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American Express® Velocity Business Card
The American Express Velocity Business Card lets you earn up to 2 Velocity Points per dollar on your business expenses and comes with two domestic Virgin Australia lounge passes every year.
- Signup bonus
- 200,000 bonus Velocity Points, when you spend $5,000 within the first 2 months of approval date. T&Cs apply. New American Express Card Members only.
- Points Earned
- 1 Velocity Point per $1 spent on eligible everyday business purchases and 2 Velocity Points per $1 spent with Virgin Australia
- Notable Benefits
- Plus join the Virgin Australia Business Flyer program to jump direct to Tier 2 and receive a complimentary 12-month Velocity Frequent Flyer Gold Membership. T&Cs apply.
- Annual fee
- $249 p.a. and $99 per Employee Card up to 99 cards
The owner of Australian Frequent Flyer may receive a commission from the card issuer for each applicant of this card.
Overview
The American Express Velocity Business Card lets you earn Velocity Frequent Flyer Points on your business expenses, with an uncapped earn rate of 1 Velocity Point per $1 spent.
With this card, you’ll also receive two domestic Virgin Australia lounge passes every year and complimentary travel insurance. If you’re looking for a business charge card that earns a good rate of Velocity Points, the American Express Velocity Business Card could be suitable.
Key Information & How to Apply
Key facts about this card
- Card type
- American Express
- Signup bonus
- 200,000 bonus Velocity Points, when you spend $5,000 within the first 2 months of approval date. T&Cs apply. New American Express Card Members only.
- Annual fee
- $249 p.a. and $99 per Employee Card up to 99 cards
- Interest-free days
- Up to 51 days
- Minimum monthly repayment
- 100% of outstanding balance
- Minimum credit limit
- This is a charge card, meaning there is no pre-set spending limit but you must pay off the balance in full each month
- Minimum income requirement
- An annual business revenue of $75,000 or more with a valid ABN registered for GST
- International transaction fee
- 3%
To apply for this card, you will need
- To be an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged 18 or over and a Director or controller of the business
- An annual business revenue of $75,000 or more with a valid ABN registered for GST
- No history of bad debt or payment default
- Your Australian driver’s licence number and proof of income
- 10-15 minutes to complete your application
Australian Frequent Flyer is currently not accepting applications for this card offer.
Get notified when it’s live.
Contents
Table of contents
Sign-up bonus
Apply for an American Express Velocity Business Card by 15 May 2024 to earn 200,000 bonus Velocity Points!
To receive the bonus points, you would need to spend at least $5,000 on eligible transactions on your card within the first 2 months from the approval date.
Plus, new Card Members who are already Virgin Australia Business Flyer Members with a Tier 1 Level Status are eligible to be upgraded to Tier 2 for 12 months.
Non-members who sign up for the Virgin Australia Business Flyer within the first 2 months from the American Express Velocity Business Card’s approval date are also eligible to be upgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2 Level Status.
Benefits of Tier 2 Level Status include a 12-month Velocity Gold Membership. Note that existing Virgin Australia Business Flyer members who are already at Tier 2 or 3 Level Status are no longer eligible for Tier upgrade. Terms and conditions apply.
This offer is not available to existing Amex Card Members, or if you have been the primary cardholder of an Australian Amex card in the past 18 months.
What you could do with the bonus Velocity Points
To give you an idea, it would cost 71,000 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points + around $235 for a return Virgin Australia Business Class flight from Adelaide to Bali.
For 75,000 Velocity Points, plus taxes & carrier charges, you could also fly one-way from Sydney to London in Economy Class with Virgin’s partner airlines Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways or Singapore Airlines.
Amex Velocity Business travel benefits
Here’s an overview of the travel benefits you can expect..
Airport lounge access
American Express Velocity Business Cardholders receive two domestic Virgin Australia lounge passes every year. These can be used prior to Virgin Australia domestic flights when you’re departing from an airport where a Virgin Australia Lounge is available.
Complimentary travel insurance
This card comes with complimentary domestic and international travel insurance. This insurance is underwritten by Chubb and is available when using your American Express Velocity Business Card to pay for your trip.
Employee Card Members can also use the travel insurance benefit when you pay for your return trip using your card.
Before using this insurance, we’d encourage you to read the PDS here.
Earning points
With the American Express Velocity Business Card, you’ll earn 1 Velocity Frequent Flyer Point per $1 spent on eligible transactions (excluding government payments).
There is no monthly or annual point-earning cap. You can earn an unlimited number of points at the full rate.
