Update: At least one person has been able to successfully chose their category now. They did this by using online chat. You should also be able to do it online now:
- Card benefits
- Choice
- Scroll to the end of the terms & conditions
- Enroll
Back in December, 2014 American Express announced a number of changes to their American Express Business Gold card. One of those changes was the ability to pick what category you earn 3x Membership Rewards points in, up until now you’ve been restricted to receiving 3x points on all airfares purchased directly from airlines and 2x Membership Rewards points in advertising in select media, shipping, at gas stations, and made directly from select computer hardware, software, and cloud computing providers.
On January 30th at 2am MST (you should be able to make this switch now, read the start of the post) you’ll be able to change your 3x category. Here is how to chose your category:
- Go on and follow the prompts or
- Call the number on the back of your card
You will receive an e-mail or direct mail on January 30th giving a bit more information. It’s only possible to select the 3x category once, you’ll be able to change it or renew it at the end of each calendar year (Jan 1st to December 31st). I like this change a lot, I’ll probably be picking gas stations as my 3x category, but I might change it up to something else.
If you’d like examples of each category, American Express provides that information here. Keep in mind it’s currently possible to get a sign up bonus of 75,000 points on this card, there are two different offers available:
- American Express Business Gold 75,000 Points After $5,000 In Spend Offer. This is a targeted offer, you enter in your information and if it says their systems are down, it means you are not eligible.
- American Express Business Gold 75,000 Points After $10,000 In Spend Offer. This requires you to open multiple browsers/private windows until the offer appears, but it eventually will. The downside is that the minimum spend is $5,000 higher.
Thanks to the American Express Media team for providing information for this post.
