Make Money with American Express Plum Card

I’ll try and talk about this like any normal post that’s geared to put more money in your pockets. I’ll refrain as much as I can from making every other word my affiliate link, because I know you guys aren’t retarded and don’t need to see a link fifty times to click it.

That being said, you know how much I’m an Amex junkie. I recently started using the Plum card a lot more to get the benefits of the 2% cash back on ALL business expenses (this means PPC baby). I used the Starwood for a while and raked up a nice amount of points, but I don’t live in a hotel so I figured some cash back would be more beneficial. Here’s a screenshot I took a couple of days ago :

American Express Plum Card

How pimp is the Plum card? Since January 21st (I took this screen shot on Feb 7th or something like that), I’ve spent $265,829.90 on it. Right now, they’ll give me back $5,316.59. Estimating that my costs are around what they’ve been, in one month they will give me over $9,000 in cash back. That’s $9k a month in pure profit added to whatever I make already.

What will you do with all your cash back? Like I’ve said many times already, even if you break even on a campaign you can make a nice income strictly from Amex rewards. Pay your mortgage with the Plum card, then switch to the Starwood when you want to go away on a vacation, and then switch to the Platinum for reward points when you want that Xbox 360.

Apply for the Plum.

Amex = ballin.


43 Comments

  1. Dave Turnbull
    February 12, 2008

    Heh, nice post. :)

    Every post you make about Amex cards makes me want them more!

    Just a question, do you know if there is a way to get one of these cards if you’re under 18? I’m 17 at the moment and I’m hoping my parents can like guarantee I’ll pay off the credit card. I’m spending a few hundred a month anyways, would be nice to at least build up some travel points or cash before my trip around the world next year.

  2. February 12, 2008

    Have your parents get one and use it.

  3. JT
    February 13, 2008

    is there a cap on the 2%? or unlimited?

  4. February 13, 2008

    Paul,

    I shot you an e-mail a couple days ago with a question regarding AMEX cards. Did you ever initially have any trouble getting your credit limit raised? I got a Starwood card a couple months ago and I’m about to be real fucked here because they are taking there SWEET ASS TIME deciding what to do with my credit limit. All I get is ‘we’ll let you know in 7 business days’ blah blah blah. Everytime I call I just get some low-level tech who puts in another request.

    My first request got denied. I got a letter saying ‘you can’t get a credit limit increase within XX days of the card or within 6 months of your last increase’. This sounds like bullshit.

    Luckily I have more than one AMEX card I can shuffle around to hopefully pull through the next week or so but fuck me I’m cutting it close. If they don’t throw me a bone here soon shit is going to hit the fan. These people need to understand I gotta spend money to make money ffs.

    Any insight on lighting a fire under them?

    cheers

  5. February 13, 2008

    Looks like a pretty good deal, I’ll definitely check it out.

    Is that 2% for the life of the card or is it only for introductory period?

  6. February 13, 2008

    Great Idea Paul. This make me apply an credit card fast.

  7. February 13, 2008

    I’m about to make my break into AM. I haven’t yet got a credit card, so is this the one for me? I’ve got to start building credit and I figure paying off the small amounts I will put into Adwords and Yahoo will really help me. Don’t even know if I’d qualify without any previous credit. Any hints?

    Thanks

    Justin Dupre

  8. February 13, 2008

    Credit cards can be beneficial when used wisely. There is no doubting that. The problem being that so many people are incapable of using them wisely. Falling into debt on credit cards can spiral pretty fast if your not aware of exactly how they work.

  9. February 13, 2008

    okay fuck it, i am coming for you young man… :)

    Love your blog mr uber affiliate…

  10. Andrew
    February 13, 2008

    Dude, do you even have any clue what this blog is about?

  11. Ryan
    February 13, 2008

    I had that problem with them as well. I got my limit raised after the initial 30 days but they won’t raise it again for 6 months. So I got a platinum card to go along with the starwood card. If you don’t want to get a new card, you can call their credit services department and have a manager push a payment through any day, you don’t have to wait till it’s due. That way you pay ahead if you have the money and don’t have to worry about your limits.

  12. February 13, 2008

    Good god. I dont think I could spent $250K in 3 weeks if I tried!

  13. February 13, 2008

    you need to pay the card in 10 days to qualify for the 2% cash back, if you don’t pay it, then its a regular charge card. I don’t know what the affiliate payout is…. but if you are spending for your ppc and dont get paid by your network till the end of the month, you only have a short timeframe to pay that amex and get your cash back. Its great if you are disciplined, but when you are looking at that much cash, I would prefer something like discover 1% and I have a little longer to pay.

  14. February 13, 2008

    Paul is this a personal CC, or a business CC?

  15. February 13, 2008

    Hehe Jared, tell them u will switch! if they don’t give you a deal, maybe that’ll light the fire up :)

  16. February 13, 2008

    Lol for some reason, I’ cracked up, but this blog was to mimic another make money blog LOL. Haha funny stuff :)

  17. Zach
    February 13, 2008

    huh?

  18. February 13, 2008

    Well unless he has incorporated already probably doesn’t make much of a difference.

    I have 3 AMEX cards (2 biz, 1 personal) and nothing is different besides the fact that my biz ones have the business name printed under my name on the card.

    Of course with the loads of money Paul is making I’d like to think he at least has an LLC or something to funnel his money through :P

  19. February 13, 2008

    That’s what I use too. The bonus in January is always a nice payout.

  20. February 13, 2008

    Yeah you can try explaining that it’s urgent you get your limit raised immediately or else you’re going to be forced to take your business elsewhere.

    What I did in the beginning was just call on the phone and pay my card off a few times a week whenever I got close to maxing it.

