FAQ about Amex Blue Business Plus Card

Amex released a new 2x everywhere card called the Blue Business Plus card. There is a maximum of $50,000 in spend per calendar year which earns 2x, beyond that it earns just 1x per dollar.

• Previous post: American Express Launches New Blue Business Plus Card (2x On All Purchases Up To $50,000 Per Year, No Annual Fee).

• Here’s a Direct Link (non-affiliate) to the card offer, but you should really signup when there’s a bonus or using a referral link which has a bonus.

In this post we’ll discuss the new card in more detail and answer some of the questions readers asked as well.

 

Does the card have a signup bonus?

Most public signup links don’t have any signup bonus. However, affiliate channels do have a 20,000 MR signup bonus offer after spending $3k. We don’t use affiliate links on the site, but you can go to your favorite blogger who does have those link and use theirs.

A reader also found a non-affiliate link with the offer: Direct Link

I doubt we’ll see a bigger signup bonus on the card (with the possible exception of targeted offers); my impression is that this is Amex’s new ‘Double-Cash’ kind of card, not something that they’ll promote with big bonuses. Good chance this 20k bonus is time-limited.

If I previously had the old Blue for Business, can I get the signup bonus on this card?

The rule with Amex is that you can’t get the bonus if you had the card previously (even if you didn’t get a bonus the first time). This card, too, has those terms: “Welcome bonus offer [is] not available to applicants who have or have had this product.”

Typically, a rebranded product would be considered a new card which means you can get the bonus on this new version of the card. I reached out to @askamex to verify and they confirmed that you will be eligible for the bonus.

If you have/had the product before and apply for the Blue for Business Plus you will be entitled to the welcome bonus. ^N

— Ask Amex (@AskAmex) May 25, 2017

Will the card count toward 5/24 on my credit report?

Amex business cards don’t show up on the credit report and won’t count toward 5/24. Further, balances shown on Amex business cards don’t hurt your credit score since they aren’t reported to the personal credit bureaus.

Can I get this card if I already have 4 Amex cards?

This card is a credit card, not a charge card, which means it counts toward your limit.

The limit used to be 4, though recently many people have been able to get 5. The limit combines personal and business cards. If you already have 5 Amex credit cards, you won’t be able to get this card.

Is the old Blue for Business card still available?

It’s been discontinued for new signups in favor of the new version. Many people still have the old version from previous signup.

What’s are the key differences between the old Blue for Business card and the new Blue Business Plus card?

Key changes:

• The new card earns 2x everywhere (up to $50k) while the old version earned just 1.3x (after the annual bonus).
• The new card earns real, transferrable Membership Rewards points while the old one earned an anomalous, non-transferrable version of MR points. (This doesn’t matter for people who have other real MR-earning cards.) There are now two options if you want a no-fee Amex card to keep your MR points alive: Amex Everyday and Blue Business Plus.

Can I product change my old Blue to the new Blue Business Plus card?

The old Blue for Business card should be easily product-changable to the new version. We’ll need data points to confirm. No hard pull is done for product changing. [Update: People are reporting that Amex is not allowing this now. If I had to guess, I’d say that it just takes time to be able to product-change to a new product, and in a few months it’ll work.]

The timing is also good since many people have just a few months left until their old Blue for Business card 2.3x offer ends. Just be sure to wait until your 30% bonus posts at the end of the year before switching.

If you product change instead of applying, you’ll lose out on the 20k signup bonus. While that bonus is on the small side, remember this card isn’t showing up as new on your credit report anyway, so it’s just the hard pull.

You have to decide if a hard pull is worth 20k MR to you. A year ago I’d have said no, now I’d probably do it. Remember, Amex has been approving some existing customers without any hard pull at all.

Can I product-change a different card to the new Blue Plus?

Good question.

You certainly won’t be able to product change a charge card to become a credit card or a personal card to become a business card. That leaves us with six potential candidates for product changing: SPG, one of the Delta cards, SimplyCash, and Lowes.

The best chance would be SimplyCash since it’s not a co-brand. Data points needed.

My impression had always been that co-brands could not be product-changed, however, there is one data point of someone who was able to change a Delta to a Blue last year. (They even sent me a screenshot showing the two cards with the same card number.)  If you try this, please let us know how it went.

Will I get 3x on Uber (2 base + 1 promotional)?

I don’t think so. It’s not in this list of cards.

Does the card have any fees?

No annual fee. It does have a 2.7% foreign transaction fee.

Should I signup for the card?

It obviously depends a lot on how you value Membership Rewards points. Remember, MR value will go down soon for a lot of people when the Platinum 50% rebate dies.

If you value MR at a conservative 1.5%, then this will be a 3% card for $50k of annual spend. That’s an extra $500 in rewards over a 2% card or $250 over a 2.5% card. Or we can compare it to the Everyday Preferred which earns 1.5x. You can earn an extra 25,000 MR points each year by using the business card.

It’s also good for those who are always maxed out on their 2% cards – this will be another solid, all-around card to use (within it’s $50k limit). The card primarily makes sense for someone who will max out the $50k spend or come close to it.

For me, another big advantage to this card is that fact that it’s a fee-free business card for Amex Offers! Due to all the scrutiny on how many new cards appear on your credit report, I try adding AUs to business cards instead of personal cards. The problem is that I don’t want to add AUs to a card like business Platinum which might get cancelled at year’s end. A fee-free card is a perfect candidate for AU’s.