About the card

The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card is a reward card issued by American Express.  This card is tailored for small businesses whose employees frequently travel.  The card comes with online account management tools and even allows data to be easily downloaded into QuickBooks.

The basics

• APRs: 14.99% for purchases, 19.99% for cash advances
• When initiated within 6 months of opening the account, 9.99% APR on balances transfers for the life of the loan
• Annual fee: $95 or $45 for some qualified cardholders
• 20 day grace period on purchases
• Late fee:  $19 for balances under $400, $38 for balances of $400 or more
• $35 over the limit fee
• 3% fees on cash advances ($5 minimum and no maximum)

The perks

• Earn 1 Delta mile for every dollar you spend, earn double miles on certain purchases like gas and office supplies
• Earn bonus miles with Miles Boosts when you spend more than $15,000 a year
• Save 5% on Delta flights when you use this card
• 20,000 bonus miles after your first purchase
• Request 2 additional cards with your application and get 5,000 bonus miles
• Get a $99 Companion Certification every year when you renew
• For the basic card, the annual fee is waived for the first year
• Includes travel accident insurance, baggage insurance and car rental insurance when you pay for fares and rentals using the card
• OPEN Savings program allows you to save 3-25% when you use your card at participating retailers (Save 5% on Yahoo small business services, 3-5% on jetBlue Airways, 10% on Logoworks by HP and much more)
• Plus get exclusive OPEN member only savings of up to 12% on business travel
• Comes with emergency services such are card replacement, identity theft assistance, cash checking and Global Assist.  Global Assist will help with medical, legal, financial, lost luggage, and more when you travel more than 100 miles from home

You will like this card if you are a small business owner who wants to earn free travel miles.

You won’t like this card if you are unable to pay the entire balance of the card at the end of each month.  At 14.99%, interest charges can add up really fast.

Credit card review

The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express allows you to rack up free Delta SkyMiles every time you make a purchase.  And if you make a lot of purchases (more than $25,000 a year), American Express will throw in an extra 10,000 miles in addition to the miles you’ve already earned.  Also, every year, you’ll get a $99 companion certificate.  That can make it easier to swallow the $95 annual fee.

Although the card comes with a lot of extras, I have some qualms about the fees.  The interest rate is 14.99%.  There are many other cards that offer a lower interest rate.  So if you plan on carrying a balance from month to month, you might want to consider a card with a lower rate.  Also the 20 day grace period is short.  Although, reducing the grace period is a new trend in the credit card industry, there are still many cards that offer 25 or even 30 days.

Finally, the 9.99% APR on balance transfers is supposed to be a promotional rate.  However 9.99% coupled with a 3% transaction fee (with no cap) does not sound like much of a promotion to me.  I would not recommend taking advantage of this balance transfer offer.

If used strictly to earn miles and if you can pay the entire balance each month, then this reward card can definitely be rewarding.

Overall rating

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Apply for the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express here.