Looking for a way to reward your business (and yourself) for covering everyday expenses?
The BMO Business Platinum Rewards Credit Card is a credit card for small business owners that features a large sign-up bonus and bonus points for common business purchases. It’s not exactly revolutionary, but it does what it promises.
The problem is, so do a lot of other business credit cards, and there’s little to distinguish BMO Business Platinum Rewards from the pack. See for yourself where it holds up — and where it falls short.
What Is the BMO Business Platinum Rewards credit card?
The BMO Business Platinum Rewards credit card is a business credit card that offers a high sign-up bonus, a 0% intro APR promotion offer, and a solid earning structure.
New account holders can earn an impressive early spend bonus with qualifying spending: Earn 50,000 bonus rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months of account opening, plus an additional 50,000 bonus rewards points after spending $50,000 within 12 months of account opening.
That’s a big spending requirement, but if you spend upwards of $50,000 per year on your business, it should be doable.
From day one, this card earns:
- 5x points per $1 spent on internet and phone services
- 4x points per $1 spent on office supplies and printing
- 3x points per $1 spent on gas
- 2x per dollar spent on eligible dining purchases
You can earn these on up to $750 spent per category each quarter. After, you can earn an unlimited 1x point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
This card offers several additional benefits, including:
- Discounts on Intuit Quickbooks and TurboTax
- Mastercard RoadAssist (emergency roadside assistance)
- Purchase assurance on eligible items (covering eligible loss and damage)
- Extended warranties on eligible items
- Up to $600 in cell phone protection
- Rental vehicle coverage, subject to limitations and exclusions
- Up to 25% off purchases at over 40,000 merchants with Mastercard Easy Savings, which makes it easy to save on meals, office supplies, hotels and more
This card doesn’t charge an annual fee, but it does charge a foreign transaction fee.
What Sets the BMO Business Platinum Rewards Credit Card Apart?
This card has several features that help it distinguish itself from other credit cards in its category.
- Impressive sign-up bonus. This card offers one of the best sign-up bonuses in the category. However, since the full bonus only comes after a significant first-year spend, this card is best for businesses where this spend would not be a problem.
- Cell phone protection. This card offers $600 in cell phone protection when you charge your monthly wireless telephone bill to your card.
- 0% intro APR promotion. New cardholders may qualify for the intro APR promotion, where you can get 0% intro APR on purchases for nine months from the date of account opening, and 0% intro APR on balance transfers for nine months from date of account opening. A variable APR, which is currently 20.24% to 29.24%, applies after the promotional period ends.
- No annual fee. This card has a lot to offer for a no annual fee card. While there are many small business cards with no annual fee, this one has particularly strong features for a card in this class.
Key Features of the BMO Business Platinum Rewards Credit Card
The BMO Business Platinum Rewards credit card has a very good sign-up bonus, a solid 0% intro APR promotion offer, and a good rewards program overall.
Sign-Up Bonus
This card has an excellent sign-up bonus for high spenders: Earn 50,000 bonus rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months of account opening, plus an additional 50,000 bonus rewards points after spending $50,000 within 12 months of account opening.
Earning Rewards
With this card, you can earn:
- 5x points per $1 spent on internet and phone services
- 4x points per $1 spent on office supplies and printing
- 3x points per $1 spent on gas
- 2x per dollar spent on eligible dining purchases
Each bonus category caps earnings at $750 spent each quarter, or a total of $3,000 in quarterly spending across all bonus categories. After, you can earn an unlimited 1x point per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.
Redeeming Rewards
You can redeem your rewards points for travel, gift cards, merchandise or cash back. Your points don’t expire as long as your account is in good standing. However, points are worth $0.0067, at most, towards these options — significantly less than the standard $0.01 per point value offered by most other business cash-back cards.
0% Intro APR Promotion
New cardholders may qualify for the intro APR promotion, where you can get 0% intro APR on purchases for 9 months from the date of account opening, and 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 9 months from date of account opening.
