American Express Business Gold Benefits and Perks

If you’re a small business owner wanting flexible rewards and statement credits toward FedEx, Grubhub or office supply store purchases, the American Express® Business Gold Card could be the card for you.

It balances perks with annual fees, making it a solid mid-tier business card that earns Membership Rewards points. This opens up your redemption options, enabling you to use your points for award travel with more than 20 airline and hotel partners.

But is the Amex Business Gold Card worth it?

Let’s take a closer look at what benefits and perks the Amex Business Gold Card has to offer.

Overview of the American Express Business Gold Card

Before kickstarting our in-depth review, here’s a summary of the key features of the American Express Business Gold Card.

Key Benefits of the American Express Business Gold Card

Let’s now run through the key benefits of the American Express Business Gold Card.

Welcome Offer

The Amex Business Gold Card has a lucrative welcome offer, allowing you to earn thousands of Membership Rewards points.

The welcome offer is typically around 70,000 Membership Rewards points after spending around $10,000 or more using your card within the first three months of card membership.

Occasional welcome offers have gone as high as 150,000 Membership Rewards points.

You can use these points for a range of redemption opportunities, the most lucrative of which tend to be transfers to one of Amex’s more than 20 hotel and airline partners.

Note that Amex operates a one welcome offer per card per lifetime policy.

Here is the current welcome offer:

Bonus Spending Categories

The Amex Business Gold Card offers a flexible and competitive earnings structure.

Here’s a quick summary of the card’s bonus spending categories:

• Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points on the top two eligible categories where your business spends the most each month from 6 eligible categories. While your top 2 categories may change, you will earn 4X points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year (then 1X thereafter). Only the top 2 categories each billing cycle will count towards the $150,000 cap.
• Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com using your Business Gold Card.
• Earn 1x Membership Rewards® Points on all other purchases.

Eligible categories for the 4X point multiplier include:

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

This point-earning structure offers excellent flexibility, rewarding you and your business where you spend the most. It also covers a wide range of possible purchases, from everyday restaurant and gas station spending to wireless bills, electronic goods purchases and more.

The 3X points on prepaid hotels and air travel booked through AmexTravel.com is also a great way to earn a competitive return on occasional travel expenses.

$240 Flexible Business Credit

As an Amex Business Gold cardholder, you’re eligible to receive up to $20 in statement credits per month for qualifying purchases made with FedEx, Grubhub and office supply tores (enrollment required).

That amounts to $240 in savings every year, cutting the annual fee by well more than half.

$155 Walmart+ Credit

You can get the cost of a Walmart+ membership reimbursed each time you use your Amex Business Gold Card to pay for it. That’s $12.95 per month in statement credits, which amounts to $155 in total annual savings.

Premium Benefits with The Hotel Collection

If you book a stay of at least two consecutive nights with The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel^®, you’ll be entitled to a $100 experience credit at participating properties.

The experience credit varies by property and can include spa, dining and other resort activities.

You’ll also be eligible for a room upgrade upon check-in, subject to availability.

Employee Cards

With the American Express Business Gold Card, you can issue up to 99 employee cards as a basic card member.

Connection to QuickBooks

As a small business owner, keeping on top of your expenses is key to managing cash flow.

You can connect your Amex Business Gold Card to QuickBooks, saving you time and hassle with auto-expense categorization. That means all your business card transactions will be synced with QuickBooks.

Global Assist® Hotline

As an Amex Business Gold cardholder, you’ll have free 24/7 access to American Express’s Global Assist® Hotline service.

Whether it’s emergency medical and legal referrals, help with lost luggage or any other organizational services, the Global Assist Hotline is there to help.

Just keep in mind that you’ll be responsible for any third-party charges incurred.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Amex Business Gold Card is completely free of foreign transaction fees. This makes it the perfect companion when traveling and spending abroad, saving you potentially hundreds in unnecessary foreign transaction fees.

Baggage Insurance Plan

If you charge the entire cost of a common carrier fare to your Amex Business Gold Card, you can rest assured that your baggage will be protected if it’s lost, stolen or damaged.

You’ll be covered for up to $1,250 per piece of carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage. For New York state residents, an aggregate limit of $10,000 applies for all covered persons on a covered trip.

Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

When you decline the rental company’s collision damage waiver and charge the entire rental car cost to your card, you’ll be covered in instances of theft or damage.

You’ll be covered up to the actual cash value of the car for eligible vehicles. Coverage is secondary and doesn’t cover vehicle rental in Australia, Italy or New Zealand.

