Best business credit cards for December 2024 #CashNews.co

The best business credit cards on the market can help you earn valuable rewards and take advantage of useful benefits, such as purchase protection or travel redemptions. Even better, there’s a suitable card for almost any business owner, whether you’re running a brick-and-mortar store or doing freelance work on the side.

Why we like this business credit card for easy travel rewards: If you prefer earning travel rewards, it doesn’t get much easier than the Amex Blue Business Plus. With this card, you can earn 2x points on up to $50,000 per year in eligible purchases (then 1x points; terms apply) with no spending categories to worry about.

If your business spends $50,000 annually on the card, that’s 100,000 Membership Rewards points you can redeem toward travel, statement credits, gift cards, and more. Conservatively, we’d say that amount of bonus points is worth at least $1,000 (less with certain redemptions) through the Membership Rewards program. However, we’ve found you can typically get more value from your points if you transfer them to travel partners like Air France KLM, Iberia, or Virgin Atlantic.

Check out our picks for the top Amex cards

*Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

Why we like this business credit card for boosted travel redemptions: The Chase Ink Business Preferred is a popular travel card for small business owners because it earns valuable Ultimate Rewards points, worth 25% more when redeemed for travel through Chase Travel℠.

That means 120,000 points could get you a $1,200 statement credit or $1,500 toward travel booked through Chase.

Read our full review of the Chase Ink Business Preferred card

More business benefits:

• Up to $400 ($200 semi-annually) Dell Technologies credit per year

• Up to $360 ($90 quarterly) Indeed credit per year

• Up to $150 back annually on select Adobe subscription services

• Up to $120 ($10 per month) credit for U.S. wireless telephone service provider purchases per year

• Up to $199 CLEAR Plus credit per year

• Up to $120 Global Entry statement credit every four years or up to $85 TSA PreCheck credit every 4.5 years for application fees (terms apply, enrollment required for some benefits)

Why we like this business credit card for premium travel benefits: You can potentially receive over $1,000 in value from the Amex Business Platinum’s many credits, which is more than enough to offset the annual fee. And that’s not including the value you could get from other card perks, such as airport lounge access.

The Amex Business Platinum offers complimentary access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. This includes more airport lounge networks than you can find on just about any other travel credit card, making it a good fit for frequent business travelers.

Why we like this business credit card for everyday business spending: The Ink Business Cash is one of our favorite business cards because of its high rewards rate. Earning 5% cash back on common business expenses is a huge deal, blowing away most other business card rewards rates.

Note that the 5% rate is limited to $25,000 in eligible spending each account anniversary year. But if your business spends that much, you’ll pocket a cool $1,250 in cash-back rewards that you can redeem as statement credits, travel, gift cards, and more.

Read our full review of the Ink Business Cash Credit Card

Why we like this business credit card for hotel benefits: The IHG One Premier Business offers up to 26x points per dollar spent at IHG Hotels and Resorts, making it a lucrative opportunity for IHG loyalists. You can also earn a free anniversary night each year, with a point redemption cap of 40,000 points.

The anniversary free night may be the most compelling reason to apply for this card, as it’s an easy way to offset the $99 annual fee immediately. In our experience, we typically get more than $99 worth of value from the free night benefit alone, making other benefits count as pure profit in our eyes.

Other notable benefits on this hotel credit card include automatic IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status and a fourth night free when redeeming points for a consecutive four-night IHG hotel stay.

Why we like this business credit card for simple cash rewards: Wells Fargo’s Signify Business Cash is an excellent cash-back credit card if you want to earn a flat rewards rate on all your eligible purchases. With unlimited 2% cash rewards, you don’t have to worry about different spending categories or spending caps. Simply use your card to make purchases and reap the rewards.

Your cash rewards can be redeemed for travel, gift cards, and account credits.

More business benefits:

Why we like this business credit card for airline benefits: As part of its overall rewards rate, the United Business Card offers 2x miles per $1 spent on purchases with the airline, making it a top choice for United business travelers.

It’s a decent rewards rate, but we think much of the value of this airline credit card lies in its United benefits, especially the free checked bag. Considering a prepaid checked bag costs $35 per one-way domestic flight, you could save $70 roundtrip. Add in a companion and that’s another $70 saved, or $140 total.

If you take at least one solo roundtrip flight per year, the free checked bag benefit alone could almost entirely offset the annual fee. If you’re traveling with someone else, the annual cost would be more than offset.

Read our full review of the United Business Card

Why we like this business credit card for elevated earning: We like the U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa Business because you can earn an above-average rewards rate (3%) if your business expenses align with the offered categories: gas and EV charging stations, office supply stores, cell phone service providers, and restaurants.

It’s worth noting that this is a 0% intro APR card that provides a generous introductory offer on purchases and balance transfers, which you don’t always see on small business credit cards. The standard APR applies after the introductory period expires.

Why we like this business credit card for customized earning: You rarely get to choose how you earn rewards, but that’s exactly what you get with the Bank of America Business Advantage Customized Cash.

For the 3% earning rate, you can choose from six different rewards categories each calendar month. Whether the categories are useful to you largely depends on your business. Still, there are everyday options to choose from, including gas stations and EV charging, office supply stores, and travel.

Keep in mind that the default category is gas stations and EV charging stations. In addition, there’s a $50,000 cap on combined 3% choice category and 2% dining purchases.

Read our full review of the Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards card

• Travel credit cards: These cards make sense if you want to earn travel rewards, such as points or miles, on your business purchases. Rewards can be used for travel-related redemptions, including flights, hotel stays, and car rentals.