  21. invisible777
    February 13, 2008

    To anyone here who has gotten Business Amex cards:

    Do you need to have an LLC or Inc. in order to have a business card? Or can you just use your Social security #?

    If you use your Social, then would use of the business Amex affect your credit rating in the same way any personal card would?

  22. February 13, 2008

    Ok, thanks for the info.

    I didn’t know you could call and force the payment. I’ll just do that. Hopefully they’ll get sick of me calling and give me a decent limit increase :P

    cheers!

  23. February 13, 2008

    All I have is a standard dba (doing business as) and I was able to get several AMEX biz cards. I think i just signed up using my social if I remember correctly.

    Regarding your second question, unless you have an S-corp or LLC I believe your ‘business’ WOULD affect your credit since a DBA/sole proprietorship is essentially just doing business as yourself. So no pressure ;)

    Once you start making good money you would get an LLC asap anyways.

    cheers

  24. February 13, 2008

    Lol the links joke at the top with affiliate urls.

  25. February 13, 2008

    I don’t ask them to increase it. It does so automatically once you start to pay it off regularly.

  26. Kunal
    February 13, 2008

    DUDE!

    THe black card is pimp. Plum card is the def baller!

  27. February 13, 2008

    Regardless of whether you get the card using a C corp S corp or dba or anything else, it does affect your credit. The cards use your business name, but the credit limit depends on your personal credit.

  28. Jack
    February 13, 2008

    Great! Don’t forget that you get 5% cash back for all Yahoo Search Marketing costs with AMEX OPEN!

  29. Moulinneuf
    February 13, 2008

    What do you use to compare credit cards ?

  30. February 13, 2008

    The minimum spending on this card is a little rough though.

  31. Ross
    February 13, 2008

    best first paragraph ever….

  32. gdubs
    February 14, 2008

    by the way with the Amex open, you can only get 5% cash back up to $500 per year.

  33. February 14, 2008

    Wow, that’s crazy! I thought my bills were high, but you definitely take the cake. So that’s all PPC charges there?

  34. February 15, 2008

    DAMN. I need to get one of these.

    -Dave

  35. imprincess
    February 20, 2008

    Hey Paul — more power to you! Your balance makes me a bit nauseous but obviously you have the bankroll and the discipline to pay it off.

    I think the 10 day payoff should be emphasized as others could get backwards in this very, very quickly and owe a huge chunk with no rewards.

    This method should be reserved for those with liquid assets equal to 1-2 months of their ppc spend, imho.

  36. Andy
    February 23, 2008

    What cc would you recommend for someone like me who cannot get an AMEX card at the present, but still provides good benefits for doing PPC and other marketing for affiliate offers. In other words, I’d still like some cool bonus points, cash back, and/or flight rewards, but with a “regular” credit card.

    Thanks!

  37. March 3, 2008

    you’re right on that point…

  38. March 3, 2008

    i have an amex starwood but most likely i’ll eventually upgrade :) like Jack above says, don’t forget you can use your amex OPEN for YSM to get 5% back automatically

  39. Ramy
    March 8, 2008

    for all you guys who are new to credit or would like o establish credit you are going to have trouble if your trying to get a plum card or any amex card for that matter. im currently 22 with all the great cards amex has to offer ranging from personal platinum to bussiness platinum, blue and just recently plum for bussiness. but its important to understand thatbefore you run you have to walk and some times even baby steps. at age 18 i got a blue for students with a 500$ limit. American express is not an easy company to deal with if ur credit limit is sub par. you have to take what they give you initialy and use it while always leaving 1/3 of ur credit line free while always making payments. dont be shy to pay ur bill 2 weeks in advance. as far as the bussines cards are concerned, those are in a ball park with in them selves. you must be a corperation or have a bussiness to obtain these cards. i however applied as a sole proprioter and was able to get a gold bussiness. eventually after using the card and maintaining it amex extended the platinum card for bussiness to me. and soon after the amex line of credit for bussinesses which came with a check book that i ucan use just as my bank account which works fantastic just as long as u dont let it collect interest.

    i have expreriences with not just amex but alot of other credit card companies and i think that amex is by far the best and most professional credit card company on earth. after amex id have to say mbna world points from mastercard is not bad at all ad worth checking out if u have great credit.

    after you establish a good record with amex the sky is the limit. you will be classified as a tier one customer..

    at this point, my last goal to acheive from amex would be to obtain the titanium black card. to bad its by invitation only and all i can do is wait.

  40. April 4, 2008

    Thanks for posting this. I just blogged about it over at http://www.amex-plum.com

  41. May 19, 2008

    First I would like to say that don’t any of these dams fools know what the hell they talking bout when it comes to credit cards. When you are applying for business credit cards your personal credit doesn’t has shit to do with you getting a business credit card. Your business credit and personal credit becomes separate once you have your tax i-d number better know as your employer identification number! So people please don’t listen to these damn fools in this room who think they know what the hell they talking bout

  42. Rob
    October 6, 2009

    Kid, Are you serious?

  43. August 17, 2010

    Well…. not entirely true, many credit card companies require a personal guarantee or at least personal credit. In the world of AmEx they might not always ask you for your personal social security number (in my case for the Plum they didn’t, for the PlatinumOpen they did) but I can assure you that AmEx connects ALL of the dot’s behind the scenes and if you’re paying poorly on your personal I can guarantee. I remember 20 years I had a business that I closed and my personal AmEx card that was entirely unrelated was canceled on the same day that I canceled my business one (I guess they figured my income from the business was no longer occurring) and I had to reapply. AmEx is a very sophisticated company when it comes to looking at your credit profile —

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