Trip Delay Insurance

If your common carrier trip is delayed by more than 12 hours, you can be reimbursed for reasonable additional expenses incurred. This can cover accommodation, toiletries, meals and more that result directly due to the delay.

Covered situations include delays due to inclement weather, terrorist actions, lost or stolen travel documents or equipment failure of the common carrier.

You’ll need to have purchased the common carrier fare using your card to be eligible for coverage. You can be reimbursed by up to $300 per covered trip and can make a maximum of two claims per 12-month period.

Cell Phone Protection

When you charge your wireless bill to your Amex Business Gold Card, you can reap the benefits of cell phone protection insurance.

You’ll be reimbursed for a maximum of $800 per claim for repairs or replacement of your cell phone in covered situations. You can make a maximum of two claims every 12 months and will be required to pay a $50 deductible per claim.

Extended Warranty Protection

When you purchase an eligible product with a U.S. manufacturer warranty of five years or less using your card, you’ll have the warranty extended by an additional year.

Purchase Protection

If you charge the cost of an eligible product to your Amex Business Gold Card, you’ll enjoy purchase protection for up to 90 days after the date of purchase.

You’ll be covered by up to $1,000 per occurrence and a maximum of $50,000 per calendar year, in instances of theft or accidental damages.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Now that we’ve covered its benefits, let’s evaluate whether the American Business Gold Card is worth its annual fee.

Analysis of Annual Fees

The Amex Business Gold Card comes with an annual fee of $375.

While this doesn’t compete with the fees of heavyweight premium cards like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, it’s hardly cheap either.

So is the Amex Business Gold Card worth it? Let’s take a look at its benefits in action.

Real-World Value of Benefits

Despite its not-so-small annual fee, the Amex Business Gold Card has a wide array of perks that can be used easily to offset the annual fee by a long shot.

The annual $240 flexible business credit plus $155 Walmart+ membership credit offset the annual fee from the get-go by $20. If you can take advantage of these two statement credit perks, the card becomes effectively free to hold.

If you’re not interested in one or more of these statement credit perks, you’ll need to offset the annual fee through frequent expenditure. That’s where the Amex Business Gold Card’s 4X point multiplier on eligible business categories comes into play.

You’d need to spend a minimum of $9,375 in the 4X points bonus spending category to break even on the annual fee, assuming a rate of 1 cent per point. However, if you took advantage of the $240 flexible business credit, you’d need to spend only $3,375 in the 4X points bonus category to break even on the annual fee.

Likewise, if you take advantage of card insurance benefits such as baggage, trip delay, cell phone loss, car rental loss and damage insurance protection, you can save a significant amount, further offsetting the annual fee.

10xTravel’s Experiences and Reviews

Here’s a summary of what we like and don’t like about the American Express Business Gold Card.

Positive Feedback

The Amex Business Gold Card offers premium perks for a mid-tier annual fee.

If you can take advantage of its annual statement credits, offsetting its annual fee is easy.

Its 4X point bonus spending category covers an extensive range of potential business spending categories and although it’s capped at $150,000 per year, it’s unlikely you’ll reach this spending cap. Likewise, 3X points on prepaid hotels and flights booked through AmexTravel.com ensures that you’ll always earn a return on travel expenses.

Its extensive insurance perks also cover you in the majority of situations, saving you potentially hundreds of dollars per year on separate insurance plans.

Overall, the card can be worth well more than its annual fee.

Drawbacks

Despite its benefits, the American Express Business Gold Card isn’t for everyone.

If you’re looking for a wider range of business statement credits and luxury travel-related perks, The Business Platinum Card from American Express would be a more suitable option to go for.

Alternatively, if you’re against paying an annual fee or won’t be able to offset it through the perks offered, the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (see rates & fees) would be a better card to go for.

Similarly, not everyone will be able to benefit from the Amex Business Gold Card’s statement credits. For example, Walmart+ membership is only valuable for fans of Walmart. Likewise, the flexible $240 business credit covers select qualifying purchases with a small range of merchants and is issued monthly, not yearly. That means you won’t be able to maximize the statement credit perk if you miss out on a month.

Final Verdict

If you want a flexible, easy-to-use rewards structure that enables you to earn the most on what you spend the most on, the Amex Business Gold Card could be a perfect fit for you.

With a competitive welcome offer, lucrative statement credit perks and a wide range of transfer partners, the card can help small business owners make their spending go further and fund their travel goals.

However, if you’re after premium business perks and luxury travel benefits, The Business Platinum Card from American Express would be the better option to go for.

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.