In my last blog, I talked about some of the best credit cards from Chase that can help build your credit.
For this second part of the series, I want to discuss American Express cards.
American Express – or Amex – is another big card issuer where having a good banking relationship is important.
Amex provides a large variety of credit cards, many with 0% interest, free travel, and the ability to scale your business. Let’s check out the benefits of using Amex cards.
Best Credit Cards to Build Credit – American Express
There are a few things that make Amex cards different from others we’ll discuss. For one, the best approvals and limits will come if your credit score is 720 or above.
If you have less than that, getting one of the Amex ‘charge cards’ are probably a better bet to apply for than the traditional credit card.
The Amex Business Gold is one example of a charge card and we’ll discuss that a bit later.
Another thing about Amex is that they are more lenient on hard credit pulls than other banks, so if you’re doing a credit stack, apply for Amex at the end.
99% of the time, Amex will pull from Experian and once you’ve had at least 1 hard pull, Amex tends to not pull again if it was done within the year.
Lastly, co-branded cards – such as the ones from Delta and Hilton – appear to give out the highest limits.
Some of Amex’s best personal cards include:
2x on restaurants, groceries, and Delta purchases
1 free checked bag on Delta
No foreign transaction fee
Applying to the link above will lock in a 40K point sign up bonus offer.
American Express Hilton Honors Surpass
$95 annual fee
12x points on Hilton purchases, 6x on restaurants/groceries/gas, and 3x on everything else
Earn $150 statement credit after your first purchase on the Hilton surpass card within your first 3 months
Hilton Gold status
Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your card in a calendar year and earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year
Applying through the link will lock in a 130K point sign up offer.
American Express Blue Cash Preferred
Points on purchases:
6x at supermarkets
6x on streaming services
3x for taxi/rideshares/parking/trains/buses
3x at gas stations
1x everything else
20% back on Amazon purchases on the card within the first 6 months of membership, up to $200 back
$150 back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the card within the first 6 months of membership
$0 introductory annual fee for one year, then $95
Applying through the above link will lock in sign up offers.
American Express Platinum (Charles Schwab)
100K point sign up offer
$695 annual fee
1.5X on purchases over $5,000 and 1x on everything else
Charge card – no preset spending limit
$179 CLEAR statement credit
$200 airlines credit
$200 Dell statement credit
$300 Equinox annual credit
$20 monthly credit on digital entertainment subscriptions
Free global entry and precheck
Amex Airline Lounge access (1,300 lounges)
35% points rebate on flights for your selected airline of the year
Some of Amex’s best business credit cards include:
American Express Business Gold
$295 annual fee
4x on advertising, gas, restaurants, and shipping
Charge card – no preset spending limit
Applying to the link above to lock in a 70K point sign up offer.
American Express Business Plum
Early pay bonus – 1.5% cash back (unlimited) on purchases paid back within 10 days of statement closing date
Defer pay feature: up to 60 days to pay without interest
Annual fee waived first year, then $250
American Express Business Blue Cash
0% APR for 12 months
Credit card (preset spending limit)
No annual fee
2% cash back on all purchases up to 50K in spend (than 1%)
Applying to the link above will lock in a $250 statement credit offer.
There are a few rules when it comes to applying for Amex cards. There is a 5 card limit for the amount of open cards at once.
You can only get approved for one credit card every five days and only get approved for two credit cards every 90 days.
If you try to apply for a third application within those 90 days, you will be automatically rejected.
Remember that you’ll have to manage the minimum spend requirements.
As mentioned, American Express is fairly lenient on their credit pulls, so if you already have a card with them, they will typically do a soft pull when applying for another card.
Also, these rules only apply to the Amex credit cards; you can apply for as many charge cards as you’d like.
That’s it, guys, when it comes to Amex cards. In the next blog, we’ll check out some of the cards being offered by CitiBank.
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