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BIG NEWS: All bonus restrictions dropped on the two Amex Business cards

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American Express has made a substantial change to the rules covering the sign-up bonuses on American Express Business Gold and American Express Business Platinum.

The new rules? There are no rules.

If you are accepted for an Amex Business card, you qualify for the bonus. No small print.

Even better, as we cover in a separate article today (click to read), American Express has launched impressive new sign-up offers on Business Gold and Business Platinum.

You can apply for Business Gold here and apply for Business Platinum here.

Our full article on the two new sign-up offers is here. In summary:

  • you earn up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points on Business Platinum, based on earning 8 Membership Rewards points per £1 spent for the first three months
  • you earn up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points on Business Gold, based on earning 4 Membership Rewards points per £1 spent for the first three months

Both offers have a cap of £10,000 of qualifying spending, after which you will earn the standard rate of 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent. Regardless of what you spend, you will return to the standard rate after three months.

You can apply until 22nd October.

What has happened to the sign-up bonus rules?

American Express has removed all restrictions on getting the sign-up bonuses on Business Gold and Business Platinum.

We can confirm that this is not an error on Amex’s part.

‘No restrictions’ means, for example:

  • if you have or recently had Business Platinum, you can apply for Business Gold and receive the bonus
  • if you have or recently had Business Gold, you can apply for Business Platinum and receive the bonus
  • if you have or recently had a personal Gold or Platinum card, you can apply for Business Platinum and/or Business Gold and receive the bonus
  • if you have British Airways Accelerating Business, you can apply for Business Platinum and/or Business Gold and receive the bonus

There is, of course, an important caveat.

Just because you can apply for the cards doesn’t mean that you will be accepted. American Express may or may not be willing to take you back if you recently cancelled, or to give you Business Gold if you already have Business Platinum.

You are free to try though, and if you are accepted you WILL get the bonus points.

We don’t know how long the lack of bonus rules will last. I’m sure that American Express will take a view at some point on whether it is delivering what they want.

IMPORTANT: There are no changes to the bonus rules on any of the personal American Express cards or on the British Airways Accelerating Business card. It only applies to Business Gold and Business Platinum.

What are the criteria for getting an Amex Business card?

There is no need to run your business via a Limited Company or partnership. Sole traders are accepted.

It is a relatively simple list of requirements:

  • You have a permanent UK home address
  • The business (if incorporated) has a UK bank account
  • The business (if incorporated) has no County Court Judgements against it
  • You are over 18

There are no turnover or profitability requirements for the company itself but you must have a minimum personal income of £20,000 for Business Gold or £35,000 for Business Platinum.

There is no longer any requirement to have been in business for one year – you can now apply as soon as you have a bank account.

Of course, you should only use the card for ‘business expenditure’. American Express can close your account if it sees non-business spending going through.

That said, my Business Platinum card currently has cardmember cashback offers for Moss Bros, Celebrity Cruises, Citizen Watches, And So To Bed and Hearst Magazines (Esquire etc) so it isn’t entirely clear where the line on ‘business expenditure’ is drawn.

You will always be able to get a pro-rata fee refund

As we have mentioned many times, American Express is planning – at some point in 2024 – to remove the right to a pro-rata fee refund when you cancel a credit card.

This will not impact Business Platinum and Business Gold because they are charge cards, not credit cards. You will be able to get a pro-rata fee refund at any point on these cards irrespective of what happens to Amex’s personal and business credit card portfolio.

Remember that Business Gold is free for the first year anyway.

Next steps ….

Click here to read our article on the two special sign-up bonus deals launched today

Click here to read our full review of American Express Business Platinum (£650 fee, up to 80,000 points available)

Click here to read our full review of American Express Business Gold (free for year 1, up to 40,000 points available)

Click here to apply for Business Platinum

Click here to apply for Business Gold

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You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Membership Rewards, American Express Platinum card

Comments (108)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • BJ says:
    12 Sep12 September 05:39

    Could this be a trial to inform a new model for delivering bonuses to personal cardholders too whereby SUB are delivered based on spend over say the first six months? This would both encourage spending and put the brakes on applicants signing up, bagging the bonus and cancelling within 1-2 months. If it worked well it could also spell the end of SUB rules on personal bonuses too. I’m not sure they are thinking this way though because if they were 4 & 2 points over the first 6 months would be better for amex than 8 & 4 across 3 months.

    • Sam says:
      12 Sep12 September 08:04

      I hope it is. I have definately stopped using AmEx since they introduced the current rules (and would restart if they reduced restrictions).

  • Jimbob says:
    12 Sep12 September 06:27

    I already have Business Gold card, if I apply for the Business Platinum card and get accepted, will I retain both cards or will Amex upgrade the card and I’ll lose the Gold card?

  • tootsci says:
    12 Sep12 September 06:57

    @Rob Is this one of the two big credit card announcements you hinted at the other week? And if so, is the other coming soon?

  • Cranzle says:
    12 Sep12 September 06:58

    You will likely get cancelled if you think owning 1 or 2 buy to let properties qualifies as a business.

