Amex Business Checking: 35,000 Membership Rewards Points for a $5,000 Balance

American Express has bumped up the welcome offer on its Business Checking account to 35,000 Membership Rewards points. It's not the biggest bonus we've ever seen from this account, but it's a straightforward one that just about any small business owner can grab. The catch? You'll need to park $5,000 in the account for a couple of months and knock out a handful of transactions. Here's what you need to know before you sign up.

What You Actually Have to Do

The requirements here are pretty clear, but there are a few fine-print details that can trip you up if you're not paying attention. First, you need to open a new American Express Business Checking account. Then deposit at least $5,000 in new money within 30 days of opening. New money means it can't come from another Amex Business Checking account, and you can't fund it by redeeming Membership Rewards points for deposits.

Once that $5,000 hits your available balance, the clock starts on a 60-day window. You need to keep an average balance of at least $5,000 during that period. You also need to complete 5 qualifying transactions within 60 days of account opening. Mobile deposits count. So do ACH transfers, wires, and bill payments made to or from your account. What doesn't count? Debit card purchases, point deposits, and transfers between Amex Business Checking accounts held by the same business.

After you've checked all those boxes, Amex will deposit the 35,000 points into the Membership Rewards account linked to your checking account. That takes 8 to 12 weeks, so don't expect them to show up overnight.

The Account Itself Is Pretty Decent

Beyond the welcome bonus, the checking account has some solid features. There's no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement, which is always nice. You earn 1% APY on balances up to $500,000, with interest compounding daily and landing in your account monthly.

Every account comes with a Business Debit Card that earns 0.5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on eligible purchases. You also get fee-free ATM access at more than 70,000 Allpoint and MoneyPass locations across the US. The account connects with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and other accounting tools through Plaid and Yodlee, which is handy if you want to keep your books in sync without a bunch of manual entry.

Customer service is available 24/7, and the account includes fraud monitoring. It's a perfectly functional business checking account even without the bonus.

The Points Cash-Out Catch

Here's where things get a little less exciting. You can redeem Membership Rewards points for cash deposits into your checking account, but the standard rate is only 0.8 cents per point. That's not great.

If you also hold a Business Platinum card, you can bump that up to 1 cent per point on up to 1,000,000 points per calendar year. But the Business Platinum comes with a $895 annual fee. So to get a decent cash-out rate, you're essentially paying $895 for the privilege. Whether that's worth it depends on how you value Membership Rewards points and whether you'd get enough use out of the Business Platinum card to justify the fee on its own.

For what it's worth, there are other ways to cash out Amex points at better rates. The Schwab Platinum card, for example, lets you redeem at 1.1 cents per point. But that's a different card with its own annual fee, and it's not part of this checking account offer.

Is This Bonus Worth It?

Amex has offered targeted bonuses on this account as high as 70,000 points in the past. So 35,000 isn't the most generous offer we've seen. But it's available to everyone, not just a select group of targeted customers. If you've been waiting for a public offer to come around, this is it.

The bigger question is what you plan to do with the points. If you're going to transfer them to airline or hotel partners, 35,000 Membership Rewards points can be worth well more than $350. If you're planning to cash them out at 0.8 cents each, you're looking at $280, which is still a decent return on a $5,000 deposit you're holding for two months. But it's not the most lucrative use of those points.

Also keep in mind that the $5,000 needs to be new money. If you already have an Amex Business Checking account, you can't just move funds around and call it a day. And if you're the type who likes to keep business and personal finances separate, this account fits that mold nicely.

Bottom Line

• 35,000 Membership Rewards points is a solid but not spectacular bonus for this account — targeted offers have gone up to 70,000.
• You need to deposit $5,000 in new money, hold an average balance of $5,000 for 60 days, and make 5 qualifying transactions within 60 days.
• Debit card purchases don't count as qualifying transactions — stick to ACH, wires, mobile deposits, and bill payments.
• Cashing out points at the full 1 cent per point requires a Business Platinum card and its $895 annual fee.
• The account has no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirement, and earns 1% APY on balances up to $500,000.

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