Many readers might wait until they are traveling more to add cards to their wallet, however, I am not. I believe this is a great time to apply for cards, in case things do not open as soon as we would like both in travel and credit cards. I am using my points for staycations, domestic travel, and to keep earning free nights and status, all while still saving points for international trips down the road.
Generally, it is beneficial to me seeing what cards people add to their wallets and how they use them to maximize points earning on their spend. It helps me look at cards in a way I may not have done so before. With that in mind, I added my fourth American Express card, the Blue Business Plus (BBP).
Current Offer
The Blue Business Plus has not always carried a welcome offer. As an example, there was a 10,000 Membership Rewards welcome offer via referral previously (offer no longer available). The current offer may be valuable to you, depending on your business spend. You earn up to a $100 statement credit per merchant for Dell, FedEx, and DocuSign, for a total of $300 total. The offers can tend to come and go as well. This card has no annual fee, however, this is the first card I have applied for where a sign-up bonus had no influence in my decision. I applied for this card due to the outstanding long-term benefits, rather than a sign-up bonus.
Earn Rates
The earn rate was my primary goal with this card. You earn 2x Membership Rewards Points (MR) per dollar spent on your first $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, regardless of spend category. In addition, you can take advantage of Amex offers to stack with your card earnings. As soon as I added this card to my online account, I noticed an offer for Dell which I could combine with my $100 statement credit.
Analysis
Having an everyday spend Membership Reward cards can be valuable over the course of the year. While $50,000 may seem high, this may be easily attained for those with business spend or other large purchases coming up. Therefore, if you can max out the $50,000 in spend, you will earn 100,000 in MR points per year. Even if I could meet only half the spend, that is still essentially a one way business class ticket to Europe every year. For those reasons, this is a must-have everyday spend card for me.
Final Thoughts
The Blue Business Plus is an everyday spend card that earns 2X Membership rewards and no annual fee. This was an easy decision for me. As I diversify away from just my Chase cards, this allows me more flexibility. I can combine this high-earning card with my other American Express cards to maximize my spending and earning.
Have you added any cards to your wallet recently? Any business cards? Are you considering it? Come over to our Facebook group and let us know your thoughts.
