American Express OPEN Business Gold Rewards Card Review

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The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN is an premium charge card for small businesses where you must pay off the balance each month, but you get the AMEX perks like purchase price protection, extended product return protection, and the famous AMEX extended warranty that actually pays out. Here are the highlights:

3X points on airfare2x points on purchases in the U.S. for advertising in select media, gasoline at U.S. stand-alone gas stations, and shipping1X points on other purchasesPoints are earned only on eligible purchases. Bonus points limitations apply.$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $175Introductory annual fee for Additional Gold Cards in the first year is $0; then, $50 for the first Additional Gold Card and no fee for other Additional CardsTerms & Restrictions Apply. Offer expires January 28th, 2013.

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. Why? Because any individual can be a small business as well. The business type is called a sole proprietorship. Perhaps you sell items on eBay, Craiglist, or Etsy. Maybe you do some graphic design, web design, freelancing and/or consulting. If you earned more than $600 from a single client, you probably got a 1099-MISC tax form and filled out a Schedule C. Boom! You have business income, you’re paying self-employment taxes (meaning you’re an employer), and you’re a sole proprietorship. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

This card will require you to personally guarantee that you’ll pay them back what you charge on the card, which means they’ll check your personal credit score like any other consumer card. However, as the card is a business card, American Express won’t have it show up on your personal credit report, so it won’t change things like your credit limits, average account age, or credit utilization ratio.

Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 1/21/13, 10:18pm | Trackback