From the occasional freelancer to those with brick-and-mortar storefronts, all types of small-business owners can benefit from a business credit card. The best small-business credit cards come with generous rewards programs, expense tracking and money-saving perks that can benefit nearly every type of business. Plus, you don’t even need a formal business structure to apply for one.

• Keep in mind there’s a $295 annual fee , but it can be outweighed by the card’s benefits.
• Merchant services markups are the most variable part of credit card processing fees.
• Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back for your business on every purchase, everywhere — with no limits or category restrictions.
• Expert TipsIf you’re preapproved for a card, don’t waste much time before applying.

When you become a Preferred Rewards for Business member, you can get up to 75% more rewards on every purchase you make. One or more of the cards you chose to compare are not serviced in Spanish. Update your accounting software to reflect your new bank account information. Exclusive signup offers from the best products and tools for your business (e.g. AWS, Google Ads, WeWork, Salesforce) worth up to $150,000 in value. No personal guarantee needed – Brex does not ask for a personal credit check or security deposit during the application. Ramp is only available to corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships.

American Express Business Gold Card: Best for big spending

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• Most users will fall somewhere in between the two numbers, but in some cases, your rates can be higher or lower.
• Basic mobile readers are available for $20 to $50, although some payment processors offer one for free.
• For each sign-up bonus or welcome offer, we compare the spending requirements with the redemption value that each card brings to the table.
• You pay a monthly fee based on your transaction volume, plus a flat per-transaction fee based on your membership tier.
• The four big card networks — Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express — make their money from assessment fees, which they charge on every transaction made by their cards.
• The exact amount depends on the payment network (e.g., Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express), the type of credit card, and the merchant category code of the business.

Business cards often come with benefits designed to appeal to small-business owners. Common perks include free employee cards, expense tracking tools, quarterly summaries, merchant discounts, purchase protection and travel benefits. Using a personal credit card for your small business can create several issues for you and your business down the line, while using a business credit card keeps your business finances streamlined. Your rewards won’t expire for the life of the account, and you can redeem your cash back for any amount. Plus, you can earn an annual cash bonus of $200 every year you spend $200,000 or more.

Skip The Big Bank: Alternative to Bank of America Business Checking Accounts

Total credit card processing fees for merchants range from 1.15% + $0.05 to 3.15% + $0.10 in interchange fees plus an additional 0.14% to 0.17% in assessment fees. Business credit cards cost nothing to hold on to (provided you don’t carry a balance), and many reward your business spending with cash back or even travel rewards. To do so, you must be able to show that the fee was unequivocally a business expense. In other words, if you use your personal credit card to buy gas once a year for a business vehicle, you don’t get to deduct the entire annual fee for your card. This is why business owners should set up dedicated business bank accounts and credit cards to clearly separate business and personal expenses and make both types easy to track. The Chase Ink Business Unlimited is an excellent pick for business owners that don’t want to pay an annual fee.

The specific credit score you’ll need for any particular business card or to meet any specific issuer’s requirements will vary and it’s likely you’ll need good or better credit for many of the cards on our list above. Secured business credit cards offer opportunities for businesses and business owners with weaker credit to build credit. Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card has the lowest starting purchase APR of any card on this list. While most business credit cards start their APR ranges above 16%, the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card comes with a rate just under 15% (Prime + 7.99%). So while we don’t recommend carrying a balance on your small-business credit card, the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card offers the most affordable option for doing so. With good personal credit, some basic information about your business and the willingness to provide a personal guarantee, you’re eligible for many of the best business credit cards.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card is an especially good option if you can maximize its bonus categories, including office supply stores, internet, cable, and restaurants, among others. The card earns 5% cash back at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and phone services, and 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants. You’ll earn 5% and 2% in these categories on the first $25,000 in combined purchases each account anniversary year (then 1%), and 1% cash back on all other purchases with no caps. If you’re a small-business owner looking for a no-annual-fee card that earns bonus cash back in popular categories, this card is worth considering. It’s got a very generous welcome bonus and 0% intro APR offer, and comes with helpful World Elite Mastercard benefits. However, if your business doesn’t spend much in the card’s bonus categories, a flat-rate cash back business card might make more sense.

This is a fee you pay each year for maintenance on your merchant account. As with the application fee, the best processors don’t charge it. Some credit card processors waive the fee for the first year, but it’s best to choose a processor that doesn’t charge it at all. Besides the standard fees listed above, some processors charge miscellaneous fees.

You can earn top-rate rewards and a solid welcome bonus without shelling out for an annual charge. It’s important for business owners to accept a wide variety of payments, even if some of these payments, such as credit cards, will cost more. That’s because they’ve heard how much outrageous “swipe” fees global card networks and Wall Street megabanks charge to process transactions cost small businesses like mine. The Federal Reserve says processing costs less than a nickel regardless of the amount, but credit card swipe fees average over 2% of the purchase and can be 4% for premium cards. That takes $2 to $4 out of retailers’ pockets for every $100 spent. Cardholders also receive a decent selection of travel and shopping perks, including a 25% points rebate on first- and business-class flights booked through Amex Travel.

Comparing the best business credit cards

Read our fullThe Blue llc accounting Plus Credit Card from American Express reviewor jump back tooffer details. Read our fullCapital One Spark Cash Plus reviewor jump back tooffer details. Read our fullCapital One Spark Miles for Business reviewor jump back tooffer details. Spending limit determined by cash flow of your business and other factors. The annual credits come with a number of caveats and can be tricky to maximize.

For more on how much those costs can be — and how they vary among credit card companies — we’ve collected all the latest data. If your expenses are concentrated in one category like travel, then search for the best business credit card that offers rewards for those kinds of purchases. If your business spending is fairly even across multiple categories, opting for aflat-rate cash back credit cardor one that allows you to choose your preferred category might be the better choice. Merchants have traditionally been liable for paying credit card processing fees, which are paid to the card-issuing bank, credit card association, and the merchant’s credit card processor. Today, many businesses are shifting these costs onto customers who choose to pay by credit card, either through a credit card surcharge, cash discounting, or a convenience fee. While predictable, these rates tend to be fairly high, as they have to be able to cover the interchange fees and ensure a profit for even the most expensive transaction categories.

Identifying The Best Approach For Your Business

Business owners whose purchases cover various spending categories. Small-business owners, e-retailers and Etsy store owners who spend a lot on office supplies or internet and phone services. $100 United® travel credit after 7 United flight purchases of $100 or more each anniversary year.

Minimum bank balance of $50,000 from professional investors may be required to qualify for Brex. Must have most of your operations and corporate spend in the US . Review savings accounts with high APYs and choose the one that’s right for you. Information about the Capital One Spark Cash Plus Credit Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.

Interchange plus pricing includes a flat fee of between $0.07 and $0.15. The business travel industry has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and it may not recover fully until at least 2026. As a result, business credit card issuers may focus less on travel rewards and more on everyday expenses. Other characteristics taken into consideration while judging each category were accessibility, dollar value of cash back or point rewards, APR, fees and additional benefits or protections offered by the card. Finally, we considered auxiliary features within each category such as elite status or lounge access with travel cards. You’ll earn 3% and 2% cash back on the first $50,000 in combined choice category/dining purchases each calendar year, 1% thereafter.

And if you need to show the Internal Revenue Service that you have a business, not a hobby, separate accounts help you demonstrate you are running the activity like a business. If you operate a business with non-family members or you have employees who need access to a card, it’s definitely time for a separate business card. You can make employees or business partners authorized users on a card, and some business cards even let you control and track spending by user. If you’re dreaming of taking your business to the next level but don’t quite have the funds to comfortably cut a check, a business credit card can help. Not only can you split up the payments over several months, but you can also avoid credit card interest entirely by making use of a 0 percent introductory APR period.

With interchange-plus pricing, your merchant services provider simply adds a fixed markup to every transaction, so you’ll pay the interchange and assessment fees, plus that markup. This markup is the same for every type of transaction, with the cost of processing each transaction varying based on the applicable interchange fee. This article explains what credit card processing fees are, how they’re assessed, and what you should expect to pay for them. On top of interchange fees, small businesses usually have to pay for a processing service that makes it possible to take payments of all types—from card swipes to contactless payments. The payment processor charges you exactly what the payment network charges on the transaction and adds its own separate markup.

Let’s take a look at some examples from popular payment processors from our list of the best credit card processing companies. Ensure that you’re using credit card tokenization for all card payments. Tokenization replaces the customer’s card number with a “token” number that your payment processing network can decode. Tokenized payments are much more secure and incur a lower interchange fee to process. These are essentially licensing fees and are paid to the credit card brands themselves.

There’s an easy three-step system in place for processing payments via Authorize.net. However, Authorize.net is perhaps more famous for its merchant account gateway, and while that option retains the monthly fee, transaction fees are reduced in a big way if you go this route. Note that once you sign up for a merchant account you will be charged for it – whether you are actively using it or not. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (a.k.a. Dodd-Frank Act) allows merchants to set credit card minimums of up to $10.

Companies that charge a flat-fee markup instead of a percentage are usually a better option. The best way to get a handle on what you are paying (and whether it’s too much) is by calculating your effective rate. This represents the real rate you pay for each transaction, taking into consideration all transaction, monthly, and incidental fees and markups based on your actual sales volume.