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The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is a business card with a duality of use. Frequent business travelers will love the Global Lounge Collection membership, elite statuses, and other travel perks.
At the same time, stationary business owners can get a lot of value from the statement credits and business-centered bonus rewards categories. But the card's high annual fee -- and the extra cost of employee cards -- are worth considering before taking the plunge. Read our full review of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express for more details.
Good/Excellent (670-850)
Intro APR
Purchases: N/A
Balance Transfers: N/A
APR
19.49% - 27.49%, variable
Rewards Get 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com, and 1X points for each dollar you spend on eligible purchases. Earn 1.5X points on eligible purchases at US construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year.
1X - 5X points
Annual Fee
$695
Welcome Offer Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
120,000 Membership Rewards® points
A solid business travel credit card that is loaded with perks. But the high annual fee will be a downside for business owners not traveling much.
This card is a good fit for: Business owners who can maximize the statement credits and frequent business travelers who place high value on the travel perks.
This card packs in the perks, giving a lot of value to cardholders who can maximize them.
While this isn't the best rewards card we've seen, it has decent purchase rewards -- especially if you love the Amex Travel portal. But there are also a number of useful bonus categories for a variety of business types.
With this card, you can earn:
(To be clear, the 1.5x points on purchases over $5,000 applies to purchases where the single transaction amount is over $5,000.)
Right now, new cardholders can earn a welcome bonus worth up to 120,000 Membership Rewards points. To earn the welcome bonus, you'll need to spend $15,000 on your new card within the first three months of card membership. This is a huge amount of points worth at least $1,200 in flights through Amex Travel -- and potentially much more when used with transfer partners.
This is one of the best cards for lounge access for business owners. The Global Lounge Collection membership provides access to more than 1,400 airport lounges around the world, including some of the most exclusive:
Airport lounge access can be a highly valuable tool for anyone who travels by air, especially regular business travelers. Lounge access can range in price from $30 to $50 -- or more -- per visit. So, this perk can make the card's annual fee worth paying in and of itself if you travel frequently.
Read more: Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express cardholders get a shortcut to elite status with two of the largest hotel brands:
Hilton Honors Gold Status
This is the second-highest status tier, and it's enough to get you a daily food and beverage credit at most Hilton properties. You'll also get space-available room upgrades, your fifth night free on rewards stays, and an 80% bonus on stays. This is the same status you get with the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status
This is mid-tier elite status, but it does have a few useful perks. Members enjoy 2 p.m. checkout and room upgrades, as well as a 25% points bonus on stays. This is the similar status you'd get with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card.
See more: Best Hotel Credit Cards
A lot of the value of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express comes in the form of statement credits. These are similar to rebates that show up on your credit card after you make an eligible purchase.
As a card member, you can get:
In most cases, you'll need to enroll your card before you can earn the statement credit.
Having no foreign transaction fees on a credit card is a perk that may get lost in the crowd of other benefits, but it shouldn't be overlooked. Foreign transaction fees are extra fees tacked onto purchases in foreign currencies or that route through foreign banks. They can range from 1%-3% of the total transaction amount. This is a seemingly small charge that can actually add up big time -- especially if you travel abroad frequently or use foreign suppliers for your business.
Maximizing your card rewards is a two-step process: earning and redeeming. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, while decent at the first, is excellent at the second. That's thanks to the 35% bonus you get on any points you redeem on flights through Amex Travel. (Capped at 1,000,000 points back per calendar year.)
For example, if you redeem 100,000 points for a flight through Amex Travel, you'll get 35,000 of those points back. This boosts your per-point redemption value significantly.
This isn't as flashy a benefit as, say, a big sign-up bonus. But the Amex concierge can be a worthwhile perk nonetheless. The Amex concierge can save you both money and time -- the latter of which may be even more important to many cardholders.
Just a few of the things a good concierge can help you with include:
What's more, good card concierges often have contacts you may lack. This helps them get you into restaurants or shows that may otherwise be sold out.
Related: Read The Ascent's guide to the Best American Express Credit Cards.
If you want travel points and free employee cards: The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is a very popular business card thanks to its premium rewards in popular business categories. It also offers unlimited free employee cards with spending limit and purchase tracking tools. All for a relatively low annual fee.
If you want Membership Rewards and no annual fee: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a no annual fee business card that earns Membership Rewards points. You'll get 2x points per dollar on the first $50,000 in annual purchases, plus unlimited 1x points per dollar on eligible purchases after that. You also get free employee cards.
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The Business Platinum Card® from American Express | Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card | Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express |
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Rating image, 3.50 out of 5 stars.
3.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Apply Now for Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
On Chase's Secure Website. |
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Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Welcome Offer: Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. 120,000 Membership Rewards® points |
Welcome Offer: Earn 120,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 120,000 bonus points |
Welcome Offer: Earn 15,000 Membership Reward points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership. 15,000 points |
Rewards Program: Get 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com, and 1X points for each dollar you spend on eligible purchases. Earn 1.5X points on eligible purchases at US construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year. 1X - 5X points |
Rewards Program: Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases-with no limit to the amount you can earn. Earn 3 points per $1 in select business categories |
Rewards Program: 2X points on the first $50,000 spent in purchases each year, 1X points on purchases thereafter 1x - 2x points |
Intro APR: Purchases: N/A Balance Transfers: N/A |
Intro APR: N/A Purchases: N/A Balance Transfers: N/A |
Intro APR: Purchases: 0%, 12 months Balance Transfers: N/A |
APR: 19.49% - 27.49%, variable |
Regular APR: 21.24%-26.24% Variable |
APR: 18.24% – 26.24%, Variable |
Annual Fee: $695 |
Annual Fee: N/A $95 |
Annual Fee: $0 |
Highlights:
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Highlights:
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Highlights:
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Apply Now for Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
On Chase's Secure Website. |
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The information for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by The Ascent. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Although this card has a long list of perks, there are a few downsides to note as well.
The main red flag for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is the high upfront -- and ongoing -- cost of ownership. Cardholders must pay an annual fee of $695, one of the highest annual fees of any cards we've reviewed. While The Business Platinum Card® from American Express certainly comes with a lot of benefits for that fee, not everyone will get enough value from those benefits to make the fee worth paying. It's a good idea to seriously analyze the perks and statement credits to ensure you'll get your money's worth from this card.
Many business credit cards, even those with annual fees, offer free employee cards. This makes it easy for trusted employees to make business purchases on your behalf. Unfortunately, you'll need to pay $300 a pop if you want your employees to have their own Business Platinum cards on your account. While this does come with some useful tools -- employee cards can earn rewards at the same rate, and you can set individual credit limits -- this may be a high price to pay when alternative options cost nothing.
Both your business and personal credit will be checked when you apply for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. American Express doesn't list specific credit requirements, but based on the premium nature of the card, it's probably safe to assume you'll need very good to excellent credit. We'd recommend a FICO® Score of 750 or higher for the best chances of approval. Additionally, your business revenue will likely play a significant role in your approval for this card.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express cardholders will get the most out of their card if they can maximize the perks. This is likely easiest for regular business travelers who value the travel perks like elite hotel status and airport lounge access. But you could likely get at least enough value to cover the annual fee -- if not more -- out of the various statement credits for companies like Dell and Adobe. However, the high $695 is enough that you should seriously consider if you'll realistically get that value before applying.
Read more: Best Business Credit Cards
At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.
We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
For rates and fees for the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here
For rates and fees for the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, click here
For rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, click here
For rates and fees for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here
The Motley Fool recommends Amex.