Best Charge Cards

Card Details	The Offer	Is it Worth It?
Pros and Cons	Why 4 Stars?	Fees
Benefits

Card Details

Regular APR:	None
Intro APR (Purchases):	None
Intro APR (Balance transfers):	None
Rewards Rate:	None
Credit Needed:	(740 – 850) Excellent
Annual Fee:	$0 for the first year, then $250
Card Brand:	American Express

*See online credit card application for details on the terms and conditions.

Offer Highlights

• Click APPLY NOW to apply online
• Pay early, get cash back. Earn an unlimited 1.5% Early Pay Discount with the Plum Card.
• Stay in control of your cash flow with up to 60 days to pay with no interest.
• Power to buy big. New possibilities for your business.
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $250
• Earn up to $600 back. To appear as three $200 credits. To be eligible to earn each statement credit, you must charge $10,000 in eligible purchase during the first 3 months of Card membership, starting from the date your account is approved
• The Plum Card has no preset spending limit, which gives you purchasing power that can adjust with your use of the Card and other factors.
• Get additional flexibility with Employee Plum Cards at no additional annual fee.

Is American Express Plum Card worth it?

American Express Plum Card is a great card for businesses with variable expenses or cash flow. Cardholders get an unlimited 1.5% early pay discount and up to 60 days interest free. There is no annual fee for the first year, then $250.

Just because the card doesn’t have an APR, doesn’t mean you won’t be charged for paying late. The late payment is $39 or 1.5% of the past due amount, whichever is greater. If you do not pay for two billing periods in a row, the fee is the greater of $39 or 2.99% of the past due amount.

Typically, you would only be charged up to $28 the first time you are late, as defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Then, if you are late a second time within the next six billing cycles, you can be charged up to $39, with the late fee never surpassing the amount due. This is why credit card terms typically state “up to $39” as the late fee amount.

However, with American Express Plum the first late fee is $39 or 1.5% of the past due amount, which is a big deal if your business just made a $40,000 purchase on your card, which would be a $600 fee. This is how many American Express charge cards operate. For example, American Express Business Gold, American Express Business Platinum, and American Express? Business Green Rewards all have a late fee of the greater of $39 or 2.99% of any past due Pay in Full amount, which is all transactions not deferred.

As mentioned, American Express has a number of charge cards: American Express Business Green Rewards, American Express Business Platinum and American Express Platinum, and American Express Business Gold and American Express Gold Card. These cards offer the Pay Over Time feature, which allows you to manually or automatically select all purchases or some travel purchases, and pay a minimum payment instead of having to pay all purchases during the current billing period.

In contrast, American Express Plum offers an extra 30 days interest on any remaining balance beyond meeting your minimum payment. The minimum payment is simple: it’s 10% of the balance you are carrying, with the balance of course including any charges from the current billing period as well as any deferred charges you carried into the current billing period. As long as you meet this minimum payment, you pay no interest on remaining charges for an extra 30 days. In total, this is like getting 60 days to pay with no interest.

The flip side of this deal is that if you can pay off the balance, you will get a statement credit 1.5% bonus, which is like unlimited 1.5% cash back because you can do it every month. The challenge with this benefit is you need to pay within a short 10 day window immediately after the statement closing date to get the “early pay” refund. It’s an odd requirement.

If paying within a short window is too much to add to your schedule, you might be better off with another business card that you can pay at any time and still get a 1.5% rewards rate or better. Capital One Spark Cash Select for Business and Chase Ink Business Unlimited both earn unlimited 1.5% cash back and have no annual fee. That said, if the 60 days without interest is important to your business, The Plum Card is a great card for you.

Pros

• No interest for 60 days
• Unlimited 1.5% early pay discount

Cons

• $250 annual fee starting second year
• Must pay within 10 day window after the statement closing date if you want the discount

Why 4 Stars?

Regular APR

4 Stars

Intro APR

5 Stars

Fees

4 Stars

Perks

5 Stars. ?????

Overall

4 Stars. ????

Fees

Foreign Transaction Fee	$0
Balance Transfer Fee	No Balance Transfers Allowed
Cash Advance Fee	No Cash Advances Allowed
Penalty APR	N/A

Benefits

$0 Fraud Liability

Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

Purchase Protection

Travel and Emergency Assistance

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by the issuer. Any opinion, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed on this page are those of the author?s alone, and may not have been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer.

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