    • Reney says:
      12 Sep12 September 08:22

      Have you had personal experience or know someone who has been cancelled?

      • Rob says:
        12 Sep12 September 08:26

        Buy to let absolutely fine in my view.

        • Reney says:
          12 Sep12 September 08:32

          The issue is BTL in theory should incurr very little day to day expense. And most of the ones you do e.g mortgage cost can’t use amex. So you are then really using it all for personal expense. @Rob have you had readers with problem with personal expense, I know the write up links it to offers, but a bit more experience would help.

          • Ken says:
            12 Sep12 September 09:23

            I had no problem.

            However I put flights, hotels & trains on it.
            How can anyone know whether they are business or personal?

            I wouldn’t buy a coffee and sandwich (which could be subsistence) from my local as I know they would get rinsed in charges, whereas I don’t really care about BA or Marriott.

          • Rob says:
            12 Sep12 September 09:26

            No-one cares what goes through the card as long as it looks like business expenditure, because ‘normal’ retailers don’t like paying the high fees these cards have and complain to Amex if people are using them for clearly personal purchases.

          • Rob says:
            12 Sep12 September 09:29

            As Amex is encouraging me (via cardmember offers) to buy a new bed, some flowers and a watch on my Business Platinum card, I think you can make your own judgement.

            I am just stating the official position.

          • Colin_Thames says:
            12 Sep12 September 10:46

            Im just about to order a new kitchen for a BTL. Howden’s takes Amex! As do most kitchen and appliance suppliers.
            It’s not whether BTL is a business, more whether you have a business account or if you use a personal account surely?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      12 Sep12 September 09:30

      Ofcourse it would qualify you. Can be used for plenty of maintenance supply’s if you’ve applied at the right time for that.

      Or as below business expenses like travels just don’t spend in coffee shops and supermarkets.

      • Colin MacKinnon says:
        12 Sep12 September 10:12

        Being in the countryside, I put a lot of business expenses for cleaning stuff etc through our local Sainsbury (and Argos inside it)

        Otherwise it is a 22 mile round trip to the next nearest supermarket. And 60 mile round trip to Costco!

        Or pay delivery fees!

        Ps. Won’t be applying for this – just spent £10k and time to travel!

        • TGLoyalty says:
          12 Sep12 September 10:15

          I know I’m with you I can think of plenty businesses that might want to hoover up some cut price supermarket deals but Amex has its triggers.

      • Occasional Ranter says:
        12 Sep12 September 13:42

        “As Amex is encouraging me (via cardmember offers) to buy a new bed, some flowers and a watch on my Business Platinum card,”

        There are lines of business that might need a new bed and accurate timekeeping, to be fair

  • William Avery says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:25

    Big news until you realise you have to put through >3k pcm of spend on a card that doesn’t work for a lot of business expenditure.

    • Peter K says:
      12 Sep12 September 15:44

      On the flip side, if you don’t know if you will put £10k through, and wouldn’t sign up if you had to hit that specific target, it is potentially a better deal.

  • Greg says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:32

    I’ve read both articles but still a bit confused.

    Are AMEX offering 8 points per £ from day 1 or only after hitting the £10k spend ?

    In other words, if I spend £3k in the first 3 months, will I have earned 24,000 points ?

    • Jonathans says:
      12 Sep12 September 07:39

      From day one you earn 8pt per £ up to £10k/80,000pt or 3 months – whichever comes first. After which time it reverts back to 1pt per £.

  • 9xolaereht says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:37

    If I apply for business platinum, and get accepted, will I still be eligible for the sign up bonus on personal platinum?

  • Metty says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:46

    Amex are obviously being picky; I tried applying for both – I am Director of a PLC so would be silly not to – and was refused for both. I wonder why 🙂

    • Froggee says:
      12 Sep12 September 07:59

      Probably coz they are worried you’ll give 20 family members supplementary cards?

      • Metty says:
        12 Sep12 September 09:39

        Haha, could be true. I used to work with someone who was very proud of having an Amex account for his dog, no wonder they’re more regulated these days!

    • Rob says:
      12 Sep12 September 08:30

      You’d be expected to get a corporate Amex if revenue is £5m.

      • Harry says:
        12 Sep12 September 09:03

        Are the Corporate Amex Cards actually better products though? Their earning rates seem lower than the SME cards – unless the published benefits differ depending on size.

        My company has revenue in excess of £15m (charge around £300k on Amex business cards). We have never seen the logic of switching to corporate.

        Likewise – Barclaycard Commercial has a worse offering than Barclaycard Business. The only negative side is a £25,000 credit limit cap.

        • Rob says:
          12 Sep12 September 09:25

          No, they are poorer products because big companies aren’t meant to care about card benefits.

          You can, however, negotiate fee discounts if you agree not to earn points.

        • Elnur says:
          13 Sep13 September 03:04

          Yes, corporate cards are not good. The only plus is the limit. Our company has ~£1M corporate limit. And the company is not too big. It is <£10M revenue.

          Btw, you may try and still apply for business cards. It worked for us.

    • Greg says:
      12 Sep12 September 09:27

      Try telling them you’ll give all your employees a supplement card – they may change their mind

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