Plus, you’ll earn an extra Velocity Point for every dollar spent (bringing the total to 2 Velocity Points per $1) on eligible Virgin Australia purchases.
Velocity Points may expire if there is no activity in your Velocity Frequent Flyer account for 24 months. But earning Velocity points with your card will keep your account active.
Earning points for ATO & government payments
Payments made directly to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) or other government bodies in Australia with your Amex Velocity Business Card will still earn Velocity Points, but at a reduced rate of 0.5 points per $1.
Using points
There are many ways to redeem Virgin Australia Velocity Points, both in the air and on the ground.
If you don’t want to use your points for flights, Velocity Points can be redeemed for wine, hotels, car hire bookings and products or gift cards from the Velocity Rewards Store.
But you’ll generally get the best value for your Velocity Points by redeeming for UpgradeMe Points upgrades or reward seats on Virgin Australia.
You can also get good value for your points by booking reward seats on many of Virgin Australia’s partner airlines. These include Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines.
You can check the number of Velocity Points you’d need to book a reward seat on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website.
It’s also possible to convert Velocity Frequent Flyer Points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles! You’d just need to transfer at least 5,000 Velocity Points at a time, and the conversion rate is 1.55 Velocity Points = 1 KrisFlyer mile.
Note that taxes & carrier charges are payable in addition to the points on reward seats. The availability of reward seats may also be limited, particularly in Business Class on popular international routes and during peak travel periods.
See our Overview of Velocity Frequent Flyer Redemptions for more information.
Summary
Pros
- Earn 1 Velocity Point per $1 spent, with no cap on the number of points earned
- Two domestic Virgin Australia lounge passes every year
- Possibility to convert Velocity Points earned from this card into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles
- This is a charge card with no pre-set spending limit
- Complimentary domestic and international travel insurance
- Compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay & Samsung Pay
Cons
- $99 fee per Employee Card added
- International transaction fees apply
- Points are earned at a reduced rate when spending with government bodies
- By earning Velocity Points rather than Amex Membership Rewards Points, you lose the flexibility to transfer points to other frequent flyer programs (other than KrisFlyer)
- Signup bonus
- 200,000 bonus Velocity Points, when you spend $5,000 within the first 2 months of approval date. T&Cs apply. New American Express Card Members only.
- Points Earned
- 1 Velocity Point per $1 spent on eligible everyday business purchases and 2 Velocity Points per $1 spent with Virgin Australia
- Notable Benefits
- Plus join the Virgin Australia Business Flyer program to jump direct to Tier 2 and receive a complimentary 12-month Velocity Frequent Flyer Gold Membership. T&Cs apply.
- Annual fee
- $249 p.a. and $99 per Employee Card up to 99 cards
The owner of Australian Frequent Flyer may receive a commission from the card issuer for each applicant of this card.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
To apply for an Amex Velocity Business Card in Australia, you would need to be an Australian citizen, resident or long-term visa holder and be a director or controller of a GST-registered business with a valid ABN and turnover of at least $75,000 per year. Other criteria may apply.
No, the American Express Velocity Business Card is a charge card. This means you will need to pay off the card balance in full each month. (There are flexible payment options if needed, but interest applies if your business needs to use this.)
There is no defined credit limit on the American Express Velocity Business Card because it is a charge card. However, this does not mean you can spend an unlimited amount as Amex will adjust the amount it allows you to spend based each month on a range of factors.
American Express Velocity Business cardholders receive two domestic Virgin Australia lounge passes every year.
Yes, but payments to government bodies including the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will earn points at a reduced rate of 0.5 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points per dollar (instead of the usual 1 point per dollar on everyday purchases).
The Amex Velocity Business card is designed for small to medium-sized businesses, has a lower annual fee and is a charge card. The Amex Velocity Platinum card is a personal credit card offering a free annual return Virgin Australia flight, Amex Centurion Lounge visits and a higher Velocity points earn rate, in return for a higher annual fee. Both cards earn Velocity Points, offer Virgin Australia Lounge passes and include complimentary travel insurance.
Velocity Points will only expire if you do not earn or redeem at least one Velocity Point for two years. As long as your Velocity Frequent Flyer account remains active, i.e. by earning and/or redeeming points at least once every 24 months, your points will not expire.
Yes, the American Express Velocity Business Card supports Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
It is possible to add up to 99 Employee Cards to your American Express Velocity Business Card account, however there is a fee of $99 per Employee Card.