• Cash-back credit cards: You can typically redeem cash-back rewards for statement credits and gift cards. In some cases, you could also receive deposits into an eligible checking or savings account.

• Secured credit cards: Whether secured vs. unsecured cards are best depends on your credit history. The typical credit card is unsecured, which means your credit limit isn’t tied to any collateral; instead, it’s determined by your credit report. Secured credit cards tend to have less strict eligibility requirements because you must offer collateral to open one. Secured cards generally have a security deposit requirement, which often acts as your credit limit. For example, you might put down $1,000 as your deposit and then have a $1,000 credit limit.

• Corporate cards: A corporate card is a specific type of business card typically only available to incorporated businesses, such as corporations and some limited liability companies (LLCs). These cards tend to have stricter eligibility requirements based on company size and available assets.

Just about anyone with a business, even a new business, can apply for a business credit card. That includes anyone who operates a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or LLC.

Sole proprietors could include any number of people who earn money independently, such as freelancers and people who work side hustles.

If you don’t have some sort of income-earning venture or side gig, you might not qualify for a business credit card. But remember that it’s probably easier than you think to meet the qualifications to apply for a business card, especially if you have a good personal credit history.

The best credit card for business depends on your preferences and personal finance goals. Consider these factors to help find a card that suits your business needs:

• Credit requirements: Most business credit cards require a personal guarantee, meaning you need at least a good personal credit score to qualify. Certain cards could require an excellent credit score, so it’s worth doing some research to find a card that aligns with your current financial situation. If your score is lower than you’d like (potentially in the bad credit range), you can use credit cards to boost your credit score.

• Fees: Annual fees and foreign transaction fees are common but avoidable, depending on your needs. In general, cards with premium benefits have annual fees, and credit cards with no foreign transaction fees tend to be travel-oriented.

• Benefits: Card perks vary by card and issuer. Benefits could include airport lounge access, cell phone protection, travel insurance, and more.

• Rewards: Rewards credit cards generally earn points, miles, or cash back. Points and miles are associated with travel redemptions, while cash back can be redeemed for things like statement credits, gift cards, and (sometimes) bank deposits. Many rewards cards offer welcome bonuses, which are great ways to earn a lot of points as a new card member.

• APR: Ongoing APR rates on credit cards are often high, so it’s rarely a good idea to carry a balance. However, some business cards provide 0% intro APR offers on purchases, allowing you to avoid high interest rates during the introductory period. This could come in handy if you have a large purchase coming up and want some extra time to pay it off without added interest.

Business credit card applications are similar to personal credit card applications in that you have to provide some personal information. You can also easily fill out and submit an application online. The main difference when applying for a business card is that you must also provide information about your business.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the different items you might see on a business card application:

• Authorizing officer title: For sole proprietors, you’re the owner. If it’s a different business setup, you might be a member, partner, president, or another type of officer.

• Business structure: Choose between corporation, LLC, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. You’re likely a sole proprietor if you work for yourself, such as freelancing or doing a side gig.

• Legal business name: Your company’s name is typically your own if you’re a sole proprietor.

• Business mailing address: Unless you have a specific business address, this is your home address.

• Business phone number: If you don’t have a business phone number, you can use your personal number.

• Tax ID type: If you’re a sole proprietor, you might not have an employer identification number (EIN), so you can use your Social Security number (SSN).

• Number of employees: For sole proprietors, you typically only have one employee (yourself). Consider how many employee cards you want to give out.

• Business established date: This is when your business was created. This doesn’t necessarily mean the date you started making money, as the start of your business is when you began setting it up.

• Annual business revenue: This is your last year of business revenue. If your business is new, you can put “$0” or an amount you’re projected to earn.

• Business category: Select the categories most aligned with your business from the available options.

• Estimated monthly spend: How much you expect to spend on your business credit card each month.

It’s possible to apply for and get approved for a business credit card with just an EIN, but it likely won’t be feasible for most small business owners. This is because many EIN-only cards are corporate cards with strict eligibility requirements, such as having a high minimum cash balance of $50,000 or more.

To qualify for a business credit card, you typically need a good to excellent personal credit score (at least a 670 FICO score). Many small business owners don’t have much or any business credit history, so business card lenders often do a hard credit check into your personal credit history to assess your creditworthiness.

Most credit card issuers do a hard credit inquiry to check your personal credit report when you apply for a new business credit card. Hard inquiries could initially drop your credit score by a few points but typically won’t impact your credit score for more than 12 months.

Qualifying for secured business credit cards is often easier because of more relaxed eligibility requirements. However, you generally have to put down a security deposit that acts as your spending limit. Also, many secured credit cards have fewer benefits than their unsecured counterparts.

Small business credit cards don’t qualify for the same consumer protections offered by the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act). That includes limits to certain fees and charges to cardholders.

You can qualify for a business credit card with an LLC, sole proprietorship, corporation, or another eligible business structure. Startups and other new businesses can qualify because your eligibility for most business cards depends on credit factors, such as your personal credit score, income, and debt.

American Express provides some of the best business card options for small business owners. Our recommendations include:

We researched nearly all available options from major card issuers to find the best business credit cards. We did not research all the products available from every credit card company.

Using our research, we compiled a list of dozens of different business credit cards and created a rubric to rate each card based on various criteria. Some factors we considered include ongoing APR, annual fee, welcome offer, rewards rate, security features, mobile app ratings, and additional benefits.

Our final list includes cards that scored well on our rubric and ones that, based on our experience, research, and expert opinion, could make sense for a wide variety of small business owners.

This article was edited by Alicia Hahn

Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. All opinions belong solely to Yahoo Finance and are not those of any other entity. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information. This site doesn’t include all currently available offers. Credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.