AMEX often runs temporary sign up bonuses on their cards. Currently, they are offering 50,000 Membership Rewards points if you sing up for the AMEX Business Rewards Gold card using this link. It’s a pretty good deal, but the high minimum spending requirement ($5000 in 3 months) keeps it from being a great one. A sign up bonus like this probably prompts two questions:
1) Can I sign up for this card even if I’m not a business owner?
Yes, you can! There are many things that are considered small businesses, including just selling and buying things on Ebay. You don’t even need an EIN (identification number the government gives to small businesses), you can just use your social security number and enter your name as the business name. That’s what is known as a sole proprietorship (when you do business as yourself because you are too small to have a business name). I plan on writing a post on this, though Million Mile Secrets has a nice guide on how to fill out a business card application.
2) How will I meet $5000 of spending in three months?
Generally, I think we average about $1200 of normal credit card spend per month, so in three months we’d only spend $3600. That means if I signed up for this card, I wouldn’t even unlock the bonus (rending the sign up useless). BUT – there are ways to increase the amount of spending on your card as long as you are flexible AND CAN PAY OFF THE BILLS. Remember, it’s pointless to sign up for a credit card if you can’t pay the balance off monthly – you’ll lose more in interest than you’ll gain in miles. Anyway, I wrote about some ways to meet spending requirements here.
Final Thoughts
This is a pretty good, but not great offer. If I hadn’t just gone through a major credit card application round last week, I might have jumped on this. If you don’t think you own a small business, you still can sign up for this card, and meeting minimum spending requirements might not be as hard as it looks if you’re flexible.
Note: You are NOT eligible for the sign up bonus if you have had a Business Rewards Green, Gold, or Platinum card within the last twelve months. You ARE eligible if you have the personal version of any of those cards.