American Express Business Gold Card To Relaunch – $295 Annual Fee, 4x Categories 25% Points Back When Booking For Flights

According to a source familiar with the matter American Express will be relaunching the Business Gold Card.

  • $295 annual fee, not waived first year
  • Card will earn 4x points on the two categories your business spends the most each billing cycle, from the following list (up to $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year):
    • Airfare purchased directly from airlines
    • U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
    • U.S. purchases at gas stations
    • U.S. purchases for shipping
    • U.S. computer hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers
  • 25% points back after you book a flight with pay with points

I suspect this will be formally launched on November 8th. We previously posted that the 75,000 point offer would be available through November 7th, 2018. Based on what happened with the personal gold card I wouldn’t expect a strong launch offer when compared to the current bonus (75,000 points, annual fee waived) so if you’re eligible I’d recommend applying now. Keep in mind this hasn’t been officially confirmed by American Express as of yet, but I’m extremely confident it’s happening. It’s also not clear if this is the full list of benefits, or if others will be added.

View Comments (38)

    • @will Is this card the revamped version of the Business Gold Rewards? I currently have the BRG, can I apply for this one since it is a "new card"?

      • It is the refreshed version of the BGR and no you can't get it if you've had the old card, it's not considered a new card.

  • Just applied via a 15K self-referral link and while setting up my account I noticed that the ability to choose your 2x categories in the Benefits section is "currently unavailable", which may indicate the new changes are coming.

    • When adding offers to my new card I got a message in red on offers I had put on other cards. It said the following next to a red triangle with an exclamation point, "Sorry about that! The offer you selected has already been added to one of your Cards.", which I have not seen before. Sorry if this is old news.

  • I wish they'd add an Office Store category. BTW, if you select "U.S. computer hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers" one of the select vendors is Newegg which has a ton of gift cards for most anywhere. Stacks with AAdvantage eShopping or similar for at least 1 extra point per $.

  • It wasn’t really worth $195 before. Hopefully they add more benefits or else this is clearly a one year card.

  • I have the card now - $175 fee was waived first year, as usual until now, and will come due upon renewal in February. Any guess whether that AF will be grandfathered for current cardholders? If I were guessing, I'd say I'll be charged $175 for this first renewal and $295 thereafter. What do you think?

    • I think usually AMEX grandfathers only for a select group for a short period of time. Like cardmembers that have held card prior to 12/2018 will be grandfathered into old annual fee if annual fee is applied prior to 07/2019.

    • I'm in same boat as you. If they grandfather fee, plus $100, 25% back on redemption, and 4x on gas will sway me to hold it. Even with current af I'll close it

      • @guest_669061 @guest_669031 @guest_669005
        I'm not an Atty (nor do I play one on TV or the Internet) It is my understanding that Card issuers are not bound by CARD act of 2009 with regards to the same rules they deal with Business cards that have a personal guarantor.

        While I think I will do like I did with the new Gold card and signed up prior to launch my card agreement is grandfathered, with business cards I believe that they can amend terms, card agreements, rates and AF at any time (again not an attorney). If they do bump I would think that they would "courtesy waive" if you its not sitting in a sock drawer and you called or SM.

        Yet I think its better to get with P#2 referral for the first year free and new multipliers to see how it goes

        Yet I may revisit keeping or switch in to Biz Pt for 35% MR on flights and other perks (the 50% is sorely missed). Gas for my business may make this a keeper depending if gas continues to go up - perhaps a Biz Pt is in the works as well hopefully

        • You are correct. Business cards can have their rates and fees changed at any time. Whether that makes business sense is another issue.

    • I believe in most cases across most banks, amex should grandfather you in. We should have no AF year one, then 175 year two and 295 year 3. My guess to this is because when you signed up for the card, the legal contract states that AF structure but you never know with banks.

  • Good thing i was able to get this card at 75K points offer this year. Didn't want to keep this card but the higher annual fees made it easier for me. Until then i guess i'll just use it for 3X/4X on Gas.

  • This essentially makes this card have a higher annual fee than the business platinum right because the business platinum has airline credit of $200? I sure hope they don’t end up increasing the business platinum annual fee to $550

        • I can totally see them revamping benefits and increasing AF, they’ve done it to Personal Plat, PRG and now BGR

          • OK. Maybe they'll give us $120 advertisement credit for our "business" made directly with select media of which one is Yelp and you only get $10 per month.

            Just kidding but I expect them to be just as creative.

  • I got my gold card just 3 months back...i hope they dont charge me a $295 fee or else gonna cancel