American Express announces positive changes to British Airways Accelerating Business Credit Card

This article is an advertising feature in partnership with American Express

American Express® has announced some changes today to the British Airways Accelerating Business Credit Card which is aimed at sole traders and small businesses.

Overall the changes look positive and American Express appears to have come up with a good package.

Let’s take a look at the Card and what has changed. The changes do not take effect until 1st September 2021 and will not be reflected on the American Express website until then.

What is the British Airways Accelerating Business Credit Card?

In 2019, American Express launched a new British Airways Credit Card for SME’s – the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Credit Card (which I will now call “BA Amex Business” for short). 

The sign-up bonus and the annual spend bonus consisted of On Business Points, which are part of the British Airways small business loyalty scheme, whilst day to day spending on the Card earned Avios. The new package is easier to understand.

The day to day earning rate is improving

There are two ways to earn points with the BA Amex Business Card on day to day spend, with flight purchases at British Airways attracting an extra bonus.

From 1st September:

• You earn 1.5 Avios for every £1 you spend on the Card, plus

• You earn an additional 1 On Business Point for every eligible £1 you spend with British Airways, on top of your standard On Business earning rate (1 point per £1 for Tier 1 members)

On Business is the British Airways loyalty scheme for small businesses.  If you are not a member, please read our full review of British Airways On Business here. The On Business redemption chart, which British Airways does not make public, can be found in this HfP article.

What has changed is the additional bonus you receive when you purchase British Airways flight tickets. This increases from an extra 0.5 On Business Points per eligible £1 to 1 On Business Point.

The annual spend bonus is improving

The British Airways Accelerating Business Credit Card has always had an annual spend bonus, but from September this is improving. You used to receive 3,000 bonus On Business Points if you spent £20,000 on the Card during your membership year.

The annual bonus will now be paid as Avios.

You will receive 10,000 bonus Avios for every £20,000 of qualifying purchases you make on the Card.

You can earn this bonus up to three times per calendar year, meaning a maximum annual bonus of 30,000 Avios.

This means that, if you spent exactly £20,000 or £40,000 or £60,000 on the Card, you would be earning an average of 2 Avios per £1. No other card, either from American Express or elsewhere, can match this.

What happens to your 2021 annual spend bonus?

American Express will be in touch to explain how your Card will transition to the new benefits, in particular the change in the annual spending bonus.

From 1st September, spend by existing Cardmembers will count towards the new ‘10,000 bonus Avios each time you spend £20,000’ bonus. This is driven by calendar year, so you will need to reach £20,000 by 31st December 2021 when your accumulated spend total will reset.

Existing Cardmembers will also remain eligible for the existing annual bonus of 3,000 On Business Points as long as you hit the £20,000 spend target by 31st December 2021.

Is the annual fee changing?

The annual fee for BA Amex Business will be £250 from 1st September. This will apply from your next renewal date for existing Cardmembers.

The Card has a representative APR of 96.7% variable, including the annual fee, based on an assumed credit limit of £1200. The purchase rate is 22.2% p.a. variable.

What is happening to the sign up bonus?

Whilst not relevant for existing Cardmembers, I am told by American Express that the sign-up bonus will switch from On Business Points to Avios from September.

We will write more about this nearer the time when more details are available.

Conclusion

These changes to the BA Amex Business Card represent a welcome simplification and improvement to the overall package.

This is especially true if you can trigger annual spend bonuses for spending £20,000+ on the Card each year, and have substantial British Airways spending which will benefit from earning bonus On Business Points.

Cardmembers will receive full details of these changes from American Express over the next few days, with the changes taking effect from 1st September. The sign-up bonus for new applicants will change at that time.

You can learn more about the Card on the British Airways Accelerating Business website although the new benefits package is not reflected there.

American Express Services Europe Limited has its registered office at Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9AX, United Kingdom. It is registered in England and Wales with Company Number 1833139 and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history.  By recommending credit cards on this site, I am – technically – acting as a credit broker.  Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker.