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60,000 Membership Rewards points (= 60,000 Avios) with the Amex Platinum Business card

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I don’t write much about small business credit cards on Head for Points, because they tend to offer poor value. There are, for example, two British Airways American Express Corporate Cards, which I discuss in this post on the On Business loyalty scheme. They are not desperately exciting, though, and usually have no sign-up bonus.

American Express, however, has just launched a great deal on its small business cards.

American Express Business Gold card

Amex is now offering 60,000 Membership Rewards points when you apply for the American Express Platinum Business card.  There has been no bonus on this card at all for the last few months.

However, they have reduced the offer on the other card.  You now receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points when you apply for the American Express Gold Business card, a drop on the previous figure of 40,000.

See here for full details on the Platinum and Gold cards.

Please note, though, that you CANNOT get these bonuses if you have a Gold, Platinum, Green or Centurion personal Amex card.  This will unfortunately disqualify most of us.  This is because, whilst these are called ‘business’ cards, they are mainly aimed at sole traders and the points go into a personal Membership Rewards account.

Here are the basics:

  • The Platinum card carries an annual fee of £450, the Gold card costs £125
  • Clause 18.2 of the Terms & Conditions confirms that you will get a pro-rata fee refund when you cancel
  • See this post for what you can do with Membership Rewards points in other loyalty schemes
  • You need to spend £6,000 in three months to get the 60,000 points on the Platinum Business card
  • You need to spend £3,000 in three months to get the 20,000 points on the Gold Business card
  • You earn 1 point per £1 when you spend on the card

Gold Business

What does Amex count as a small business?

Here are the rules from the Amex website for Platinum:

To apply for the Platinum Business Card, you should be able to say yes to the following:

  • I am aged 18 or over
  • The company has been trading for more than one year and has a current UK Bank or Building Society account
  • My personal income is over £20,000
  • I have a permanent UK home address
  • I/The Business have/has no County Court Judgements for non-payment of debt
  • Pay annual fee of £450 (Tax deductable)

There is one other important point to note. The Platinum Business card still comes with full travel insurance, with no small print. It is the policy that the Platinum personal card used to have before it was downgraded, with no requirement to use the card to pay for anything before you qualify. You can also cover 5 other family groups, apart from your own, by handing out supplementary cards on your account.

Let me repeat, though – you cannot get these cards if you have (or have had in the last six months) a personal Gold, Green, Platinum or Centurion Amex card.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

Amex Platinum Business American Express

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Category

American Express Membership Rewards

Comments (12)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • James Ward says:
    20 Sep20 September 07:02

    I was on the verge of applying for one of these cards even before today’s post, based on the fact that commenters in your previous one claim to have received the bonus MR points despite already holding a personal Green / Gold / Plat Amex. But you seem absolutely certain this isn’t possible, which does back up what I was told by the Brighton office when I called to ask. If it were a smaller qualifying spend, I’d just risk it. But £6,000 is quite a gamble when that same spend would earn up to 12,000 points anyway on my Gold card (double MR points first year bonus). What a shame 🙁

    • Rob says:
      20 Sep20 September 07:28

      Some people find – if they have multiple existing Amex cards and ‘forget’ to mention the MR-earning one on the application form – that a 2nd MR account is created and you get the bonus. This is rare, though.

      At the end of the day, the MR points go into your existing personal MR account, and the fact that you have that existing personal MR account theoretically disqualifies you from the bonus.

  • Johnny5a says:
    20 Sep20 September 07:25

    Arrggg I’ve just got the Gold Business Card (40k) – oh well next year 🙂

    • Rob says:
      20 Sep20 September 07:29

      60,000 comes and goes a couple of times a year.

    • Rich says:
      20 Sep20 September 08:04

      You’re not alone! I applied for a gold card on Monday. At least it was 40K and not 20K.

      By the way I don’t think it’s possible to have the corporate BA cards and all the Avios go into one person’s Avios account. The On business points can be pooled but the Avios have to go to the individual card holders. That’s what I was told by AMEX anyway.

  • AviosNewbie says:
    20 Sep20 September 08:13

    Raffles: does the 6 month rule apply for supplementary cards as well? My wife had a supplementary gold card until 2 months ago, when I cancelled both the cards after collecting and transfering the MRs.

    Can she now apply for this plat/gold as the primary cardholder and get the bonus points?

    • Rob says:
      20 Sep20 September 09:12

      You’re fine. Supplementary cardholders are not treated as ‘real’ cardholders as the main cardholder is liable for all the spending, somif she applies she is seen as a new customer.

  • DeltaCharlie says:
    20 Sep20 September 09:03

    If you apply for this can you then apply for the Personal Plat within 6 months or does it restrict both ways?

    • Rob says:
      20 Sep20 September 09:15

      Restricts both ways, as you have a Membership Rewards account which is the problem.

  • Michael Christie says:
    20 Sep20 September 09:27

    Hi Raffles

    My wife and i must be the lucky ones…start of year i applied for Business Gold card for wifes business (havign an SPG, BA PP and Platinum card) and was accepted….spent the 2k i think and got 40k MR points with no probs.

    Then in Feb/March i think i then applied for Business Platinum card for my business….having an SPG, Gold personal Amex and BA PP. Was accepted – spent the 6k and the 60k miles were deposited to MR account. Just transferred them out on the 25% bonus scheme so was all to good use.

    So its worked twice for me….i did say we had Amex card on the application but i cant recall exact details of what i put down.

    Like i say I must be lucky 🙂

  • DeltaCharlie says:
    20 Sep20 September 09:27

    Thought that was the case, thanks Raffles.

  • Ed E says:
    20 Sep20 September 18:21

    Must make a note in the diary for when my company has been running a year and I can get this!
    Ed

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

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