Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card welcome offers, earning rates and benefits and some credit card benefits will require enrollment. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
The Blue Business® Plus credit card From American Express is a favorite card of mine (I even included it in my ideal 4-card American Express Membership Rewards team) but historically, this was a card that didn’t offer a welcome bonus. For a little over a year now, however, that hasn’t been the case but as I have no idea how much longer this bonus offer will be around (possibly another year!), it seems to be worth highlighting.
The Blue Business credit card from American Express
Annual fee
- $0 (rates & fees)
Earnings
- 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar on the first $50,000 in purchases each year (for all eligible spending)
- 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar on all other eligible spending.
Headline benefits
Apart from the usual insurances and protections that come with a lot of Amex cards, the Blue Business credit card from American Express doesn’t offer much in the way of “benefits” – the key to this card is its ability to reward cardholders in situations where most other cards will not.
The welcome offer
Right now, the Blue Business® Plus credit card From American Express is offering successful new applicants the chance to earn 15,000 Membership Rewards Points if they spend $3,000 in the first 3 months of card membership (more details).
Using my valuation of MR points (1.5 cents each – based on the value that I know I can get out of them with little effort), this is a bonus that’s effectively worth $225. That’s pretty fantastic when you consider the fact that the Blue Business Plus Card doesn’t charge an annual fee.
Thoughts
This isn’t the highest welcome bonus that we’ve seen this card offer (I received 20,000 bonus points when I applied for this card back in 2019) but this is still one of the higher ones that we’ve seen and it’s an offer that’s well worth having…especially as this can be an incredibly useful card to hold.
Using my earlier valuation of Membership Rewards Points (1.5 cents per point), the Blue Business Plus Card’s earning rate of 2 points/dollar on all eligible spending (up to $50,000 per year -terms apply) is an effective rebate of 3 cents/dollar (3% back) and that’s a great rebate to be given on spending in categories where most other cards offer considerably less.
If a cardholder is spending on airfare, general travel, dining, or at grocery stores, there are a variety of better cards that they can use for spending in those categories (although most of these “better” cards also charge an annual fee), but it’s important to remember that those aren’t the only categories that cardholders are likely to spend in.
When it comes to spending at…
- drugstores
- doctor appointments
- optometrists/opticians
- department stores
- pet stores
- clothes stores
- hardware stores
- electrical supply stores
- home improvement stores
- car valeting centers
- wine merchants
- movie theatres
- sports events
- music events
…and a whole host of other places, most Amex/Chase/Citi points-earning credit cards will only offer 1 point/dollar or, at best, a 1.5% effective rebate.
Blue Business® Plus credit card From American Express offers double that.
On top of this, it’s important to remember that the Membership Rewards Points that the Amex Blue Business Plus credit card earns can be transferred over (in a 1:1 ratio) to loyalty programs like Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, and the British Airways Executive Club and that by transferring points to these programs, it’s likely that the overall effective return from the Blue Business Plus credit card will be greater than 3% – That’s pretty amazing for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee (rates & fees).
Bottom line
With no annual fee to pay, an effective rebate of 3% on all eligible spending up to $50,000/year, and access to Amex offers, there really isn’t anything to dislike about the Blue Business® Plus credit card and 15,000 bonus Membership Rewards points that are currently on offer are just the cherry on top.
If you need to add a card to your portfolio that will boost your earnings in situations where other cards offer a poor return, now may be a good time to consider the Blue Business® Plus credit card From American Express.
For rates and fees of the Blue Business® Plus credit card From American Express, please visit this page
[…] Citi Double Cash Card offers 2% cashback on all spending and the Blue Business Plus Card from American Express offers 2 points/dollar (on all spending up to $50,000) and although both of these cards will charge […]
[…] cuts my other cards are taking – I’ll be watching closely to see what exactly is cut from my new Blue Business Pluss card when Amex starts announcing all these changes to cardholders from 1 […]