American Express Blue Business Plus review: Valuable rewards without spending categories or annual fee

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The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express are solid business credit cards, but the Blue Business Plus Credit Card, specifically, delivers great value if you prefer earning Amex Membership Rewards points.

Below, CNBC Select reviews the Blue Business Plus Credit Card, looking at the rewards program and APR, so you can decide if it's the best card for your wallet.

• Welcome bonus
• Earning and redeeming rewards
• Benefits and perks
• Rates and fees
• Card comparison
• Bottom line
• FAQs

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card currently offers 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within your first 3 months of card membership.

How to earn rewards

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card has a straight forward rewards program. Cardholders can earn 2X Membership Rewards points on everyday business purchases, up to $50,000 per year. After that, you can earn 1X point per dollar spent. This makes earning rewards simple as you don't need to track specific spending categories.

If you want to maximize the rewards you earn, considering pairing this card with another Amex card like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. The card comes a high annual fee of $695 (see rates and fees), but you will receive a myriad of benefits: over $1,000 in annual statement credits in the first year of membership with the Business Platinum Card®, including up to $400 with Dell Technologies (up to $200 semi-annually), up to $360 with Indeed, up to $150 with Adobe and up to $120 on wireless telephone purchases, up to $200 airline fee credit, CLEAR® Plus Credit, complimentary hotel loyalty program status and more (enrollment required).

Plus, small business owners who travel frequently will appreciate earning 5X points for every dollar spent on travel booked on Amextravel.com.

How to redeem rewards

American Express Membership Rewards can be redeemed in a number of different ways, including:

• Cover your charges: You can apply your points directly to pay for charges on your billing statement
• Pay with points at checkout: With partners such as Amazon and Walmart, you can pay for purchases using points
• Gift cards: You can purchase gift cards to major retailers and restaurants
• Book or upgrade travel: You can book travel through the Amex Travel portal using points
• Shopping for merchandise: Amex has its own internal digital mall where you can shop for various items using points
• Travel partners: Transfer your points to one of 19 airline partners and three hotel partners

Your points value varies depending on how you redeem them. The best value for your points is to transfer them to airlines and hotel partners. While the American Express points value calculator estimates you can get about 1 cent per point, there's potential to maximize your points value (up to 2 cents per point) by transferring to airline partners and redeeming your rewards for first or business class tickets.

You can transfer any American Express Membership Rewards points you earn with your Blue Business Plus Credit Card to the following partners:

• Aer Lingus
• AeroMexico
• Aeroplan/Air Canada
• AirFrance/KLM
• Alitalia
• ANA
• Avianca
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Delta Air Lines
• El Al
• Emirates
• Etihad
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Iberia
• JetBlue
• Qantas
• Singapore Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Hilton Honors
• Choice Privileges

Keep in mind if you don't typically fly with one of these airlines, you can always utilize their loyalty programs and book with one of their travel partners. For example, if you prefer to fly American Airlines, which is not an Amex travel partner, you can transfer your Amex points to British Airways and book a flight using Avios.

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card offers great features to assist small business owners. The card comes with:

• Expanded buying power: Small business owners have the ability to spend above their credit limit. Eligibility is based on several factors, including payment history, credit history and a few other factors determined by American Express.
• Extended warranty: Manufacturers warranties on eligible purchases are extended up to one additional year.
• Purchase protection: Purchases are covered up to 90 days from the covered purchase date if the product is stolen or accidentally damaged. The coverage is limited up to $1,000 per occurrence, up to $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year.
• Up to 99 authorized employee cards at no additional cost.
• Rental car insurance.
• Ability to link with Quickbooks for simplified accounting.
• Additional small business related benefits, including year-end summary of spending, vendor pay through Bill.com and access to the American Express Business app.

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card stands out because it has no annual fee.

New cardholders can take advantage of a *0% introductory APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening (after, 18.49% - 26.49% variable APR; APR will not exceed 29.99% ).

If you travel overseas regularly, the Blue Business Plus Credit Card may not be the best card. You will be charged *2.7% foreign transaction fee on all purchases made outside the U.S.

There are *late payment fees (up to $39) and balance transfer fees (if eligible, either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater).

*See rates and fees for the Blue Business Plus card.

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card has several competitors in the business credit card space. If you're a small business owner, there are a plethora of cards to choose from. Whether your goal is earning cash back or travel rewards, it's important to choose a card that serves your business' needs.

Here are a few similar cards to the Blue Business Plus to see how they compare.

Amex Blue Business Plus vs. Amex Blue Business Cash Card

The Blue Business Plus and Blue Business Cash cards are nearly identical, except for their rewards program.

The Blue Business Cash Card offers cash back, rather than travel rewards. You can earn 2% cash back on all eligible purchases on up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1% cash back after that.

Overall, when you maximize how you redeem your points, the Amex Blue Business Plus is slightly more valuable. However, if you're looking for an easy-to-use card, the Blue Business Cash has good rewards rate and the cash back you earn can be reinvested into your business.

Amex Blue Business Plus vs. Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® credit card has a very generous welcome bonus: New cardholders can earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. The Ink Business Unlimited offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

While you can earn a decent rewards rate with the Blue Business Plus, the Chase Ink Business Unlimited has a better welcome bonus. It's worth doing to the math to see which one will help earn you more rewards.

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited has similar benefits to the Blue Business Plus, including rental car insurance and free employee cards. So while both of these cards deliver great value, the Chase Ink wins the welcome offer battle, while the Amex Blue Business Plus may deliver better value over the long run.

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card is an excellent addition to a small business owner's wallet if they can maximize how the spend their Membership Rewards points. These rewards can help reduce travel costs when the small business owner books travel with points.

Does Amex Blue Business report to credit bureaus?

American Express will only report to the credit bureaus with business credit cards if your account is not in good standing.

What credit score do you need for an American Express business Card?

You will need good to excellent credit in order to qualify for an American Express business credit card.

Does the Amex Blue Business Plus charge foreign transaction fees?

Yes, the Amex Blue Business Plus has foreign transaction fees. You will be charged 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to U.S. dollars. If you plan on traveling overseas for business or leisure, you should consider a credit card with no foreign transaction fees.

For rates and fees of the American Express Blue Business Cash Card, click here.

For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus, click here.

For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.