spending limit can rise and fall.

Rewards

Depending on your business’ expenses, you can earn plenty of rewards points with the American Express Business Gold card.

Regular rewards

You’ll earn 4 Membership Rewards points for every dollar you charge in two categories of your choice. The categories from which you can choose are as follows:

• Airfare purchased directly from airlines
• Online, TV and radio advertising
• Computer, hardware, software and cloud systems from select tech providers
• Gas stations
• Restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• Shipping

This gives you the chance to earn plenty of rewards. Note, though, that there is a limit. You’ll only earn the 4 points on up to $150,000 in combined purchases in these categories each year. After you hit that limit, you’ll earn just 1 point for every dollar you charge in your two categories.

Outside of your two selected categories, you’ll earn 1 point for every dollar you charge with your Business Gold card.

Welcome bonus

The Business Gold card’s welcome bonus is a generous one, though you will have to spend heavily to earn it. You’ll earn 70,000 points if you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of opening your account. That’s just over $3,333 per month for those first three months.

Rewards redemptions

You can redeem your Membership Rewards points with any of the more than 20 airline and hotel partners of American Express. And if you book your travel through the Amex Travel online portal and pay with your points, you’ll get 25% of those points back. You can get up to 250,000 points back each calendar year by doing this.

You can also redeem your points for merchandise, gift cards or a statement credit.

Travel rewards

If you’re a frequent traveler, not only can you earn plenty of Membership Rewards points, you can also take advantage of the Business Gold card’s travel perks.

• Hotel credit – If you book a room through American Express Travel’s hotel collection and stay at least two consecutive nights, you’ll earn a $100 hotel credit that you can spend on dining, spa and resort activities. You can also receive a room upgrade upon arrival.
• Global assist hotline – When you travel 100 or more miles from home, you can take advantage of 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services, including medical, legal and passport referrals; cash wires; and missing luggage assistance.
• Baggage insurance – The card’s baggage insurance plan offers coverage for lost, damaged or stolen baggage. You can receive coverage of up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage.
• Trip-delay insurance – Trip-delay insurance will provide financial coverage if your trip is delayed for more than 12 hours, helping to cover the costs associated with delaying your trip, including meals and hotel stays. 

Business perks

The Business Gold card comes with several business perks, too.

Pay Over Time

Unlike some American Express cards, you don’t have to pay your balance in full each month with the Business Gold. Instead, you can choose to pay only part of your balance, carrying the rest of your debt over into your next billing cycle like with most traditional credit cards.

You will be charged interest on the debt you don’t pay back in full. The variable APR on this debt will range from 15.74% to 23.74%, depending on your credit.

This can be a good feature for small businesses with cash flows that vary each month. During months in which your business’ cash flow is strong, you can pay your entire debt off. In months where it is not, you can elect to pay off a smaller amount of your Business Gold balance.

No preset spending limit

Unlike other cards, the Business Gold card doesn’t come with a preset credit limit. Instead, your credit limit will vary depending on factors such as your purchase, payment and credit history. If you develop a history of paying your Business Gold card on time each month, your spending limit might increase.

Employee cards

You can add employee cards to your Business Gold account. These cards come with no annual fees, and the purchases that your employees make count toward your rewards points. You can also set individual spending limits on your employee cards.

Extended warranty and purchase protection

With the Business Gold card’s extended warranty protection, you can extend a warranty of five years or less with one additional year if you purchased the item with your card.

Additionally, purchase protection provides protection on purchases for up to 90 days if an item you buy is stolen or accidentally damaged. Coverage is limited to $1,000 an occurrence or up to $50,000 a calendar year for each cardholder.

Maximizing the benefits of your American Express Business Gold card

The best way to squeeze the most value out of your Business Gold card is to select your two 4-point spending categories in which your business spends heavily. The best way to quickly cover the card’s $295 annual fee is to rack up the 4X rewards points you’ll earn by spending in your two chosen categories.

Traveling often can pay off, too. You can get a hefty rebate of rewards points by booking your trip through the Amex Travel online portal and paying with your points. You’ll then get 25% of those points back. Depending on how many trips you take, those rebated points can add up.

And in your first year, make sure to charge enough to earn your welcome bonus. You can earn 70,000 membership rewards points if you charge $10,000 during the first three months of opening your account.

See related: How I use my Amex Business Gold

Bottom line

While it doesn’t come cheap, the American Express Business Gold card features a robust enough rewards system, and enough perks, to make the $295 annual fee worth it. Just make sure that your business makes enough purchases in the right categories to rack up a high number of rewards points to cover that annual fee each year.

See related: Who should and shouldn’t get the American Express Business Gold