Costs & Pricing

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Jeff Bank Business Zero+ Card
Annual fee	$375	$0 (ongoing; no first-year-only language). Jeff Bank Business Zero+ page, Sept. 3, 2026.
Employee card fee	Employee Business Gold $95 (first 5 then $95 each); Employee Business Expense Cards $0; max 99 additional cards	$0 (Jeff Bank business-card feature list: no fee for additional employee cards). Zero+ page does not separately restate it.
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 Prime. Live Jeff Bank Business Zero+ marketing disclosure, Sept. 3, 2026. Full Schumer box not on the page — confirm terms link 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 18 billing cycles, then 16.24%–25.24% (V). New-account intro. Missing a due date can end the intro under Elan family rules.
Foreign transaction fee	$0	Not disclosed on Jeff Bank Zero+ page. Elan business family and sibling Zero+ pages: 3% of each foreign transaction. Family standard — confirm terms.
Late payment fee	$39 or 2.99% of any past-due Pay In Full amount, whichever is greater	Not disclosed on Jeff Bank page. Elan STD_BIZ as of Jan. 10, 2025: $41.

Rewards & Value

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Jeff Bank Business Zero+ Card
Base earn rate	1X Membership Rewards point per $1 on other eligible purchases	Not advertised. Jeff Bank Business Zero+ page and Elan Business Zero+ description disclose only 5% on prepaid Travel Center bookings. Treat everyday earn as not offered / $0 unless Program Rules say otherwise. Do not import Cash Preferred’s 3%/1%.
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 advertised as of Sept. 3, 2026. Do not attach Business Cash Preferred’s limited-time $350 cash-back promo to this SKU.
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 product at face value via statement credit or deposit to an eligible Jeff Bank checking/savings account. No transfer partners. Page copy saying no cap on points is leftover template language on a cash-back SKU. Do not treat 5% as travel MCC 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	Jeff Bank Business Zero+ Card
Personal guarantee	Required (standard small-business Amex model; no published no-PG path)	Not quoted on Jeff Bank or Elan marketing pages. Elan small-business applications collect authorized-officer personal information; treat as likely required — confirm on application. Not a no-PG startup card.
Credit check	Apply with Confidence — no personal-score impact to learn approval; accepting the card may impact personal credit. Submitting may affect business credit.	Not disclosed officially. Secondary capital-stacking writeups of Elan business cards commonly cite a TransUnion hard pull and delinquency-only personal-bureau reporting — commonly reported, not official Jeff Bank policy.
Employee cards	Up to 99 total; Gold employee cards $95 structure; Expense Cards $0; spend limits and alerts	Allowed; no additional-card fee on Jeff Bank’s business-card feature list; expense-reporting tools and spend tracking. Numeric cap, lock controls, and liability split not disclosed on the Zero+ page.
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; BTs and cash advances available; Card ExtendPay installment option). Not a charge card. Not a fintech spend-management / net-terms product.

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

Jeff Bank Business Zero+ Card

Pros

• $0 annual fee on the official product page (Sept. 3, 2026)
• 0% intro APR for 18 billing cycles on purchases and on BTs made within 558 days — among the longer publicly advertised business 0% windows
• Free additional employee cards on Jeff Bank’s business-card feature list
• 5% + $50/card credit if the firm actually prepays travel in the Elan Travel Center
• Cell-phone protection up to $600 when the bill is paid with the card; once-a-year 3-month $0 ExtendPay after intro ends

Cons

• No advertised everyday earn rate — a poor daily driver versus 1.5–2% no-fee business cards
• Full Schumer box not on the Jeff Bank page (BT fee, CA fee, late/overlimit/penalty APR must be pulled from the terms link)
• 3% FTF is the Elan business-family standard
• Go-to APR 16.24%–25.24% makes leftover balances costly after the intro
• Personal guarantee / hard-pull details unpublished; $50 credit requires $5,000 portal travel per card

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.

Jeff Bank Business Zero+ Card

Same Elan Visa Business Zero+ SKU as First Federal’s cobrand, branded for Jeff Bank (Sullivan/Orange Counties, NY). It is not the consumer Jeff Bank Zero+ (21 cycles / 4% / $15) and not Business Cash Preferred ($350 / 3%/1%). Buy as a no-fee 0% float tool; pair with a flat cash-back card for everyday spend. Open the Jeff Bank terms link before quoting BT/CA fees.