American Express Velocity Business Charge Card

Pauline Hatch

Pauline is a personal finance expert at CreditCard.com.au, with 8 years in money, budgeting and property reporting under her belt. Ask Pauline a Question about this card.

Point calculations are accurate as of 10 November 2023 but may be subject to change without notice. All routes may have additional taxes and charges. Check on the official American Express page for the updated calculations.

Providing your business with a wide range of excellent features, the American Express Velocity Business Charge Card offers you the opportunity to earn rewards on your business spending, while enjoying some wonderfully convenient tools and extras. Think a charge card might be right for your business? This offering from American Express may just be the charge card for you.

What we love...

One of the things we like most about the American Express Velocity Business Charge Card is its charge card capability. While still providing you with the ability to pay with plastic, it can offer more flexibility than a credit card, as it has no pre-set credit limit.

This can give you more flexibility in your business spending – all you need to do is pay the balance in full each month. And with up to 51 days interest-free on purchases, you can extend your cash flow even further.

If you need more time to pay off your statement you can use Amex's Flexible Payment Option (FPO) to pay your a portion of your balance in instalments. When you apply, you'll be given a maximum amount you can use towards a FPO (much like a credit card limit, but for the amount you can allocate to flexible repayments). If you don't pay your statement in time, your interest-free days will be forfeit and an automatic FPO will be set up and charged interest until it's paid off in full. FPO's are charged at either the normal purchase rate or the rate specified on your monthly statement and may include other fees.

But that’s not all. This is a card that rewards you for your spending. Working in much the same way as other business rewards cards, the American Express Velocity Business Charge Card allows you to earn points on everyday spending, which can be redeemed on the Velocity program.

Points earned are automatically transferred to your Velocity Account each month, which can then be redeemed for flights or upgrades with Virgin Australia and its international airline partners, for a stay at selected hotels, for car rental, or for an extensive range of items within the Velocity Rewards Store.

The everyday earn rate lets you earn 2 points per $1 spent on purchases with Virgin Australia, 1 point per $1 spent on everyday business spend, except for government bodies in Australia where you’ll earn 0.5 points per $1 spent. What makes it even more enticing is that it also offers new cardholders 100,000 bonus Velocity Points when you online, are approved, and spend $3,000 within the first 2 months. After that spend criteria has been met, the 100,000 bonus Velocity Points will be credited to your account within 8-10 weeks.

To give you an idea of where 100,000 bonus Velocity Points can take you, you could fly return in business from Brisbane to Melbourne for 99,000 points, or use it to purchase an Ultimate Home $500 gift card for 94,416 points at Velocity Rewards Store. With various redemption options to choose from, it’s up to you to pick one that could give you the best value.

Given the limited time offer, benefits and extras this card holds, $249 annual fee is more than reasonable.

What’s not so great...

As long as you understand how a charge card works – and don’t mistake it for a credit card – the American Express Velocity Business Charge Card doesn’t provide much to complain about.

Though the card has a reasonable annual fee, the Employee Cards linked to your account incur an additional fee of $99 per year, per card.

Why should you choose this card?

Aside from its charge card flexibility and rewards points earning potential, the American Express Velocity Business Charge Card also has a number of other features on offer. As a cardholder, you can enjoy two complimentary single entry passes to the Virgin Australia lounge at selected domestic airports every year.

You can also benefit from a number of complimentary insurances, including domestic and overseas Travel Insurance (with limited cover related to COVID-19, T&Cs apply), Travel Inconvenience Cover, and Public Transport Accident Cover. Also on offer is emergency card replacement, online fraud protection, and award-winning support from the American Express global customer service team.

In terms of business tools, the card provides transaction data feeds to MYOB accounting software, while also allowing you to keep track of expenditure by downloading statements and transaction details, and viewing balances using Quicken, MYOB, or Microsoft Excel.

Overall Rating

A business charge card that allows cardholders to earn rewards on business spending while taking advantage of a range of convenient features and business tools.