American Express launched a new business card yesterday called the Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card. It earns 2% unlimited cashback on all eligible purchases, as well as 5% back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel®.
If your business is a big spender and you want a set-it-and-forget-it card, this new Graphite card and its welcome bonus could be of interest, despite it not being the most exciting card out there. That said, there are definitely more rewarding options out there.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
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![](http://cdn.nextinsure.com/imaging/opt/4bbb0ba3-901a-4915-ae6d-6bda13ddae4c.png?w=300" alt="Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card" />) ⓘ $655 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates $1,500 back ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer $1,500 after $50K spend within the first 6 months of card membership. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)$295 Annual Fee Earning rate: 5% cash back on flights and hotels booked through American Express Travel® ✦ 2% cash back on all other eligible purchases. Terms apply. Base: 2% Portal Flights: 5% Portal Hotels: 5% Card Info: Amex Pay Over Time Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Spend $250k+ on eligible purchases in a calendar year, get up to $2,400 in statement credits for use in the next calendar year on monthly fees for American Express One AP® |
Quick Thoughts
This new Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited card is pretty easy to understand. Unlimited 2% cashback on eligible purchases, with the only bonus category being flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel which earns 5% cashback. Similar to the Business American Express Platinum Card®, there’s a big spend bonus of $2,400 in statement credits for use in the next calendar year on monthly fees for American Express One AP® after spending $250K+ on eligible purchases in a calendar year. Unlike the Business Platinum though, that $250K spend on the Graphite card doesn’t also get you up to $1,200 in statement credits to use in the next calendar year on flights booked on AmexTravel.com.
Other than the various tools and features that Amex makes available to business cardholders, there aren’t any noteworthy perks on this card. As a result, its $295 annual fee seems a little high, requiring almost $15,000 of spend at 2% cashback just to offset the annual fee.
Not to mention the $95 annual fee for employee cards if you want them to have a metal card. There is a no annual fee plastic employee card though, so I’ve no idea why a business would want to pay $95 for the privilege of their employees having a metal card but seemingly zero other benefits.
So why would a business want this card? Well, two possible reasons. One is that its introductory welcome offer is a high $1,500 bonus cashback, albeit with a steep $50,000 of spend required in the first six months of card membership. You’d earn at least $1,000 cashback on that $50,000 spend too, meaning you’d end up with a total of at least $2,500, or an overall return of 5% cashback on that spend. That’s far from stellar considering the value you could get from welcome offers on multiple other new cards with that $50,000 spend, but it’s a decent return for a business looking for a one card solution.
And it’s that final point that’s the other key reason a big-spending business might want to apply for this card. Getting unlimited 2% cashback is a good option if you don’t want to worry about maximizing spending categories, switching out the payment card based on whichever welcome offer you’re working on right now, etc. There’s no preset spending limit either which is why a business with big expenses might find it appealing; there’s no need to worry about bumping up against a preset credit limit.
That said, a business in that position might do better applying for a Capital One Spark Cash Plus card. Its current welcome offer is higher, while requiring much less spend (albeit in a shortened amount of time), as well as having an annual fee that’s close to half that of this new Graphite card. The Spark Cash card also earns unlimited 2% cashback, plus spending $150,000 in a calendar year gets you a refund of the $150 annual fee.
Similar to the Graphite card, the Spark Cash has no preset spending limit, but a key difference is the ability to make the 2% cashback earned on a Spark Cash even more valuable. That’s because if you also have a Capital One miles-earning card, the 2% cashback can be transferred to that card, effectively making it a 2X miles card.
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There is a 2k offer popping up for some people, I got it with Chrome incognito
Pretty lame. Like a Plum 2.0
Might want to correct the card details table, as this card does *not* have foreign transaction fees. Might even be worth calling out, as all 4 of the other Blue cards do have FX fees, making it Amex’s first and only true cashback card without them.
Great spot, thank you – I’ve fixed that.
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