Amex Blue Business Plus

The Blue Business Plus is the simplest card American Express makes for small businesses: 2x Membership Rewards points on everything, with no categories to track and no annual fee. The 2x rate applies to the first $50,000 of purchases each year and drops to 1x after that, so it is sized for a business spending roughly $4,000 a month rather than a large operation. Approval generally starts at good credit, roughly 670 or higher, and the welcome offer is 15,000 Membership Rewards points after $3,000 in the first three months. What makes the card unusual is not the rate but the currency. Membership Rewards points can be moved to travel partners, and this is one of the few ways to earn them at 2x without paying an annual fee, which is why it works best as the everyday earner sitting behind a premium Amex card that handles redemptions. Used alone the arithmetic is more sober: if you value points at a cent each, 2x is a 2% card, a figure several no-fee cash back cards match without an award chart to learn. The value case therefore rests entirely on whether you will actually transfer points to partners or simply cash them out. The annual fee is $0, so there is no break-even calculation to run, but two other costs deserve attention. The card charges a foreign transaction fee, which is awkward for a business with overseas suppliers or regular international travel, and the regular APR is 16.74% to 28.49% variable, a wide band that means your approved rate could land near the middle of the market or well above it. The 0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases gives a young business room to invest ahead of revenue, but only if there is a credible plan to clear the balance before month thirteen. It is the wrong card for a business spending far more than $50,000 a year, since everything past that threshold earns 1x, and for anyone unwilling to learn transfer partners, because that is where the extra value over a cash back card lives. It is also poorly matched to international spending given the foreign transaction fee. If you want simplicity and cash in the bank rather than points, a flat rate cash back business card will serve you better with less work and no redemption research.