Best Small Business Credit Card in Canada for 2022

The American Express Business Edge™ Card was first introduced to the Canadian Market in October of 2019. It came storming onto the market and literally blew away the competition for small business credit cards. A strong welcome bonus, very strong points earning rates (and they're valuable points) and an easily manageable annual fee make this card stand out. The card mimics it's personal card brethren the American Express Cobalt Card in bonus categories for points and earning Membership Rewards select points and in Rewards Canada's mind it is the best small business card in the Canadian market.

Overview

The American Express Business Edge™ Card makes up one of half a dozen small business cards in American Express Canada's card portfolio. It is the first American Express small business card to earn Membership Rewards Select points which aren't at all different from Membership Rewards - you simply cannot combine points from a card that earns Membership Rewards points (like the Business Platinum Card® from American Express) with points earned on a Membership Rewards Select card like this one.

Costs & Sign up Features

The American Express Business Edge™ Card currently offers a welcome bonus of up to 67,000 Membership Rewards points when you are approved for the card. The first 45,000 is awarded when you spend $5,000 on the card within the first three months. Plus, earn 10x the points for every $1 spent on eligible business essentials including office supplies & electronics, rides & gas, eats & drinks within 6 months of Cardmembership, up to a maximum of 10,000 points. The card then offers a 1,000 points bonus each month that you spend $3,000 on the card and is a continuous bonus that will be awarded to you for the life of the card as long as you hit that $3,000 in monthly spending. It is this 1,000 point per month bonus combined with the 55,000 welcome points that make up the up to 67,000 points you'll see in the card's marketing efforts.

The American Express Business Edge™ Card has a very reasonable annual fee of $99 on the primary card and no fees for any additional cards. The interest rate on the card is 19.99 % for purchases and 21.99% for cash advances which is in line with most of the cards at this level.

Earning

The card earns Membership Rewards points like other proprietary American Express cards and has category multipliers on the types of purchases:

• 3 Points per dollar spent* on eats and drinks (restaurant, quick service restaurant, coffee shops, drinking establishments, food delivery)
• 3 Points per dollar spent* on rides and gas (bus, subway, taxi, ride sharing)
• 3 Points per dollar spent* on office supplies and electronics
• 1 Points per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases
  * These accelerated earn rates are capped at 75,000 points ($25,000 in spending) and then they will earn 1 point per dollar just like all other spending on the card

You can use our American Express Cobalt™ Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations which lists hundreds of retailers from around the world to get an idea where you can earn 3x and 1x points.

Point Valuation Chart

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Rate of return when booking your own travel	Rate of return Cash Back	Rate of return when booking Amex's Fixed Points for Travel	Rate of return when converting to airline & hotel programs
Eats and drinks (restaurant, quick service restaurant, coffee shops, drinking establishments, food delivery)	3	3%	3%	up to 6%	3% to 18% or higher
Rides and gas (bus, subway, taxi, ride sharing)	3	3%	3%	up to 6%	3% to 18% or higher
Office supplies and electronics	3	3%	3%	up to 6%	3% to 18% or higher
All other spending	1	1%	1%	up to 2%	1% to 6% or higher

Redeeming

The American Express Business Edge Card participates in Amex's Membership Rewards program which is the best credit card reward program in Canada as it has so many valuable redemption options. You can redeem points for any travel you book with the card, you can redeem points for any purchase you make on the card, you can redeem via Amex's Fixed Points for Travel and you can convert your points to Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Marriott Bonvoy and numerous other programs.

If you redeem using the Use Points for Purchases option, you will get a $10 credit towards every 1,000 points redeemed for a purchase. This means the purchases you make in accelerated categories will equate to a 3% return.

Moving on to the Fixed Points Travel Program, the card provides great value here as well. Being able to earn up to 3 points per dollar means you can be flying for as little as $5,000 in spending on this card and provides up to a 6% return on those accelerated urchases. Here are the Fixed Points award charts:

From the above you'll see you only need 15,000 points for popular short haul round trip flights. Make that spending with 3x multipliers and you have that ticket for only $5,000.