After the intro APR offer ends, a variable APR will apply, which is currently 20.24% to 29.24%.
Important Fees
This card charges:
- A balance transfer fee of $10 or 4% of the amount of each balance transfer, whichever is greater
- A cash advance fee of $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
- A late payment fee of $39
- A returned payment fee of $39
- An overlimit fee of $39
The card charges a foreign transaction fee of 2% of the amount of each transaction in U.S. dollar. It has no annual fee.
Additional Benefits
This card offers several additional benefits backed by Mastercard and/or BMO, including:
- Discounts on Intuit Quickbooks and TurboTax
- Mastercard RoadAssist (emergency roadside assistance)
- Purchase assurance and extended warranty protection on eligible items
- MasterRental, which pays for covered damages to a rental vehicle when you pay for the rental with your card and decline the optional collision/damage covered offered by the rental company
- Up to $600 in cell phone protection (loss or damage, less a deductible) when you charge your monthly wireless bill to your card
- Up to 25% at over 40,000 merchants with Mastercard Easy Savings
Credit Required
This card requires good credit to qualify. A FICO score below 700 could jeopardize your application if you don’t have well-established business credit.
Pros & Cons
This card has a few advantages when it comes to earning rewards and offering benefits, but it has some clear downsides as well.
Pros
- Up to 5x points on eligible purchases
- Generous benefits for a no-annual-fee card
- Relatively long 0% intro APR offer
Cons
- BMO points worth less than most other issuers’
- Limits on bonus point earnings
- 2% foreign transaction fee
Pros
All in all, this card is relatively generous for a no-annual-fee business credit card, at least at first glance.
- Up to 5x bonus points. It’s clearly a good thing to earn 5x points on internet and phone services, and 4x points on office supplies and printing, and 3x points on gas, and 2x points on eligible dining purchases isn’t bad either.
- Strong benefits. At a time when many credit card issuers have eliminated their travel insurance and purchase protection benefits, this card still features several valuable perks, which is impressive for a card with no annual fee.
- Introductory financing offer. This card offers 9 months of 0% APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers. This is very competitive for a small business card.
Cons
Dig deeper and you’ll see this card’s rewards program isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
- BMO points aren’t worth as much as other points. It’s unfortunate that BMO doesn’t clearly disclose that its points are worth 0.67, as it’s easy for some potential cardholders to assume that they would be worth one cent each, or more.
- Limits on earning. The bonus points offered are limited to just $750 in spending per quarter, which makes this card competitive only for smaller businesses with limited spending requirements.
- Foreign transaction fees. Its 2% foreign transaction fee is somewhat less than the 3% often found on other cards, but there are still plenty of competing cards that don’t have this unnecessary fee.
How the BMO Business Platinum Rewards Credit Card Stacks Up
The card’s closest competitor is probably the Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card, which also has no annual fee and a relatively long 0% intro APR promotion. Here’s how the two cards compare:
| BMO Business Platinum Rewards Credit Card | Chase Ink Business Cash credit card | |
| Annual Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Sign-Up Bonus | Excellent | Very good |
| Rewards Rate | Up to 5x points | Up to 5% cash back |
| 0% Intro APR | 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 9 months | 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 12 months |
| Rewards Value | $0.0067 per point | $0.01 per point |
| Foreign Transaction Fee | 2% of the amount of each transaction | 3% of the amount of each transaction |
| Credit Needed | Good or better | Good or better |
An excellent sign-up bonus and a good 0% intro APR promotion help keep the BMO Business Platinum Rewards card competitive. Unfortunately, its rewards value is a glaring downside that makes Chase Ink Business Cash the better product overall.
Final Word
The BMO Business Platinum Rewards Credit Card has a lot of potential, but I’m sad to say it doesn’t live up to it. When you consider that the reward points are worth just $0.0067 each, then an attractive 5x points becomes a more ordinary 3.33x points, and the other bonus offers are less competitive.
Combine that with the rather small, quarterly limits on spending, and you have a card that might work for very small business owners, but is otherwise less than ideal.