New Targeted Welcome Bonus On The AMEX Business Gold Card (No Lifetime Exclusions)

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I’m not sure why, but American Express appears to be very keen for me to apply for one of its Business Cards right now. A few weeks after targeting me for a special offer on its Platinum Business Card the card issuer has now targeted me for a special offer on its Business Gold card (the Platinum Card offer is still showing in my account). More importantly, the offer doesn’t appear to restrict past cardholders from applying or earning the welcome bonus.

I first noticed that I’d been targeted for an offer on the American Express Business Gold Card when I logged in to my account and saw an alert at the top of the page…

…so, if you’re wondering if you can make the most of this offer too, that’s the place to start.

Normally when I get notices from AMEX informing me that I’ve been targeted for one of its cards the offer also appears alongside all the other regular AMEX offers towards the bottom of the account page…but not this time.

The only notice I’ve seen is the one at the top of the page when I log in.

If you don’t see a notice in your American Express account (make sure you’re logged in to a Membership rewards account) it may be worth calling up to see if the offer is open to you.

The American Express Business Gold Card

Annual Fee:

• $295

Welcome Bonus:

• 35,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

Earning Rates:

4 points/dollar points on the 2 categories where your business spent the most each billing cycle from the list below:

• Airfare purchased directly from airlines
• U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• U.S. purchases at restaurants
• U.S. purchases for shipping

The 4 points/dollar earnings apply to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year.

All other purchases earn 1 point/dollar

Headline Benefit:

You can receive 25% of Membership Rewards points back after you use “Pay With Points” for all or part of a flight booked with American Express Travel if the flight is either on your selected qualifying airline or First or Business class.

The maximum annual rebate is 250,000 points.

Important To Know

1 – The terms and conditions that I can see attached to this offer (below – click to enlarge) do not appear to exclude anyone from applying for this card or from earning the welcome bonus.

If you’ve had this card in the past and have received a welcome bonus on this card in the past, this offer would appear to allow you to apply and earn a bonus all over again.

2 – If you haven’t had the Business Gold Card in the past (and are therefore not excluded from the public offer) it may be worth your while checking out the non-targeted offer that’s currently available on this card.

The welcome bonus for the regular application page for the card is restricted to applicants who haven’t had this card before…

… but it’s also offering “up to $500 back when you ship with FedEx” so, if you ship with FedEx quite a bit, this may be a better deal for you.

Personally, I value 35,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points (the targeted offer) at $525 so, if I was to choose one of these deals, the targeted offer is the deal I’d go for.

3 – This card does not waive foreign transaction fees and the majority of the bonus earnings categories are restricted to US establishments so don’t expect to be able to use this card economically when traveling abroad.

Bottom Line

The Business Gold Card from American Express is a niche play and will probably only be useful to those who can make the very most of the earnings on offer and the points rebate available when booking flights through AMEX travel.

With very few non-earnings benefits coming with this card, the Business Gold Card is one that’s designed to be used on a day-to-day basis and not kept to one side so, with a hefty $295 annual fee to pay, anyone applying for this card should be very sure that they’ll be able to make the most of the earnings categories before they commit to taking out this card.