American Express has been synonymous with credit cards for decades. But the titan of travel rewards cards also offers other banking products like a checking account for small business owners … complete with a debit card that earns points.
Amex is currently sweetening the deal for new business-checking customers – but only if you act fast! Through Dec. 12, 2023, small business owners (and that might be you!) can earn 50,000 American Express Membership Rewards points for opening an American Express Business Checking account and completing a few qualifying activities – namely, by depositing $5,000 or more and making at least five transactions in the first 60 days.
Click here to open an Amex business checking account!
Keep in mind: You don't need a massive business to qualify for an Amex business credit card or checking account. Everything from a sole proprietorship to a side hustle will work.
And now you don't even need to be a current American Express customer to qualify. That's right: Even if you don't have an Amex personal or business credit card, you're still eligible to open a new Amex Business checking account and earn this big bonus.
Let's walk through some of the basics of this account and what you'll need to know in order to take advantage of this exciting offer.
How to Get the 50,000-Point Amex Business Checking Offer
For a limited time, Amex is offering 50,000 Membership Rewards points to new customers who apply for an American Express Business Checking account and complete a few qualifying activities.
That's not quite the biggest bonus we've ever seen with this Amex business checking account, but it's up from the standard 30,000-point bonus Amex typically offers. Here's what you need to do to earn this bigger bonus:
- Start by going to the American Express Business Checking homepage.
- Once you open your account, you'll need to make $5,000 of eligible deposits within the first 30 days of opening your account.
- You'll need to maintain an average account balance of at least $5,000 for the next 60 days after funding your account.
- You need to make five or more “qualifying transactions” within the first 60 days your account is open.
Qualifying transactions include mobile deposits, check deposits by mail, and electronic transactions like ACH, wire, and bill payments. Business debit card transactions and deposits using the redeem for deposits feature are not considered qualifying transactions.
That means, you could make 10 different transfers of $500 each from other bank accounts totaling up to the $5,000 required for this promotion, let them sit for 60 days, and you will get the 50,000 points.
If you're a small business owner with a little extra cash on hand, this is a pretty easy way to earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points.
American Express Business Checking: What You Need to Know
Here are some details of Amex's business checking account that you'll want to be aware of:
- Accountholders will earn 1.3% APY on balances up to $500,000.
- The account has no monthly maintenance fees, and no monthly minimum balance requirements. Just remember you'll need to make a minimum deposit of $5,000 and keep it there in order to earn the bonus.
- You'll have access to fee-free ATM withdrawals at over 37,000 MoneyPass ATM locations nationwide
- You'll earn 1 Membership Rewards point for every $2 of eligible debit card purchases. That's not a great value, and you generally shouldn't be using the card for purchases as you can do much better with a credit card.
- These accounts are now eligible for any U.S. small business, even business owners that don't currently have an Amex card.
- Already an Amex account holder? This account is integrated into the Amex app, allowing you to manage the checking account along with your other Amex card accounts.
- If you already have Membership Rewards earning credit card, you can combine the points earned from your checking account and redeem them the same way you always have, plus you'll now be able to redeem points for deposits directly to your account.
- If you don't have a card that earns Membership Rewards, you can redeem your points for deposits into your checking account or transfer to a more limited set of travel partners.
Here's a look at the transfer partners available to those without a Membership Rewards earning credit card:
In total, there are nine travel partners available to business checking customers: seven different airlines and two hotel chain. All in all, it's a pretty solid list of partners – albeit less robust than those with an Amex card like *blue biz plus*.
One other key difference for checking-account-only customers is that you won't see the same transfer bonuses that Membership Rewards earning cardholders often get targeted for.
Read more: Is the Amex Blue Business Plus One of the Best No Annual Fee Cards?
Bottom Line
American Express is out with a great new offer on its American Express Business Checking account for new customers, allowing you to earn up to 50,000 Membership Rewards points by opening a new account and completing a few, simple qualifying activities.
But don't wait around if you're interested in this offer: It's only available through, Dec. 12, 2023.
Open an American Express Business Checking account here!
In theory, you could just write yourself 10 checks from your business account and do mobile deposit and it’d work?
That should work
Like Tony above said, I can transfer from my other chase business account, $500 10 times on the same day and I should be good. Is that correct? Anyone know if there’s a way to transfer online, any ACH method or something?
That should work, and I would imagine you would be able to link an external account to complete the transfer.
Nick- do the funding transactions have to come from multiple different accounts? Could I find the account with 10 $500 transactions from the same chase Biz account that I currently have? If coming from the same account can I do all the transactions on the same day I open the account
There is no requirement that the funding source comes from different accounts. I also don’t believe there is any issue with doing the transactions on the same day.
I’m thinking I already invalidated my bonus, unless I am misinterpreting the following. “You’ll need to maintain an average account balance of at least $5,000 for the first 60 days your account is open.” I deposited exactly $5000 and subsequently made a small purchase on the debit card, dropping my average daily balance below $5000 for a day. I transferred $500 more dollars to the account the next day. Is the $5,000 daily balance averaged over the entire 60 day period or if you dip below $5000 once, is it game over? One day my balance was $4,990 and the next day my balance was $5,490 after another $500 deposit. Would this average keep me above the $5000 threshold or did I lose out for letting it drop below $5,000 for a day?
Hi Ryan. You should be fine. the $5k requirement is averaged over the 60-day period.
Does the promotion trigger a 1099?
Hey Kurt. Great question, and I am unsure of the answer. Amex doesn’t 1099 any of their welcome bonuses for credit card products, but they do 1099 points earned from referring friends and family to those cards.
Nick, this is the main point you missed in your post. At least you should have warned about the significant possibility of this bonus being taxable.
Yes, it may (will) trigger 1099. Amex states that in their T&C (“he Welcome Bonus may be taxable income to you and may be reported on IRS Form 1099. “). The reason why Amex (and other banks) do not 1099 you on the welcome bonuses is because those SUBs have spend requirements, which qualifies SUB to be treated as a rebate. Any other bonus (referral or just a courtesy credit) which has no spend requirements will result in a 1099 MISC if the total of all those freebies reaches $600 in a calendar year.
With the bank accounts the 1099 requirements for the banks are even lower. You will receive a 1099-INT if your interest within a year exceeds $10. The only question is if Amex would treat this bonus as interest or a regular “freebie”.
Amex evaluates its points at 1 cpp, so…
In first case you will receive 1099-INT right away for $500, in the second one you will receive if 1099-MISC if you get another 10K within that year for something else (i.e. other referral bonuses).
I personally think that Amex will fall on the safe side of this dilema, and because this bonus is clearly associated with a checking account – they will treat it as interest. Amex would not want to mess with IRS. So, I suggest to expect $500 1099-INT when you calculate if this offer is beneficial for you.
Good Luck.
If I choose sole prop as my business structure, can I open the account with my SSN only?
I do not have any business document, like DBA.
Thank you very much!
Hi Joe, if you are a sole prop, all you should need is your SSN on the app.
I cannot submit my application.
The webpage says the business filling documents are required.
According to the instruction: You must submit proof of filling with your state or country.
How to handle this?
By the way, whether there will be a hard credit pull for open this account?
Many Thanks.
I download the AMEX business checking APP, but I cannot log in with my AMEX card username and passwords. I try to apply the AMEX business checking on my iPhone, but the webpage still says the business filling documents are required. How can you use the APP to apply the AMEX business checking with SSN only? Many thanks!
Does this only apply to new business checking customers? I had an account I recently closed (last few months).
Hi Matt. Yes, this bonus is only available for new customers.
Hey Nick, thanks for sharing the deal. Just a little clarification on the avg. daily balance –
Per AMEX, “Maintain an average daily balance in your account of at least $5,000 for sixty (60) days, starting on the date that your account balance is first equal to at least $5,000 in eligible deposits. We calculate the average daily balance of your account for the sixty (60) days as the sum of your account’s end-of-day balance for sixty (60) consecutive calendar days divided by sixty.”
According to their terms, it’s not the first 60 days since the account opening but the 60 days since your balance is first equal to at least $5,000. For example, if your combined balance becomes $5,000 or more on the 10th day of your account, that’s when the 60 day timer starts. What do you think?
Hi Tony, I would agree with your assessment.
Anyone know if it’s still possible to get the 60k sign up bonus? Possibly through calling customer service?
I opened a checking account Nov 8. On the 15th my balance hit $5000, by Nov 23 I had the 10 qualifying transactions. I left the $5000 (and some dollars) alone in the account. I’m still waiting for the bonus to show up. I think Amex said it could take 8-12 weeks. Can someone confirm that?
I did it about the same time. It shows I’m qualified for the welcome bonus – 3 of 3 activities completed. I have not received the bonus yet. I guess we just need to wait.
I got denied for having a personal checking account w/Amex. Apparently, you can’t have both 🙁
Hi Nick can I do this with two different businesses?
Hi? Nick.
Not sure if you answered one of the above questions so I am asking again.
Does opening this account require a new hard credit pull?
Hi Marsha, not to my knowledge.
Why do 10 deposits of $500 when you could do 5 deposits of $1000? Just curious if I’m missing something