American Express Business Gold Rewards Card Review

If you’re a small business owner or you want to earn a lot of points fast, you’ll want to read my American Express Business Gold Rewards Card review. The card is often overlooked since it’s a business card and doesn’t come with many benefits, but it has arguably the best welcome bonus available right now. In case you didn’t know, you can transfer your points to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio, which makes this card even more appealing.

Some people may not realize that you don’t need a formal business to apply for this card. But why would you want to apply for a business card if you don’t have a business? For the welcome points, of course! Keep reading my American Express Business Gold Rewards Card review now for more details.

Welcome Bonus and Earn Rate

Undoubtedly, many people will be attracted to the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card since it comes with a generous welcome bonus. The regular offer is 40,000 American Express Membership Rewards points when you sign up for this card. To get those points, you need to spend $7,500 in the first three months of card membership.

An additional 10,000 points when you charge $20,000 to your card each quarter. That means you can get an additional 40,000 points each year, including the year you sign up. Admittedly, spending $20,000 to get 10,000 points isn’t the best deal, but if you spend a lot on your business, it could be worth it. For regular consumers, this extra bonus should be ignored.

As for the earn rate, you get 1 point per dollar spent on all purchases. This is obviously not very exciting. Regular consumers should only get this card if they want a generous welcome bonus, as the earn rate is not worth it.

Benefits and Perks

It’s now time to go over the benefits and perks in this American Express Business Gold Rewards Card review. For a card that has an annual fee of $199, it doesn’t have many benefits that stand out.

Business Benefits

• Dynamic purchasing power – This is a charge card with a dynamic limit. You’ll get a higher limit as you pay your bills on time. This can be appealing to many small business owners.
• 55 interest-free days – As a business card, you get 55 interest-free days before your payment due.
• Expense management reports – You have the ability to search your expenses by vendor or category. You can also separate personal from business expenses.
• Employee card misuse protection – Unauthorized charges are covered if you cancel any supplementary cardholders within two business days of their termination.

Travel Insurance

• Emergency Medical Insurance – $5,000,000 – 15 days under age 65
• Trip Cancellation – $1,500 per person / $3,000 total
• Trip Interruption – $5,000 per person / $6,000 total
• Flight delay insurance – $500 – 4 hours +
• Baggage Delay Insurance – $500 – 4 hours +
• Lost or Stolen Baggage Insurance – $500 combined per occurrence
• Car Rental Theft Damage Insurance – $85,000 – 48 days
• Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance – $500 per occurrence
• Travel Accident Insurance – Up to $100,000

Although the travel insurance is decent, it’s missing travel medical, trip cancellation and trip interruption. I wouldn’t recommend relying on this card for your travel insurance needs.

Purchase Insurance

• Mobile device insurance – Up to $1,000
• Purchase protection – Up to $1,000 per occurrence
• Buyer’s assurance – Double up to one additional year

I consider purchase insurance to be highly underrated. With your mobile device insurance, you can claim items up to $1,000 in the event of theft, loss or damage. Purchase protection also covers your purchases from loss, theft, and damage, but only for 90 days. Finally, buyer’s assurance doubles your manufacturer’s warranty up to one additional year.

American Express Experiences

One huge benefit of being an American Express cardholder is the additional benefits you get.

• Front of the line presales – Get access to presale tickets for some of the hottest concerts, theatre productions, restaurants and more.
• Reserved tickets – American Express has partnerships with select venues where cardholders get access to exclusive tickets.
• Experiences – As a cardholder, you can purchase tickets to special events. This includes things such as movie screenings, restaurant deals and retail packages.
• Offers – Throughout the year, offers will be made in your app. That’s where you’ll earn a statement credit when you spend a certain amount at retail, office and restaurant partners.

How to Redeem Your Points

American Express Membership Rewards has a few different quirks, making it one of the best rewards programs out there. You can redeem 1,000 Membership Rewards points for a $10 statement credit. That’s a value of 1 cent per point. It doesn’t matter if you’ve charged travel, food, or other purchases to your card, your redemption rate is the same. This makes the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card a hybrid cash back/travel card.

Besides a statement credit, you can also use your points on the American Express Fixed Points Travel reward chart. Depending on the flight you’re booking, you could increase the vale of your points to 2 cents each. In addition, You can transfer your points to Aeroplan or Avios at a 1:1 ratio. You could also transfer your points to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1.2 ratio.

These transfer partners are essential since you can easily get more value for your points. For example, it’s not hard to get a value of 1.5 – 2 cents per point with Aeroplan. That means if you transferred your points over to Aeroplan, you could double the value of your points.

In other words, using your American Express Business Gold Rewards Card to earn Aeroplan points is a solid strategy.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card Eligibility

• You’re a Canadian citizen, or you’re a permanent resident
• You’re at least the age of majority in your province or territory

Although American Express doesn’t list what credit score is needed to be approved, you’ll probably want yours to be at least 660 or higher before you apply. That number would put your credit score in good, or higher standing.

Finally, since this is a business card, you typically need to have a business to be approved. However, there have been many reports of people applying with a formal business and being approved. They would make up a business name on the application because they want the welcome bonus. I’m not saying I endorse this. I’m just telling you what I’ve seen and heard. Here’s a guide on getting a business card without a business.

How the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card Compares

As a business credit card, the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card has a lot of competition. That said, the welcome bonus it offers is arguably the best. Here are some other cards to consider:

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card vs. American Express Business Platinum Card

I like to compare the Amex Business Gold card to the American Express Business Platinum Card. Admittedly, the Platinum Card is a higher-tier card and comes with a $799 annual fee, but you get a lot of benefits, such as an annual $200 travel credit, unlimited airport lounge access and hotel status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors. In addition, the Platinum Business Card gives you 1.25 points per dollar spent vs. the straight 1 point that the Gold Card gives you.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card vs. American Express Business Edge

Another card to consider is the American Express Business Edge Card. The annual fee is just $99, and you get an earn rate of 3 points per dollar spent on office supplies & electronics, rides & gas, and eats & drinks. All other purchases earn you 1 point per dollar spent. The tradeoff is that this card is a regular credit card, so you may not get a high limit.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card vs. Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Business Card

If you’re looking for a non-American Express Business Card, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Business Card may be of interest. It also has a $199 annual fee and earns you 1.5 Scene+ points per dollar spent. In addition, it has no foreign transaction fees. That said, Scene+ isn’t as flexible as American Express Membership Rewards.

Final Thoughts

My American Express Business Gold Rewards Canada review is positive. Although it’s formally a business card, and lacks any exciting benefits, it’s good for people in the following situations:

• You want to earn a lot of points fast – The welcome bonus is quite generous at 75,000 points and typically only requires a minimum spend of $5,000.
• You want to accumulate Aeroplan points fast – Your points can be transferred to Aeroplan at 1:1 ratio.
• You’re a small business owner – Entrepreneurs and small business owners sometimes prefer having a business card to separate their expenses from their personal lives.
• You need a high credit card limit – This charge card gives you dynamic purchasing power. Essentially, you can get a high limit if you’re always paying your bills on time.

Although the additional benefits are lacking, this is one of the best cards to earn American Express Membership Rewards or Aeroplan points fast. In addition, if you’re looking for a business card with a reasonable annual fee, this card is a good solution.