I'm sorry I keep posting about this...I just am getting analysis paralysis. I'll try and keep it short.
Would you rather:
1) Apply for the Business Green Rewards card and the petite 5k MR bonus for a very easy MSR, in the hopes that you can later pull an elevated 75k offer for the Business Gold Rewards, OR
2) Apply for the Business Gold Rewards card and the current 50k offer? I don't want to miss out on a free $250. If you call to match a higher offer, do you do so after applying?
Either one would be my first-ever Amex product. I find the 75k links but can't log in to actually apply for them. Decisions!
Seeing as this is your first Amex I’d go ahead grab the green if it’s what appeals to you after the gold. Once in a lifetime makes biz gold hard to hit at 50k, if you need 50k MRs in the next couple months take the biz gold but if you can wait I’d prob wait.
Amex doesn’t match. If the moon & stars align a CSR might throw some courtesy points your way.
Sounds good...Oh wait! I'm looking at the SPG business card, which I've never paid much attention to before. 100k points, looks like I can redeem them for a stay at Marriott properties, including some off-site properties at
Disneyland...this seems like a no-brainer. I think I'm going to go for it tomorrow night...stop me if it's a bad idea!
(sorry for the whiplash
@gottalovepluto! Maybe I can apply for the BGR too in a week or so?)
@Artygal90, honestly, neither #1 nor #2.
If you're looking for a first-ever Amex card -- and a business card that won't add to your */24 and throw off your plans with Chase -- I think you should seriously consider the Blue Business Plus ("BBP"):
- $0 AF, which is great for holding MR points if you decide to cancel other (future) MR-earning cards with big AFs and find yourself needing a no cost option to keep your points alive.
- 2x MR on every purchase up to $50k/yr., which you could eventually pair with the Amex Gold's 4x MR on dining and groceries, the Amex Platinum's 5x MR on airfare, if you want to build out a MR-earning wallet.
- 20k MR after $5k/3 months MSR targeted offer, or
- 10k MR after $3k/3 months MSR through support link offer.
- Amex biz credit card so it won’t count against Chase 5/24, but will take up one of Amex’s 5 credit card limit.
- Ability to generate 15k MR referral bonuses up to 55k MR/yr., which you can use to self-refer yourself to other Amex cards' public and occasionally elevated offers in incognito mode when you aren't targeted for the higher offers.
You're considering the BGR with a $5k MSR anyway, but you're aware that taking the 50k MR public offer means precluding yourself from the higher 75k MR targeted offer for that card product in the future.
If you get the Biz Green, that's a 5k MR bonus for a single purchase (e.g., a banana or a pack of gum). Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. However, you should think longer term about the utility of this card and what it might mean for your relationship with Amex.
First, the Biz Green earns only earns 5k MR per referral. You can generate a self-referral link and use it to apply for almost any of Amex's other cards, but that only pads the other cards' welcome offers by another 5k MR (compared with 10k MR/referral from the BGR or 15k MR/referral from the BBP).
Second, the Biz Green earns only 2x MR for travel booked through Amex Travel and 1x MR for everything else -- it's not a good daily earner and you have no compelling reason to put any additional spend on this card after your first and only purchase for the 5k MR. The Biz Green has a $0 first year introductory AF, but $95 afterwards. I'm guessing you plan to cancel the Biz Green after the first year, which is understandable. But, with Amex scrutinizing your "history" with welcome offers and cards you have opened and closed whenever you apply for a new card, signing up for a card, putting only the minimum amount of spend on it to get the bonus, and sockdrawering the card until it's time to cancel is no longer acceptable, and you'll get this dreaded pop up:
Based on your history with American Express welcome offers, introductory APR offers, or the number of cards you have opened and closed, you are not eligible to receive this welcome offer.
We have not yet performed a credit check. Would you still like to proceed?
This pop up warning basically means if you proceed and get approved for a new card, you won't get the welcome bonus. If this sounds like your plan for the Biz Green, don't go for it; you'll end up on Amex's naughty list. The only way to get off this bad list and make the pop up go away seems to be putting more (a lot more?) spend on the Amex card(s) you already have. The Biz Green would not be a good first card for you to get started with Amex, and you should probably save it for when you have other Amex cards on which you're already spending lots of money on an ongoing basis to offset the weak link Biz Green.
Going back to the BBP, it earns 15k MR per referral, and you can use a referral link generated from the BBP for yourself to apply for pretty much any of Amex's other cards, including the BGR. Say you never get targeted for the BGR's 75k MR offer. You could self-refer yourself to the BGR from the BBP for the 50k MR, $5k MSR/3 months public offer and pocket a 15k MR referral bonus, netting you 65k combined MR points, which isn't a bad deal considering the lower $5k MSR (because the 75k MR BGR sometimes comes with a higher $10k MSR). And because the BBP is such a strong everyday card with 2x MR earned on every purchase, you can use it as a daily driver and keep Amex happy to approve you for future cards.
I moved to the middle of the state for college and went through soft pretzel withdrawal, and I looked it up once, a few of my favorite brands are totally regional. I told hubby there were only 26 states we could consider moving to until they expand their footprint or start shipping out of state 
). We have the upcoming Fantastic Beasts on pre-order so he needs something to hold him over for the next month.
