Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN

I've had the Business Gold Reward Card for about 5 years. I have also been a long time Amex card holder. I think they are a great card to have in your wallet. They will treat you like royalty if you are a good card holder. If you spend what you can afford to pay back, and prove this by paying it back on time, you will enjoy this card. This is not a card for someone who needs 25k-30k a month but cannot pay it back in 30 days. They base your spending on the spending habits you have shown, example if you spend 5 k every month, pay it in full at the end of the 30 days-they will assume you can afford 5 k. Its when you spend 5k and you are late paying it back a few times, they will set a stricter limit. Honestly, its probably better for everyone that way-it keeps the business from overspending (forces you to evaluate your need to cut expenses and increase profits) and keeps them from getting screwed financially. By the way, I am proud to say I am a Woman who is also a business owner and proud Amex card holder.

First and foremost, I am either a partner or President of at least three companies.  We signed up for AMEX for a couple of reasons.  The first is their guarantee to be able to support small business needs and the other is the no spending limit they market.  As a note, my employee's have either platinum or gold cards.

First, the company does not adequately support all small business(s) and if your in the business of developing and manufacturing product, then AMEX is NOT the card for you.  

Let me explain.  The whole marketing effort around not spending limits is a deceptive to say the least.  First, AMEX is not really a business card, its a personal card because they don't use your company finances to determine your credit worthiness which determines your spending limit along with averaging spending patterns.  So, if you company makes $500K + per year, it doesn't matter!  If your salary is 100K then your card limit is based on that regardless how how big your company grows.  Second, AMEX absolutely has spending limits and they are extremely low.  The reality is they don't appear to care if your are a customer or not and being a customer for more than 2 years doesn't make one bit of difference.   It surely does not help you in any way, which is so different for my other bank accounts where I was offered "private banking" and other services.  Requesting an increase is like pulling teeth. So how does this related to a manufacturing business?  Its quite simple; first, spending patterns and personal income determine your limit.  They take an average your spending pattern over a period of time.  We'll anyone who manufactures and runs a solid business would know that manufacturing runs are not consistent but periodic and typically grow an average 10-20% per run.  So by year 1.5 - 2, our AMEX card became worthless and could only be used for basic office supplies and some travel, which is GOOD for amex because manufacturing pays 2-3 times points (could this be intentional).  Our company has outstanding revenues yet my card spending limit is based on what I report for income.... Hum!  What happened to the AMEX that used to be!  In my perspective, the new AMEX is about money.  It does not appear concern around customer loyalty and retention.  Don't fall for the generalized marketing perks, such as point, they don't add up to what you think they will.  We spend over 200K per year on AMEX and our points add up to a few plane tickets.