Costs & Pricing

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	First Federal Community Bank Business Zero+ Card
Annual fee	$375	$0 (ongoing; Elan product suite + Horizon Zero+ + WalletHub FFCB listing 11 Aug 2026)
Employee card fee	Employee Business Gold $95 (first 5 then $95 each); Employee Business Expense Cards $0; max 99 additional cards	$0 (no fee for additional employee cards)
Purchase APR	17.74%–28.49% variable on Pay Over Time only (Prime + 10.99% to +21.74%)	0% intro for first 18 billing cycles, then 16.24%–25.24% variable based on creditworthiness at opening (varies with WSJ Prime). Horizon Bank official Zero+ disclosure; WalletHub assigns the same band to this cobrand. With Prime 6.75% (WSJ, 2 Sep 2026) implied margins ≈ Prime + 9.49% to Prime + 18.49%. First Federal does not post its own public Schumer box — confirm live box at apply.
Intro APR (purchases)	Not a standard public offer (some targeted pages have shown 0% for 6 months on POT-eligible purchases)	0% for first 18 billing cycles from account opening, then assigned purchase APR. Does not apply to cash advances. Intro can end early if late payment, returned payment, or overlimit (standard Elan sibling language).
Foreign transaction fee	$0	3%
Late payment fee	$39 or 2.99% of any past-due Pay In Full amount, whichever is greater	WalletHub max $41 (11 Aug 2026). Older Elan PDFs said up to $39. Treat $41 as aggregator; confirm live box.

Rewards & Value

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	First Federal Community Bank Business Zero+ Card
Base earn rate	1X Membership Rewards point per $1 on other eligible purchases	None on ordinary purchases. Program rules: Cash Rewards are not earned for any Purchases other than prepaid air / car / attractions / hotel booked via the Rewards / Travel Center.
Welcome bonus	Personalized — marketed as high as 200,000 Membership Rewards points after $15,000 eligible purchases in first 3 months (offer varies; you may not be eligible)	None. Official Elan Zero+ Business copy and WalletHub: no initial rewards bonus.
Redemption value	Varies by redemption; Amex does not publish a single cpp. Treat Pay With Points / statement credit at ~1¢; transfers can be higher or lower — do not assume 2¢.	Cash back at 1¢ per 1% via statement credit or deposit to a checking/savings account at this Financial Institution only. Rewards Card value may vary. Do not treat 5% as travel-category MCC. Do not assume 1% on other spend.
Transfer partners	Membership Rewards partners (most airlines 1:1; hotel ratios vary). U.S. airline transfers: excise tax offset $0.0006/point, max $99. Confirm live at membershiprewards.com/pointsinfo.	Not offered

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	First Federal Community Bank Business Zero+ Card
Personal guarantee	Required (standard small-business Amex model; no published no-PG path)	Required. Owner and business jointly and severally liable; owner remains individually liable. Elan Company Card (corporate liability, typically $5M+ sales, 2+ years) is a different product.
Credit check	Apply with Confidence — no personal-score impact to learn approval; accepting the card may impact personal credit. Submitting may affect business credit.	Hard personal inquiry expected on the owner. Industry reporting: Elan TransUnion primary (not confirmed on firstfed.com). WalletHub user: inquiry from Elan Financial Services/First Federal Community.
Employee cards	Up to 99 total; Gold employee cards $95 structure; Expense Cards $0; spend limits and alerts	Allowed; $0 additional-card fee. Add via MyAccountAccess Manage Employees (legal name, DOB, SSN, address). Variable credit limits and authorization controls listed as a generic business-card feature. Owner/business remain liable.
Product type	Hybrid small-business charge card with revolving Pay Over Time (NPSL on purchases)	Revolving business credit card (intro 0% then variable purchase APR). Not a charge card. Not Elan’s Visa Business Company Card (corporate liability).

Pros & Cons

American Express® Business Gold Card

Pros

• Auto-4X on whichever two of six categories lead each month, up to $150k combined — no annual category lock-in
• Transferable Membership Rewards (same partner list as other MR cards)
• Statement-credit stack can exceed the $375 fee if credits are enrolled and used
• $0 foreign transaction fee; NPSL plus optional Pay Over Time
• Personalized welcome marketed as high as 200k / $15k / 3 months

Cons

• $375 annual fee plus $95 Employee Business Gold cards
• 4X dies after $150k combined and is only two categories per cycle; 1X residual is weak
• Shipping dropped from 4X (2026 refresh); credits need enrollment and specific vendors
• No lounge, Global Entry/TSA, or airline incidental credit
• Hybrid pay-in-full + high POT APR; late fee can be 2.99% of past-due Pay In Full

First Federal Community Bank Business Zero+ Card

Pros

• $0 annual fee and $0 extra-card fee
• 0% intro APR for 18 billing cycles on purchases and on timely BTs — among the longest business-card intros advertised in 2026
• BT window extends 558 days after opening on the aggregator box (same Elan SKU across partners)
• 5% cash back + $50/card credit on Rewards Center prepaid travel if you actually use the portal
• Optional 3-month $0 ExtendPay once per year after intro ends; cell-phone protection up to $600 when the bill is paid with the card

Cons

• No cash back on ordinary business spend — portal prepaid travel only
• Go-to purchase APR 16.24%–25.24% variable is expensive float after the intro
• 3% BT fee and 3% foreign-transaction fee
• Personal guarantee; Elan may pursue the owner for all account charges
• First Federal does not publish the live Schumer box on its site; rewards travel headline is easy to misread as airline/hotel MCC bonuses

Verdict

American Express® Business Gold Card

Business Gold is a specialist, not a simple daily driver. Auto-4X that follows whichever two categories win each month is powerful for ads, software, restaurants, gas, transit, or wireless — and the credit stack can more than offset $375 if you already buy those products. After the $150k cap, or if you will not enroll in credits, a no-fee 2% card or Ink Preferred is usually cleaner. Poor substitute for 0% capital, no-PG fintech cards, or Business Platinum travel perks.

First Federal Community Bank Business Zero+ Card

This is Elan’s Visa Business Zero+ cobranded for First Federal Community Bank (Dover, OH / firstfed.com) — not a card the bank underwrites, not the consumer Zero+ twin, and not Bucyrus ffcb.com. It is a 0% float tool with thin portal-only rewards, not a daily driver. Pair it with a 2–5% earn card. Confirm the live rates-and-fees box at application.