Which American Express Business Card should you choose?

American Express Business Cards are different from the corporate ones reserved for large companies.

American Express Business Cards are good for:

• Sole-proprietors
• Professionals
• Small businesses

In many cases, self-employed people tend to charge their business expenses to their personal credit cards. It’s hard to find your way around at the end of the year!

If you want to apply for an American Express Business Card, it is advised to have a registered business.

Note that this is not a determining criterion when applying for a small business Card: it is quite possible to register your name instead of the company’s name. In many cases, small business owners with less than $30,000 of revenue per year include this on their personal tax returns.

If you still want to register your business, here is how to do it with the Quebec Business Registry.

If you need help filling out your first American Express Business Card application, we’ve written a tutorial here.

It is essential to know the difference between charge cards and credit cards.

A charge card is a card you must fully pay each month. Its most significant advantage: it has no pre-set spending limits. Besides, with up to 55 interest free days, you can maximize your cash flow How convenient!

American Express Business Charge cards are:

With a credit card, you have the option to carry a balance each billing cycle, though a minimum amount is due and it has a determined credit limit.

It is always possible to get a limit increase (if offered by American Express, there will be no impact on the credit report).

And it’s possible to transfer credit you don’t use on personal American Express credit cards (such as the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express^® Card) to your new Small Business credit card .

American Express Business Credit Cards are:

Want to earn Aeroplan points with your small business purchases? The American Express^® Aeroplan^®* Business Reserve Card is for you!

With this card, you get:

• 3 points for your Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations purchases
• 2 points for your accommodation and car rental purchases
• 1.25 points for all other purchases

Besides, you enjoy access to Maple Leaf lounges in North America, the first piece of checked baggage for you and up to 8 travelling companions, an annual companion pass and exclusive benefits with Air Canada.

The Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express^® Card has a $150 annual fee.

As significant Marriott Bonvoy users, we renew this card year after year to benefit from an exciting advantage: the Annual Free Night Award (a 35,000 points value).

We generally use this certificate in large cities abroad to get the best possible return. It is not uncommon for a hotel night to cost 300 euros or US Dollars: the $150 annual fee is profitable!

It may also be a great card for small businesses having large gas or restaurant purchases since it offers 3 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar in these categories.

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express has a $499 annual fee. This is the most costly of the three small business cards offering Membership Rewards points.

With a high annual fee, this card has a lot of benefits such as:

• 1.25 points per dollar with no annual limit
• Reliable insurance for your travel and purchases
• Marriott Bonvoy Gold status
• Unlimited access to airport lounges

And it’s on this last point where the Business Platinum Card^® from American Express makes the difference. With this card, you will get unlimited access to more than 1,300 airport lounges, accompanied by a guest, and in many cases, up to 2 children.

The American Express Business Edge™ Card has a low annual fee of $99.

With this card, you earn 3 points per dollar for several types of purchases:

• office supplies and electronics (Apple, Best Buy, STAPLES, etc.)
• rides and gas
• eats and drinks

No business credit card offers such a return for office supplies and electronics purchases.

Therefore, this card is particularly recommended for these types of purchases.

Also, it is possible to add up to 99 supplementary cards to the same account for free! This can be convenient for small transportation companies to earn 3 points per dollar for their gas station purchases.

Once known as the “entry-level” card , the American Express^MD Small Business Gold Rewards Card is usually the one that small businesses that make many purchases start with. Its annual fee is $199.

By charging $20,000 in net purchases to your Card account in each calendar quarter, you’ll earn up to 40,000 bonus Membership Rewards points per year!

For example, let’s take a one-quarter billing period beginning April 1 and ending June 30. Therefore, you must have made $20,000 in purchases on your card to qualify for the 10,000 point bonus. Please note: purchases must be charged to the account before the deadline and not “pending”. Otherwise, you won’t get your bonus.

Then the points are deposited within eight weeks, but in our experience, it is very fast.

The American Express^® AIR MILES^®** for Business Card has a $180 annual fee.

This card can be interesting for business owners looking to maximize their cash flow (up to 55 days interest-free) and members of the AIR MILES program.

Indeed, this card offers a good welcome bonus and allows you to earn up to 1 mile per $10 of purchases from AIR MILES partners.

The American Express^® AIR MILES^®** Gold Business Card has no annual fee.

This is the only American Express business card with no annual fee. However, in our opinion, it does not represent a significant interest: its welcome bonus is low, as is its earning rate.