American Express Blue Business Plus Business Credit Card Review

Business credit cards like American Express Blue Business Plus can make it easier for your business to purchase what it needs. In this review, we’ll go over what makes this card useful and explain how it compares to other business credit cards. Read on to find out if American Express Blue Business Plus is right for you.

Summary

The American Express Blue Business Plus card is the simplest business credit card option on the market. The way rewards points are distributed is extremely straightforward: you get 2x rewards points for the first $50,000 in annual purchases, and 1x beyond that threshold. The card requires no annual fee and offers 0% APR for 12 months. This can be an easy starter card for brand new businesses and startups.

The downside is the lack of features for high-volume accounts and purchasers, and the lack of sophisticated incentives once you grow. What you gain in flexibility with Blue Business Plus, you lose in cash back. If you are planning to spend a lot on phone service, office supplies, and other designated categories in your first year, you will get higher cash back with Chase Ink Business Cash or even the American Express SimplyCash Plus card. Still, the flexibility of the Blue Business Plus card makes it worth considering.

Who is American Express Blue Business Plus Card Right For?

American Express Blue Business Plus is the perfect card for new businesses that want flexible rewards to meet changing needs.

Learn more about this card on the American Express website.

No annual fee; 0% APR for 12 months; 2.7% foreign transaction fee

PROS

Flexible, intuitive rewards
No annual fees
0% intro APR for 12 months
Flexible spending limit that allows you to go over when you need to
Access to American Express Frequent Traveler Program

CONS

Rewards points don’t translate to high-level cash back
High foreign transaction fee
Requires strong creditworthiness

Blue Business Plus Card Alternative

Capital One Spark Cash offers the highest unlimited cash-back rate among major business credit card providers, with fees low enough to give you some breathing room.

Capital One Spark Cash: No annual fee for the first year, $95 every subsequent year

Read our Capital One Spark Cash review

Business Credit Card Reviews

Pricing

Base Features

Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on everyday business purchases up to $50,000 with no category restrictions
1X points on purchases thereafter
$0 annual fee
0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
Allows you to buy above your credit limit
Unlimited employee cards
Spend Manager feature helps you track expenses
Connect to QuickBooks
Account alerts
Year-end summary
Online statements
Mobile and tablet apps
24/7 customer service lines
Extended warranty
Purchase protection
Dispute resolution

Ratings

Value - 3.5/5

The Blue Business Plus card is a valuable starter credit card for new businesses because it charges no annual fee and allows maximum flexibility in redeeming rewards. This can help any new company reduce costs, build credit, and adjust to evolving needs early on. You are also permitted to go over your monthly credit limit and even apply for loans in some cases. Blue Business Plus can help with whatever your business needs.

There are a few key aspects that separate this card from similar intro credit card options with no annual fees. Firstly, its 12-month 0% APR period is one of the longest introductory APR offers available. This can really help you avoid debt on large startup purchases. For instance, American Express’ SimplyCash card only offers 9 months of 0% APR. Combined with the fact that Blue Business Plus does not cap or limit your rewards options to certain categories, it becomes clear that this is the strongest option for many new businesses.

Customer Service - 4.5/5

American Express usually provides excellent customer service. One issue we found was that the dedicated phone number for Blue Business Plus customers kept leading to dead ends. This made it difficult to get in touch with someone in a timely fashion. This was a negative, but overall we found their customer agents to be exceedingly helpful in most cases.

American Express makes phone support available 24/7, and they usually give reps a lot of leeway in terms of offering additional discounts. They also provide customers with travel accident insurance, baggage insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance, and 24-hour roadside assistance. Plus, they will double the length of any product warranties lasting less than 2 years, and extend by 2 years any warranties lasting between 2-5 years. In general, American Express takes good care of its customers.

Ease of Use - 4.5/5

As mentioned above, Blue Business Plus Rewards are extremely intuitive. You can redeem points through the frequent traveler program with one of this card’s Airline Transfer Partners. Points can also be used on other travel benefits, gift cards, retail purchases, online purchases, or through statement credits. American Express lets you add as many employee cards to your account as you need, and the Spend Manager feature lets you easily track and manage expenses. You also get access to great mobile apps that sync with Quickbooks, making it easy to sync your credit card information with the rest of your operations.

Included Features - 3.5/5

American Express offers a number of excellent benefits. They typically have special offers, and they provide fraud protection, mobile functionality, and customer support. But as great as the flexibility and strong travel rewards are with American Express Blue Business Plus, this card does lack some of the high level perks and benefits its competitors offer.

2x membership points are only offered for the first $50,000 in annual purchases, and there are no incentives for high volume accounts. So while there is no cost to maintain your account with this program, it is easy to outgrow this card relatively quickly. Typically, membership points translate to less than 2% cash back, which is relatively low. American Express does provide small loans and specifically targeted perks to valued accounts, but at some point, your business will want something more in return for your purchases.

Conclusion

While it may not be the strongest option for every new business, we recommend talking to American Express about Blue Business Plus. This way, you can find out if there are any current offers that may make the account more attractive to you, and determine what your APR would be after the introductory period. With a low enough fixed APR, the versatility of this card may be a great fit for a new business.