The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a card that anyone who values Membership Rewards points should consider applying for at some point and keeping forever, and today we are going to explain in detail why we firmly believe this.
We cannot say the same for other American Express cards, especially as they make changes to many of their cards. These changes usually include considerable increases in their annual fee and changes to benefits that are not usually positive for many people.
The key point of this card and the main reason why we should consider keeping it forever: there is no annual fee.
Benefits
This is a fairly straightforward business card: it has no annual fee, earns 2x on everything up to $50,000 spent during the year, and 1x after that amount.
It comes with a welcome bonus of 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
It offers a 0% introductory APR for 12 months on purchases from the date of account opening. After 12 months, the APR will be a variable rate based on your creditworthiness and other factors at the time of account opening.
💡 By earning Membership Rewards® points, we can transfer them to hotel and airline programs where we can get a value superior to all other redemption methods, and on certain occasions, incredibly competitive.
![[no-lightbox]](https://framerusercontent.com/images/ge5wbrWH8dd1uwnXja4leFghN4.png?width=1200&height=1200)
American Express is a partner with a large number of airlines and hotels to which we can transfer our points, in most cases at a 1:1 rate, where 1 Membership Rewards® point is equivalent to 1 point/mile of the hotel or airline loyalty program. These are:
Transfer Partner | Transfer Rate |
|---|---|
British Airways Executive Club | 1:1 |
Iberia Plus | 1:1 |
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1:1 |
Aer Lingus | 1:1 |
AeroMexico | 1:1.6 |
Aeroplan | 1:1 |
Air France/KLM (FlyingBlue) | 1:1 |
ANA Mileage Club | 1:1 |
Avianca LifeMiles | 1:1 |
Cathay Pacific™ | 1:1 |
Choice Privileges® | 1:1 |
Delta Air Lines | 1:1 |
Emirates Skywards | 1:1 |
Etihad Guest | 1:1 |
Hilton Honors | 1:2 |
JetBlue TrueBlue® | 1:0.8 |
Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1 |
Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1:1 |
Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 1:1 |
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 |
Now, if you do not use American Express points for travel, it would be best not to focus on cards that generate Membership Rewards® points but rather cashback like The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card, which is very similar to this one but instead of generating points, it generates cashback.
This is because the value of cashback is fixed and we will always get exactly the amount generated, while the value of points is variable and when redeemed for cash, the value is lower than the cashback itself.
For example, if you generate 50,000 Membership Rewards® points with the Blue Business Plus, these 50,000 points are not equivalent to $500 in cash but rather $300, since the value to redeem for cash is only 0.6 cents per point.
Now, those 50,000 points could be equivalent to $3,000 if we redeem them to buy an international airline ticket in business class. The difference in value is huge, depending on how we use them.
On the contrary, $500 generated through the Blue Business Cash will always be $500, no more and no less.
![[no-lightbox]](https://framerusercontent.com/images/wMYU5pNqmVlMt1C8dDjVGn3y4.png?width=1200&height=1200)
Why it is a "keeper"
With no annual fee, it is possible to keep this card to protect our Membership Rewards® points if we do not want to continue paying annual fees and still be able to get a decent reward rate.
This is because, unlike other credit card rewards programs, with American Express all of our points accumulate in the same place, like a "common piggy bank" and are not tied to a specific card.
If you have 4 cards generating Membership Rewards® points, you will accumulate them all in the same place within your American Express account, not independently per card.
If you have accumulated a considerable amount of Membership Rewards® points but cannot or do not want to continue paying high annual fees, you can keep your points protected just by keeping this card open and using it in categories where you cannot get more than 2x points per dollar with other cards, without any effect on our personal credit (a plus!).
Disadvantages
The only disadvantage of this credit card, in our opinion, is that it charges a 2.7% foreign transaction fee, so it is not a good option to use while we are abroad.
However, keep in mind that American Express is not as widely accepted internationally as it is in the United States, so it wouldn't be the primary option to use outside of the country anyway.
To the Point
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is an essential card for those who value Membership Rewards® points.
The fact that it has no annual fee and the ability to generate points effectively makes it an excellent option for accumulating and protecting points without costing us anything.
This card is definitely a "keeper" to hold in your portfolio for many years.
More from 2 with Points
Advertiser Disclosure: Endeuda2 has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Endeuda2 and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this website are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where credit card products appear on this website. This website does not include all card companies or all card offers available.
Editorial Disclosure: The opinions, reviews, analyses, and recommendations are solely those of the author and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.