After announcing the American Express® Gold Rewards Card changes, American Express is tackling the American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card®.
Now, current cardmembers have learned that changes will take place as of November 8, 2021. Let’s take a look at these changes.
I might as well start with the bad news. As announced in June 2021, American Express has decided to discontinue the Your 3 Providers program coming with the American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card®.
This program allowed you to earn 1 additional Membership Rewards Point for spending with 3 suppliers selected from a list of about 40. Milesopedia members used to pay their municipal/school taxes, GST/QST or taxes through Plastiq, an eligible supplier.
As of October 6, 2021, it will no longer be possible to register for the program. And as of March 31, 2022, this program will end completely: you will no longer earn 2 points per dollar from these suppliers, but only 1 point.
If you are an American Express® Business Gold Rewards Cardmember®, take advantage of this opportunity to pay your vendors before this date!
In surprising news, when most credit cards are seeing regular increases in their annual fee, the Card’s annual fee will drop from $250 to $199.
For current Cardmembers, this change will take place with the first statement issued after November 8, 2021. You will then be charged the new annual fee of $199 and receive a pro-rated refund of the old annual fee of $250.
For example, if you applied for the Card in July 2021, the November 2021 statement will be the 4th statement you receive (August, September, October, November).
You will then receive a refund of $167 pro-rated for the remaining months (8 months in this example): $250 x 8 / 12 = $167. And American Express will charge the new $199 annual fee to your Card.
American Express Small Business Cards part of Membership Rewards will be priced as follows:
American Express adds a “quarterly purchase bonus” to this Card.
You can earn 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards® points when you charge $20,000 in net purchases to your Card account each calendar quarter.
Bonus points will be awarded in the first billing cycle of the next calendar quarter. Calculation resets to zero on the first day of each calendar quarter.
This new Quarterly Purchase Bonus and benefits will automatically come into effect on January 1, 2022.
If you make $20,000 in purchases per quarter with your Card, this quarterly purchase bonus is the equivalent of 1.5 Membership Rewards points per dollar. What no other small business card offers for “other purchases.”
However, if you don’t think you’ll reach that amount, it will be more useful to use a Card like the Business Platinum Card® from American Express offering 1.25 Membership Rewards points on all purchases or a Card like the American Express Business Edge™ Card offering multipliers on some purchases (up to 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar).
With the quarterly purchasing bonus effective January 1, 2022, and the Your 3 Suppliers program ending March 31, 2022, there is an opportunity in the first quarter of 2022.
For example, you could pay $20,000 in taxes, GST/QST, municipal taxes or any other service with Plastiq. You will then earn:
That’s 50,000 points for $20,000 in Card purchases or the equivalent of 2.5 points per dollar over that quarter! Knowing that Plastiq charges 2.5 to 2.85% depending on the bills you pay, you could be break-even on this promotion. Or beneficiary if you use your points at a higher value than 1 cent per point.
And if you pay more tax than you need to, the government will refund the difference. 😉
Beginning October 8, 2021, the American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card® will offer mobile device insurance.
This Card will not be made of metal like its big sister, the Business Platinum Card® from American Express.
However, like its little sister, the American Express Business Edge™ Card, it will be created using 99% recycled plastic, and the numbers will be on the back.
The removal of the Your 3 Providers program is the downside of these changes. However, all other changes are positive for a small business owner who was not using this program.
This would include professionals, sole-proprietor or small businesses that spend more than $20,000 per quarter (or $6,667 per month) on their American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card®. They will be eligible for the new quarterly purchase bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points. It’s an opportunity to earn up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points per year!
However, if you don’t have that level of spending, you’ll be better off with the American Express Business Edge™ Card. This one also offers 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar for all your purchases but has spending categories that you might find useful:
For a $99 annual fee.
Savings are here:
