Why You Should Sign Up For a Business Credit Card
Disclaimer: This website is monetized by ads and other affiliates. As such, this article may contain affiliate links. If you decide to use them, you can sleep easier knowing you're helping me give my cats a better life. :) I really appreciate your support!
If you own a business, it is likely you already have one or two business credit cards to keep your business spending separate from your personal spending. That makes sense, however business credit cards are great, not only for businesses, but for personal use as well. They usually offer very lucrative sign-up bonuses and perks that personal cards do not. They also are great for diversifying your wallet.
I will primarily be talking about the Chase Ink Bold (and Plus) in this post, because that is the only business card I have.
Hat tip to Frequent Miler for his post on business credit cards.
Sign Up Bonuses
The Chase Ink Bold and Plus each have a 50,000 Ultimate Reward Point sign-up bonus after spending $5,000 in three months with an annual fee of $95, which is waived the first year. This equates to about $655 worth of travel, based on Frequent Miler’s Fair Trading Prices.
The Southwest Premier Business Card currently offers a 50,000 Rapid Reward sign-on bonus after spending $2,000 in three months with $99 annual fee not waived the first year. This sign-on bonus is likely ending soon based on this post. This offer has ended.
The American Express SimplyCash Business Card offers a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 in three months with no annual fee.
As you can see all of these sign-up bonuses are great! The only personal cards that can currently rival these sign-up bonuses are the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which offers you 40,000 Ultimate Reward Point sign-up bonus, and the Barclaycard Arrival, which offers you a 40,000 mile sign-up bonus.
Rewards
The sign-up bonuses are great, however they are only a one time earning. The everyday bonuses are where the business cards really shine! The Ink Bold and Plus offer 5X Ultimate Rewards Points on Office Supply Stores, phone, internet, and cable on the first $50,000 spent annually. They also offer 2X Ultimate Rewards Points at gas stations and hotels on the first $50,000 spent annually. Since most people (especially businesses) already spend money on those categories, the points rack up very quickly.
There are other third-party programs such as Visa SavingsEdge and MasterCard Easy Savings that also give you automatic rewards when you register your card with them. For example, when you register your Ink Bold card with Visa SavingsEdge, you will automatically get 1% cash back at Staples when you spend over $200. You can find more information about Visa SavingsEdge in this post.
Other Perks
There are a few other perks that business credit cards offer. For example the Ink Bold offers the following:
- 1:1 point transfer to many travel partners which is one of the many reasons Ultimate Rewards Points are so great!
- Lounge Club Membership which gives you two free lounge visits per year.
- Ink Insiders Program which gives you deals on different business expenses, such as AdWords.
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Rental Car Collision Waiver, Extended Warranties, and Price Protection.
Sign-up
Signing up for a business credit card is easier than you may think. When the word business is thrown into the mix, it is easy to shy away from these cards if you don’t own a small (or large) business. However, a business can be anything from selling lemonade on the street corner, to selling knick-knacks on eBay. You do not need a business license or tax ID number to sign up for these cards, you just need to participate in business like activities.
My wife applied for an Ink Bold when she was planning on starting an Etsy store. The idea was to keep her business and personal expenses separate, among other things. She signed up as a sole proprietorship, with an annual income of $0 and was approved within one business day.
Notes
- Don’t lie on your application.
- Only sign up for a business credit card if you have a business or plan on starting one.
- If you are interested in signing up for the ink Bold or Plus, check out this post.
