60,000 Membership Rewards points (= 60,000 Avios) with the Amex Platinum Business card

I don’t write much about small business credit cards on Head for Points, because they tend to offer poor value. There are, for example, two British Airways American Express Corporate Cards, which I discuss in this post on the On Business loyalty scheme. They are not desperately exciting, though, and usually have no sign-up bonus.

American Express, however, has just launched a great deal on its small business cards.

Amex is now offering 60,000 Membership Rewards points when you apply for the American Express Platinum Business card.  There has been no bonus on this card at all for the last few months.

However, they have reduced the offer on the other card.  You now receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points when you apply for the American Express Gold Business card, a drop on the previous figure of 40,000.

See here for full details on the Platinum and Gold cards.

Please note, though, that you CANNOT get these bonuses if you have a Gold, Platinum, Green or Centurion personal Amex card.  This will unfortunately disqualify most of us.  This is because, whilst these are called ‘business’ cards, they are mainly aimed at sole traders and the points go into a personal Membership Rewards account.

Here are the basics:

• The Platinum card carries an annual fee of £450, the Gold card costs £125
• Clause 18.2 of the Terms & Conditions confirms that you will get a pro-rata fee refund when you cancel
• See this post for what you can do with Membership Rewards points in other loyalty schemes
• You need to spend £6,000 in three months to get the 60,000 points on the Platinum Business card
• You need to spend £3,000 in three months to get the 20,000 points on the Gold Business card
• You earn 1 point per £1 when you spend on the card

What does Amex count as a small business?

Here are the rules from the Amex website for Platinum:

To apply for the Platinum Business Card, you should be able to say yes to the following:

• I am aged 18 or over
• The company has been trading for more than one year and has a current UK Bank or Building Society account
• My personal income is over £20,000
• I have a permanent UK home address
• I/The Business have/has no County Court Judgements for non-payment of debt
• Pay annual fee of £450 (Tax deductable)

There is one other important point to note. The Platinum Business card still comes with full travel insurance, with no small print. It is the policy that the Platinum personal card used to have before it was downgraded, with no requirement to use the card to pay for anything before you qualify. You can also cover 5 other family groups, apart from your own, by handing out supplementary cards on your account.

Let me repeat, though – you cannot get these cards if you have (or have had in the last six months) a personal Gold, Green, Platinum or Centurion Amex card.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.