Like many credit card issuers, American Express hasn’t been shy about raising the costs of being a cardholder over the last few years. Most recently, it increased the annual fees for the Platinum Card® and Business Platinum Card® to an eye-watering $895/year (or $75 per month!), in the process completely revamping the lengthy list of coupons provided by each card. We ended up being a fan of the Platinum changes. The Business Platinum…less so.
Now, based on a survey sent out a couple of weeks ago and first reported by Doctor of Credit, it looks like Amex is turning its attention to another of its Membership Rewards-earning cards: the Business Gold® card.
In this particular example, Amex is floating the following changes to the Business Gold:
- Annual Fee: $495 (up from $375)
- $300 annual ChatGPT credit, $250 LegalZoom credit, $20/month Xero credit, $20/month Notion credit
- $100 annual Resy credit ($50/6 months)
- Earn an extra 1 point per dollar when paying your bill with an Amex Business Checking account (maximum of 50,000 points/year)
- Earn 5x on flights and hotels booked through Amex Travel (currently 3x)
Quick Thoughts
It’s worth noting that Amex will send these sorts of things around all the time, and a lot of the proposals never see the light of day. That said, it’s almost always an indication that they’re fixin’ to do some tinkering.
It’s a little crazy to me that they’re already playing around with the Business Gold, since Amex just “refreshed it” in late 2023, in the process raising the annual fee from $295 to $375. If they raised it to $495, Amex would be increasing the cost of the Business Gold by nearly 70% in less than three years.
Regarding the additional coupons mentioned, for most people, the $100 Resy credit (like what’s already on the consumer Gold®) and the $300 ChatGPT credit are likely the most interesting…although I wonder how many ChatGPT users are paying for it as opposed to just using the free version. ChatGPT’s “Pro” plan is $20 a month, which would be completely covered by the $300 credit.
The feature I find the most interesting, and one that I would love for Amex to add to its current cards post-haste, is the ability to earn extra points by paying your bill from an Amex checking account. A 50k/year limit would mean that all the cards’ 4x categories become 5x for up to $50k in spend. That would easily be worth the minor hassle of transferring money into an Amex account before paying the bill, especially given the generous bonuses we often see for opening up a new Business Checking account.
Outside of that, there’s nothing here that’s terribly exciting to me…especially at nearly $500 per year. Amex has an impressive commitment to making its card portfolio the most extensive (and expensive) series of metal coupon books in the world. I’m fairly certain it won’t break stride now to explore what it could do with “less is more,” but it might be a good idea.
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I really like the card as it is and these changes are definitely a negative for me. I can use the Resy credits but don’t value them much. I have no interest in chatgpt. So increasing by $120 and the only benefit I get is Resy, which if worth $50 to me
Check the Resy credit: ($50/month).
PT Barnum was right.