The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express Review

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The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express Review

In this article, we will review the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, which offers expanded buying power for small business owners and membership rewards.

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express offers a 0% introductory APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening. The APR after that is 18.49% - 26.49% Variable based on your creditworthiness. This card also offers a Membership Rewards® program with no annual fee. You get 2X points on the first $50,000 spent each year. Moreover, you can earn 15,000 Extra Membership Rewards® points as a welcome bonus when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.

The Blue Business Plus: Pros and Cons

Rewards System in a Nutshell

You earn 2X points on all purchases up to the first $50,000 spent each year. After this, you will earn 1X points for any purchases throughout the rest of the year. The 0% APR is very attractive for businesses that are scaling up or have planned some major purchases.

There is no expiration date for the points that you will earn, and no limit on how much you can earn. These are flexible points that you can use in many different ways, however the cash value of the points varies by the way you redeem them. Usually, the cash value of your points varies between 0.5 cents to 1 cent per point. Listed below are several ways you can redeem points:

• Pay with points at checkout on major sites like Amazon, Best Buy, or Boxed
• Use your points to redeem for gift cards and certificates for dining, travel, lodging, and retail use
• Cover your card charges with cash back
• Use your points to book hotels or find flights at reduced rates through American Express Travel
• Offset your Excise Tax
• Transfer your points to a partner airline or hotel program. Usually, this is the most valuable way of redeeming your points. If you happen to find a good award flight at a partner airline, the cash value of one point can go beyond 1 cent.

Who can benefit from getting the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express?

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a good choice for small and growing businesses with a diversified spending structure. It is a classic rewards card without all of the tricky rules to follow and the timeframes for expired points. The simple rewards system with 2X points on all purchases regardless of categories allows business owners not to waste their time thinking when it is better to use the card for payment. They already have an answer - use the card every time you make purchases.

The APR will become a limiting factor for some businesses after the first 12 months, but you can use this card wisely and still earn a lot of points to be turned into useful business spendings.

The card may not be ideal for large businesses that can spend $50,000 just in a couple of months or less. The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express also doesn’t provide any special offers for travelers. Add here limited acceptance worldwide and 2.7% foreign transaction fee, which makes the card much less attractive for business travelers than other cards like Ink Business Preferred® from Chase or Spark Miles for business from Capital One.

But don’t forget - you can take advantage of transferring your Membership Rewards® points to numerous airline and hotel loyalty programs and getting the highest cash value per point.

Are there other benefits?

The 0% APR offered by the card is a huge attraction, but there are other benefits as well.

1. American Express offers tools and services that help you manage your account and your spending:
   • Get additional employee cards at no additional cost.
   • Connect your account to QuickBooks to simplify spending analysis.
   • You can designate an Account manager who will have access and the ability to manage the account.
   • American Express Business App helps simplify managing Business Card receipts by cardholders (either the owner of the account or authorized employees).
   • American Express App helps with spending and rewards tracking, finding offers, making payments as well as getting real-time account alerts.
2. You will also enjoy extended warranty benefits related to manufacturer’s warranties on covered purchases in the United States or its territories.
3. As an added perk, you will have access to dispute resolution services that will help to resolve issues with incorrect charges or suspicious card activity on your account.
4. Your American Express card will provide up to 90 days of purchase protection if an item bought with the card is stolen or damaged. This coverage is $1,000 per occurrence for up to $50,000 a year. There are some exceptions, but this is an amazing benefit.
5. This card also comes with options for car rental loss and damage protection. This benefit does not extend globally to all locations, so you will need to verify that your travel destination is on the list of approved locales. The coverage provided is secondary.
6. Terms Apply.

“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.”

Combine all of these benefits with around-the-clock, world-class customer support with the Relationship Care Service, and you have the perfect card for small businesses. You will always get business savvy service that will take care of your unique needs and help you unlock the power of your American Express Card.

Conclusion

With no annual fee and 0% intro APR, The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a good choice for small and medium-size businesses with occasional need for business travel. It’s not ideal for bigger businesses or corporations since they will hit the $50,000 limit for 2X rewards relatively fast.

The regular APR may be quite high, so it’s important for the cardholders to pay off all their large purchases before the 0% APR period ends. Even though this is not a travel card, ideally, you better redeem your points by transferring them to a partner airline or hotel program to get the most cash value for the points.

Overall, the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a well-thought of, quality credit card option for those looking for a reliable entity to get a card through.