American Express Business Credit Cards and Charge Cards

American Express offers a wide variety of small business cards for people with excellent credit. If you’re interested in consumer cards from American Express, read this page.

Some are business credit cards, while others are charge cards. Chances are there’s an American Express business card that will work to earn rewards on the money your business is already spending, whether you want to earn travel rewards or cash back.

Many of these cards earn Membership Rewards points, which can be transferred to partner loyalty programs as airline miles or hotel points. These points can also be redeemed for gift cards or statement credit, but you’ll usually get less value from them that way.

Most of these American Express cards have a introductory bonus, so you can earn bonus points for spending a certain amount within the first few months of card membership.

You can also get free employee cards to earn more rewards and manage employee spending.

Business Charge Cards

There are four Amex business charge cards for small business owners. They’re designed for business travel booked through American Express Travel and earn Membership Rewards points, except for the Plum Card. The Business Green Rewards card is the only one with a foreign transaction fee. Since they have no pre-set spending limit, you can use these to earn rewards on big business expenses.

Card	Annual Fee	Points Per Dollar
The Business Platinum® Card from American Express (Review)	$595	5X on flights and prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel 2X on other purchases booked with Amex Travel 1.5X on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more 1X on all other purchases
American Express® Business Gold Card (Review)	$295	4X in the two categories your business spends the most in each month, up to $150,000 per year: Airfare purchased directly from airlines, U.S. advertising in select media, U.S. computer hardware, software, and cloud computing providers, U.S. shipping, U.S. gas stations, U.S. restaurants 2X on eligible purchases at Amex Travel 1X on all other purchases
The Plum Card® from American Express OPEN (Review)	$250, $0 first year	Does not earn Membership Rewards points 1.5% discount when you pay your bill within 10 days of statement closing date 60 days to pay off your balance after statement closing date
Business Green Rewards Card from American Express (Review)	$95, $0 first year	2X on eligible purchases from Amex Travel 1X on all other purchases

Business Credit Cards

Amex offers two business credit cards, and the main difference is their rewards programs. Neither has an annual fee, but both have a 2.7% foreign transaction fee.

• The The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express (Review) earns Membership Rewards points
• The SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express (Review) earns cash back

For Earning Membership Rewards Points

For Earning Cash Back

Co-Branded Credit Cards

American Express offers several co-branded cards in partnership with other brands, including Amazon, Delta, Hilton hotels, Starwood (including Marriott) hotels, and Lowe’s home improvement stores.

Amazon

Amex offers two co-branded Amazon business credit cards — one for regular Amazon customers, and one for Amazon Prime members. The regular card provides 3% cash back for Amazon services and at Whole Foods Markets, while the Prime card provides 5% cash back for those purchases. Each card also has several other 2% cash back bonus categories.

Delta

American Express and Delta offer a wide variety of cards at different annual fees. None has a foreign transaction fee. At the highest end, the Delta Reserve comes with airport lounge access and several other extra benefits. Otherwise, the main differences are how the cards earn rewards and how many bonus miles you can get when you spend on the card within the first few months of card membership.

Card	Annual Fee
Delta Reserve for Business Credit Card	$450
Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express (Review)	$195
Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express	$95, $0 first year

Hilton Hotels

If you stay at Hilton hotels frequently, this card makes it easy to rack up Hilton Honors points as well as some other perks at Hilton hotels.

Starwood & Marriott Hotels

If you frequently spend and stay at Starwood or Marriott hotels, this card can be quite valuable for earning Starpoints. If you stay exclusively at Marriott hotels, consider the Marriott Rewards Premier Business Card from Chase instead.

Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores

If your business spends at Lowe’s frequently, this no annual fee card could save you lots of money (5% off at Lowe’s) and earn you rewards.

Amex Business Card Features

Benefits

American Express business cards have access to a suite of Amex OPEN business benefits, which include:

• Free employee cards: to help manage spending and maximize rewards
• Account Manager: Designate a trusted account manager to handle your business card account
• Spend Manager: For help managing your card expenses and tracking receipts
• Connect to Quickbooks: Transfer data from your Amex statement directly into Quickbooks
• Year-end Summary: See a complete summary of all your spending for the year, broken down into categories
• Amex OPEN Forum: Talk with other cardmembers about business and using your cards
• 24/7 Business Customer Support: Call to speak with a business specialist, trained to help with your business needs