Finally, another huge and I mean huge benefit to the redemption side of this card is the ability to convert to Membership Rewards Frequent Traveller participants. As of August 16, 2021 the Business Edge Card gained access to all of American Express' transfer partners including Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club. This is on top of the hotel transfer partners that card already had. With minimum point values of 1 cent for Marriott, 1.5 cents for Aeroplan and British Airways you are looking at returns of 3 to 4.5% for that 3x points earning. But that's a minimum - there are so many occasions where you can get 3, 4 or even more cents per points with this programs that puts the Business Edge's return easily into double digits!

Features and Benefits

As with all American Express Cards the card comes with American Express Invites which includes Front Of The Line® Advance Access, Front Of The Line® Reserved Tickets, Front Of The Line® E-Updates, Special Offers & Experiences for all Cardmembers and Social Access for all Cardmembers.

The card comes with a small insurance package that incudes Employee Card Misuse protection, Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance, a purchase protection plan and buyers assurance.

One benefit that isn't promoted front and centre by American Express that his card has just like the consumer cards is the Amex Offers benefit. Amex Offers continually provides special deals at select retailers when you use your registered American Express card. The deals are typically a statement credit after you meet a minimum spend with a retailer but have also seen discounts and bonus points offers as well. We have a complete Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers' where you can learn more about the Amex Offers program.

What is good about this card

The full time earn rate of three points per dollar spent on eats and drinks, rides and gas & office supplies and electronics isn't matched by any other small business card in the market. With it translating to a minimum 3% return this card is front of the pack for earning. No other card small business provides a full time 3% return.

The sign up bonus is another strong point, 45,000 points is worth a minimum of $450 towards travel or cash back or even $900 of short haul flights with the Fixed Points Travel program. Add in the additional 1,000 points you can earn every month for the life of the card if you spend $3,000 per month and you can really see how this card just continually racks up the points.

You can have up to 99 supplementary cards which means the majority of Canadian small businesses can make do with one account and easily hit that $3,000 in spending every month!

What is not so good about this card

The elephant that is in the room with every American Express card is the notion of the lack of acceptance of American Express cards. Yes the cards aren't accepted at as many places as Visa or Mastercard - there's no bending the truth there - however over the past few years American Express has been very aggressive at adding new merchants all the time and have been closing the gap on the big two issuers. In fact in the U.S. it is now claimed that American Express is accepted at 99% of the locations that Visa and Mastercard are. Here in Canada we aren't that high yet but we aren't that far off. If you want help to see where American Express is accepted I recommend checking out these two features of ours:

• American Express Cobalt™ Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations
• A step by step guide to the American Express Shop Small Program

Another potential drawback for this card is the cap on the number of points you can earn annually at the 3x points rate. This is capped at 75,000 points per year which translates to $25,000 in spending. If you are a sole proprietor, small partnership or corporation this limit shouldn't really matter however if you are a company that needs dozens of cards - up to the 99 allowable - you probably are able to spend a lot on your account and may hit that limit really fast. At least you have the 1,000 points per month to count on should you be at the 1x points level.

The insurance package isn't very strong when compared to some other small business credit cards, there aren't a lot of travel benefits or coverages on the card which can be expected as the card isn't marketed as a travel card only. Hopefully you and your employees have personal cards that can provide coverage when you travel and seeing that this card has no point accelerators for purchasing flights, hotels etc. you most likely want to put those purchases on another card any ways.

Who should get this card

• Small business owners and their employees who go to a lot of restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars etc.
• Small business owners and their employees who take transit and ride sharing on a regular basis
• Small business owners who want to make sure they are getting the highest possible return on select category spending
• Small business owners who want a lot of flexibility in the rewards they earn ranging from travel to cash back and more
• Small Business Owners who want to earn the most possible Aeroplan Points, British Airways Avios and points and miles with other airline and hotel programs
  

Conclusion

Taking what they learned from the consumer Cobalt Card from 2017 to 2019 American Express developed a similar card for the small business card that is a winner. At the original time of posting this review the American Express Business Edge card is the best small business credit card in the market for low to medium spending. Its elevated earn rates coupled with the most flexible redemption options from the Membership Rewards program make the card ideal for small businesses with 1 to 100 employees. Whether it is the only card you have for your business or if you make it part of a trio for your company's credit card portfolio (we always state you should have a Visa card, a Mastercard and an American Express card) it will help you keep track of your expenses all the while rewarding you and your business very handsomely.

Latest card details:

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