Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Card Review

The Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Card is Amex's latest (but probably not greatest) business card. Like other mid-tier to premium cards, it comes with benefits and statement credits and a mid-range annual fee. Unlike typical credit cards, however, it allows you to carry a balance for certain charges, but not all. In our review of the Graphite™️ Business Cash Unlimited Card Review will look at the welcome offer, earning structure, card benefits and share our overall thoughts.

Current Welcome Offer

American Express usually has many different welcome offers for its cards at any given time. The Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Card no different. The current public offer is as follows:

• Earn $1,500 Cash Back in the form of Reward Dollars after $50,000 spend on eligible purchases in the first 6 months. Reward Dollars can be redeemed as statement credits or at Amazon checkout. Terms apply.
• The annual fee is $295. See Rates and Fees.

Amex Application Rules

If you choose to apply, remember that Amex typically will not approve you for more than two Amex credit cards during a 90-day period. They also have a 10 card limit on the colored Membership Rewards earning cards (Green, Gold, Platinum, etc). As this is a brand new card, we expect this will follow the colored card rules, but that remains to be seen. This includes personal and business cards. This is separate from the 5 card limit on credit cards.

Amex also has a once per lifetime welcome offer rule on each card. This is more like every 5 – 7 years in reality though, and not actually your lifetime. That timeline is based off of when you last held a card, not when you last earned a welcome offer on the product though. If you are ineligible for the welcome offer for any reason American Express will usually let you know that with a pop-up before the application is processed. You can cancel the application at this time with no hard pull.

The Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Review: Earning Structure

The Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Card earns at the following rates:

• Unlimited 2% cash back in Reward Dollars on all eligible purchases. Reward Dollars can be redeemed as a statement credit and at amazon.com checkout.
• Unlimited 5% cash back in Reward Dollars on all eligible flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel.

Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Benefits

The Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Card has almost no ancillary benefits or perks. For a card with a $295 annual fee, there's not much to write about here. The benefits and perks include:

• No Foreign Transaction Fees (See Rates and Fees)
• Earn the following perks if you spend over $250,000 in a calendar year
  • $2,400 One AP® Statement Credit for use in the next calendar year on monthly fees for American Express One AP®, American Express’ digital accounts payable product that automates supplier payments on one platform.

ToP Analysis

The Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card doesn't have much going on. In fact, it seems hard to justify the annual fee for the card. While an unlimited 2% cash back on all eligible spend sounds nice, the $249 with no real perks (more on that below) isn't competitive. If you want 2% cash back, there are better options, including:

• American Express Blue Business Cash: $0 annual fee and 2% on up to $50,000 in spend per year
• Wells Fargo Signify Business Card: $0 annual fee and unlimited 2% cash back
• Capital One Spark 2% Cash Card: $0 annual fee first year, then $95 and unlimited 2% cash back
• Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card: $150 annual fee, which is refunded with $150,000+ spend each year and unlimited cash back.
• Chase Ink Business Premier Card: $150 annual fee, unlimited 2% cash back and 2.5% cash back on all purchases of $5,000+

Additionally, if you are considering this card for the $250,000 annual spend perk of a $2,400 One AP® Statement credits, you are much better off with an Amex Business Platinum card. Why? Because if you put the same $250,000 annual spend on a Business Platinum, you receive an identical $2,400 credit the following year and a $1,200 flight credit for the American Express Travel portal. That additional perk on the Business Platinum more than justifies the difference in the two cards' annual fee. In short, any perk of this card is bettered by one or more other cards on the market.

The Graphiteᵀᴹ Business Cash Unlimited Card Review: ToP Thoughts

The Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card is a perplexing card. It offers a big welcome offer, but one that is easily beaten by targeted offers for both the Business Platinum and Business Gold. Likewise, there are many other business cards on the market that offer similar earn rates for lower annual fees. Additionally, the only real perk of the Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card is the $2,400 One AP® statement credits, but that benefit is more lucrative on a Business Platinum, as described above. We're not really sure the long-term benefit to this card nor the target demographic. If you want a charge card, with no preset spending limit, you're likely much better off with a Spark Cash Plus. If your business is okay with a credit card with a monthly credit limit, there are several better options listed above that are more competitive.

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