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160,000 AMEX Business Platinum and 100,000 AMEX Business Gold Card bonus offers are being targeted to some AMEX members, and are worth considering in order to earn Membership Rewards points. Here are the offers:
- Earn 150K Membership Rewards Points after spending $15,000 on the card within the first 3 months
- Earn an additional 10K points adding an Employee Card and spending $1000 in the first 3 months
- Access to AMEX Centurion Lounges (although note that as of 2/1/23, guest access changes such that AMEX Platinum and AMEX Business Platinum card holders will have to pay $50 per adult guest and $30 per guest age 2-17)
- Trip cancellation / trip interruption insurance up to $10,000 per covered trip (up to $20,000 per 12 month period)
- Earn 1.5X Points per dollar on:
- Eligible purchases of $5,000 of more
- Electronics goods, retailers, software, and cloud service providers
- Construction materials and hardware supplies
- Shipping providers
- Up to $120 per year ($10 per month) statement credit for U.S. wireless phone providers
- $200 in statement credit per calendar year for incidental airline fees (must first select an eligible airline)
- Receive a statement credit every four years for Global Entry application fee ($100) or TSA PreCheck application fee ($85)
- $189 in statement credit per calendar year for an annual CLEAR membership
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status
- Hilton Honors Gold status
- Annual Fee: $695
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- Earn 90K Membership Rewards Points after spending $10,000 on the card within the first 3 months
- Earn an additional 10K points after adding an Employee Card and spending $1000 on it within the first 3 months
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards points on the 2 categories where your business spends the most (up to $150,000 per calendar year):
- Airfare purchased directly from airlines
- purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio) in the U.S.
- purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions in the U.S.
- gas stations in the U.S.
- restaurants in the U.S.
- purchases for shipping in the U.S.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Annual Fee: $295
- Apply by 9/30/22
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Analysis
We use a 2 cents per Membership Rewards point rule of thumb, although we recommend aiming for more than this when redeeming points. At 2 cents per point, the 100K AMEX Business Gold signup bonus is worth $2000, while the 160K AMEX Business Platinum bonus is worth $3200. If the annual fees were the same and if meeting the higher $16,000 minimum spend requirement for the AMEX Business Platinum wasn't an obstacle, it would make sense to apply for it. But with a $695 annual fee for the Business Platinum and benefits that may not benefit every user, it's a harder call.
Those who highly value the Business Platinum's Centurion Lounge access (and are fine with the guest fees that take effect on 2/1/23) are more likely to find the card worthwhile, and the $120 in mobile phone credits per year can help defray the annual fee (the $200 airline incidental fee credit has become a pain to use, but some will get mileage out of it as well). If you have a Global Entry or CLEAR fee coming up that will help too in bringing down the effective annual fee cost.
On the other hand, the AMEX Business Gold is a more useful card with its category bonuses for many businesses that have high spend in at least some of the available categories: airfare, dining, hardware/software/cloud spend, advertising, or shipping.
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