In this post, I am going to break down the pros and cons of the top two tier business cards out there in regards to credit card points, travel benefits, and extracurricular card benefits. To preface this, I'd like to mention that there are many, many, business credit cards out there. Most definitely each banking institution has one. But, in my opinion, the top two are:
The card details are outlined below:
Right off the bat, the AMEX Platinum Business (APB hereafter) is a whopping $355.00 more than the Chase Ink Business (CIB hereafter). However, it's when you get down into the card benefits, is where the real perks come out.
Airline Credits:
Currently, the CIB card does not offer any statement credits for purchases such as airline tickets, airline fees, in flight entertainment (IFE), or checked luggage. For these kinds of benefits, you will need the Chase Sapphire Reserve card (which you should definitely have). So that leaves the APB. APB provides $200 annually in statement credits BUT only on certain charges. For example, checked baggage, in-flight refreshments, and lounge access are all considered reimbursable. Ticket purchases are not. AMEX figures they are already giving you 5x points per dollar so they also don't want to give you a $200 statement credit on top of that! Some of us frequent flyers may not necessarily benefit from this $200 as we already receive many perks when flying on our preferred airlines. However, there are several blogs out there that stating where people have demonstrated receiving this $200 statement credit when purchasing airline gift cards but it cannot be confirmed if this is accurate.
Winner: APB - Simply because CIB doesn't have any benefits.
Sign-Up Bonuses:
Chase comes in at 30,000 points higher than APB with half the spending requirement. Both the Chase Ultimate Rewards and AMEX Rewards have very valuable transfer partners so I'm giving this one to Chase. Furthermore, that 80,000 bonus points have been around for quite awhile.
Winner: CIB
Spend Categories:
Here is where the two cards differ greatly. The CIB gives you 3 points per $ on the first $150,000 on travel (all travel categories), shipping, cable and phone (HULU, Netflix, cell phone, etc.), and advertising purchases made with social media sites. Then 3 points per $ on everything else.
The APB gives you 5 points per $ on travel when booked through amextravel.com! That is huge! You're getting an additional 2 points per $ when using the APB which could easily translate into tens of thousands of points extra per year just by using this card. When traveling as much as we do (both personal and business), this card is a no brainer. Additionally, you get 1-1.5 points per $ on everything else and Global Lounge Collection access and Fine Hotels and Resorts privileges. All this for $155 extra annually for the APB over the CIB (contingent upon you receiving the $200 annual airline credit).
Not to mention, you also receive SPG and Hilton Gold status immediately. So for those of us that are not frequent hotel travelers, this could be a great perk.
Overall:
Although both cards offer similar protections, I would most definitely go with the APB card over the CIB even though you are automatically accepting a lower sign-up bonus. You can easily make that difference up by booking your first few flights on amextravel.com. For the frequent airline traveler, you will see year over year value if this card is in your wallet.
