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

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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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

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.

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: