The American Express Business Edge Card: A Great Mid-Range Card

The American Express Business Edge Card provides a solid sign up bonus, along with a relatively low annual fee for cost conscious consumers. If you intend on taking a trip over the next 12 months, the American Express Business Edge card can drastically reduce the cost of your travel.

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The Basics 

Annual Fee: $99

Sign up Bonus: 67,000 MR (Membership Rewards)

First Year Free: No

GCR Rebate: $75

Referral Bonus: 5,000 Membership Rewards

Lounge Access: No

First Year Value: $900

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American Express Business Edge Card Sign up Bonus 

New cardholders will earn 45,000 Membership Rewards upon spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

You can also earn 1,000 Membership Rewards points for each monthly billing period when you charge $3,000 in purchases on your card

New cardholders will earn 10 Membership Rewards per dollar spent on office supples, gas, food & drink within the first 6 months of card-membership (up to a maximum of 10,000 Membership Rewards)

This totals 67,000 MR

If you’re currently a Business Edge cardholder, You can earn 5,0000 Membership Rewards by referring a friend or family member to the Gold Card, Cobalt Card, Business Gold or Business Edge card.

Earning Rewards

The American Express Business Edge Card is a great option for everyday earning. The earn rates are: 

3 Membership Rewards for every dollar spent on eligible food & drink (groceries not included), office supplies, electronics & gas, 

1 Membership Reward for every dollar spent everywhere else.

Reminder: You’ll earn 10 Membership Rewards per dollar spent on food & drink within the first 6 months of cardmembership (up to a maximum of 10,000 Membership Rewards).

While other cards have higher earning rates for particular categories (the American Express Business Platinum offers 1.25 MR per dollar spent on everyday purchases & the American Express Cobalt card offers 5 MR per dollar spent on food & drinks, including groceries), the Business Edge card has market leading earning on things such as office supplies & gas. 

If you are someone who puts up high spending on those categories, you should strongly consider getting this card as part of your portfolio. 

Redeeming Your Rewards

The American Express Business Edge Card allows you to earn Membership Rewards.

Read: Your Complete Guide to Membership Rewards

Membership Rewards is one of, if not the best travel currency for Canadians. One of, if not the best reason for you to start collecting American Express Membership Rewards (MR) is that you can transfer your MR to multiple transfer partners including: 

• Air Canada/Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club 
• Alitalia MilleMiglia
• Asia Miles 
• Delta Airways Sky Miles
• Etihad Guest
• Marriott Bonvoy Points
• Hilton Honours Points

You can view the transfer ratios below

The best value to Canadians is to transfer the points out to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio. 

90,000 Aeroplan points can earn you multiple free flights as you can see from the table below. 

Here’s the new award chart for travel within North America:

Here’s the new award chart for travel between North America and the Atlantic region:

Here’s the new award chart for travel between North America and the Pacific region:

Here’s the new award chart for travel between North America and South America:

If you choose not to transfer your Membership Rewards to one of the transfer partners listed above, you can alternatively use those points directly within American Express’ in house travel platform

You can apply your Membership Rewards to both domestic & international travel as outlined below

It should be noted that the value you receive by TRANSFERRING your Membership Rewards is greater than if you were to use it within the American Express travel portal 

American Express Business Edge Card Benefits

Entertainment Perks

Business Edge Cardmembers receive regular Perks, throughout the year including access to great events. 

American Express Business Edge Card Insurance Coverage

The insurance is below average when compared to the American Express Gold & Platinum cards. You receive access to the following insurance lines:

• Car rental damage insurance 
• You can be insured for eligible items charged to your American Express Business Edge Card for 90 days from the date of purchase in the event of accidental physical damage or theft
• Automatically extend the manufacturer’s original warranty up to one additional year 

Summary

The American Express Business Edge card doesn’t come with the travel perks of other AMEX’s in the market, but it does have a great sign up bonus and solid everyday earning. The flexibility of the Membership Rewards program is a great reason in itself to get this card.

While the $99 annual fee seems daunting initially, the 67,000 Membership Rewards will earn you potentially multiple free flights, and the GCR rebate will help offset that first year cost. 

Canadians will have to make a personal decision as to whether or not the $99 annual fee is worth spending after year one. If you are a high spender on things such as office supplies or gas, the 3 MR per dollar spent might entice you to keep the Business Edge in your wallet long term.