When you run a business, regardless of the size of your business, it is always important to keep your personal and business accounts separate. This makes it easy to understand the expenses which you incur for your business and how profitable your business is. It also helps a lot when it comes to paying your taxes. There are many excellent business credit cards in the market which you can choose from today.

Business credit cards are excellent as it supports businesses with credit and you can use it to fund business expenses and purchases. With a business credit card, depending on your largest expense categories, you can save a lot of money over a period of time.

We have reviewed for you below the Top business credit cards in 2019 and have explained how you can use them to gain the most benefit.

Let’s check the best business credit cards that are in the market today.

Top Business Credit Cards in 2019

We have listed below the Top 5 business credit cards in 2019

  1. SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express – Great cash back card for tech businesses and small to medium businesses that need to buy hardware, software, and telephone services.
  2. Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business – Great cash back card for businesses that have heavy expenditure on travel and online advertising.
  3. Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card – Great reward points card for businesses that have heavy expenditure on travel and online advertising.
  4. The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN – Great for businesses which have a lot of travel expenses.
  5. Capital One Spark Miles for Business – Great for businesses which don’t have a lot of travel expenses but want travel mile points.

Let’s get started.

American Express’s SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card Review

The biggest advantage of American Express’s SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card is that it gives you cash back rewards instead of just membership points. It does not charge annual fees. Both these points are excellent when it comes to a credit card for a small business owner. If you would prefer to get cash back on your office supplies rather than points then this card may be the one for you.

Comes to selecting a credit card American Express’s SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card is one of the best credit cards for a business in the market today. This credit card gives you cash back rewards and allows you up to $50,000/- annual spending without charging you an annual fee. If you are purchasing any hardware, software or cloud computing facilities, you can get it directly from the service provider with up to 3 percent cash back. There are many service providers which have tied up with this card which include Apple, Rackspace, Microsoft, Oracle, and Newegg.

American Express as a brand, in general, is a credit card brand that is used very frequently by most small and corporate businesses in the United States. Amex cards have excellent customer service and you can expect the same from this card. It may not be as widespread as MasterCard or Visa but it has many excellent features when it comes to a credit card for a business.

Let’s have a quick check of the features and advantages:

Incentives

SimplyCash Plus has two tiers when it comes to cash backs. You get some amount of flexibility so that you can choose the best type of purchases that you would be rewarded for.

  1. You can get flat 5% cash back for your entire tech and your wireless telephone services. You get this cash back for an amount of up to $50,000 per year. This gives you a nifty $2,500 in cash back. This is excellent for a small tech company or a medium-sized general company for their tech expenses.
  2. You will earn 3% cash back on any one of the below-mentioned categories. This too has a limit of $50,000/- so you can decide which of the below categories you spend the most on. The categories are, Airline purchased airfare, hotel purchased hotel rooms, selected car rental companies, US restaurants, US gas stations, selected media advertising, selected shipping in the US and US computer hardware, cloud computing and software from the vendors.

No annual fee

This is another excellent feature of this credit card. Since there is no annual fee, you don’t have to worry about making complete use of the card. Even if you make small purchases on the card and get your 5% cash back, it is still worth it as you don’t lose anything.

Travel and insurance benefits

Though the American Express’s SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card is not really a travel card, it does give you some excellent travel benefits especially baggage insurance and travel accident insurance. Since the card is free and there are no annual fees, you get these benefits for free. You also get extended warranty protection and purchase protection of the things that you have purchased using the card.

Customer Support

The customer support over the web was great. It was prompt and the customer support staff was attentive and responsive. The hold time for phone calls is high in general and though your query is solved, you may get transferred from one desk to another.

Who is this card for?

The most important benefit of this card is the cash back that you get on the card when you buy hardware, software, and cloud computing services. This makes the card excellent when it comes to small tech companies. You can easily save up to $2,500 every year of the above purchases. It also gives you 3% cash back on other services so you can check which ones are relevant to your business. Since the highest benefits are for office supplies and wireless phone services, you can use it as an office supply card.

Recommendation

The SimplyCash Plus Business Credit Card is great for startups, LLCs and small businesses. You can literally fund a lot of your office supplies with 0% interest for 9 months. Over that, you get cash backs rather than points so you save money. You can change the category for the 3% every year depending on your requirement for that you. There are no annual fees so there are literally no expenses unless you don’t make your payments on time.

Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business Review

Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business may be one of the simplest business cards in the market. You don’t have to worry about collecting points and redeeming them. You just get cash back for every transaction.

When it comes to add-ons and features, the Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business may come across as a no-frills business card, but since it has a flat-rate cash back which is unlimited, it is an excellent card for a business.

Let’s have a quick check of the features and advantages:

Bonus on Sign-Up

One of the most attractive features of the Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business is that it gives you a $500 cash bonus once you spend $4,500 or more within the first three months from the time you open your account. This is great if you have a startup or if you know that you will need to make heavy purchases over the next few months. Though most point based cards may give you higher bonuses on lower minimum spends, it is great when it comes to a cash back business card.

Incentives

The best feature of the Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business is that you get a flat fee of 2% cash back on all your purchases. The second best feature is that there is no limit. This is an excellent feature if you have small purchases across a variety of items or services. If you have significant expenses in one category say, travel, then you might want to opt for a travel specific credit card instead. This card is excellent if you have a lot of purchases in categories which in general don’t get bonus points.

Annual fees

There is no annual fee for the first year but you will have to pay a $95/- from the second year onwards. You can use it for a year and check the cash backs that you have received and then compare it with other credit cards. Depending on your spending pattern you can decide if you want to renew it.

Travel and insurance benefits

If you are a frequent traveler then this card is not the one for you as 2% cash back is very low when it comes to travel points most credit cards give. However, it does have some travel benefits like you get an auto rental collision damage waiver. This covers you for collision damage and theft of a vehicle you have rented. This is valid across the US and abroad. This perk is available only if the rental was for business or commercial purposes. You get new purchase protection for up to 3 months. This is protection against damage and theft is has a limit of $10,000 per claim. You also get lost luggage reimbursement of up to $3,000 if the ticket was bought via the card.

Customer Support

The customer service for this card is excellent, especially for high spenders. High spenders even get their own dedicated representatives with direct phone numbers.

Who is this card for?

The Spark Cash for Business is excellent when you don’t have the time or the interest to collect points and redeem it. The fixed cash back makes it easy to use and you don’t have to waste time comparing and thinking about the type of purchases you need to make via the card. You earn flat 2% fixed-rate on all the business expenses.  If you don’t have many office supply expenses, then this card makes a lot of sense since it is a flat rate on any type of business expense. The card is excellent to use for everyday business expenses and the savings add up over the year making it an excellent business credit card.

Recommendation

You are sure to get better cash back percentage points on other cards but the thing that is best about the Spark Cash for Business is that it has a flat rate for all your purchases. When you are running a business, things are complicated enough. It doesn’t make sense to waste your precious time deciding on which card to use for which purchase. It is an excellent card if you prefer cash back rather than points. It is also a great second card to have.

Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card Review

The Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is a great business card if you have heavy travel and advertising expenses. You have to pay a $95/- annual fee but the advantages and the sign-up bonus more than compensates for the cost. The sign-up bonus goes to up to $1,000/- which is very lucrative.

You get a whopping 3.75% rewards rate for travel, advertising, shipping, and internet purchases made you may make. The advertising should be on social media and search platforms. The total combined spend is up to $150,000 for each accounting anniversary year. This gives you fantastic savings. For the rest of your purchases, you get an unlimited rewards rate of 1.25%.

You get excellent bonuses with the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card. You get up to 80,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in the first three months of opening your account. This comes to approximately $1,000 when you redeem it for traveling.

Let’s have a quick check of the features and advantages:

Incentives

You get 3x points when you spend $150,000 in a year for your business expenses via the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card. You can use it as a combination of expenses travel, advertising on social media and search engines, shipping, and internet, phone and cable services. For any other purchases, you get a lower reward point per dollar of around 1.25%. The sign-up bonus is the best feature of the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card as you can literally for a whole trip with the money that you can get back in points with a spend of just $5,000 in the first three months.

Annual fee

Though you have to pay an annual fee of $95/- when you avail of the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, it is well worth it if you use the card well as the welcome bonuses come to approximately $1,000/-. This will cover a decade of annual fees. If you have heavy expenses especially in the travel and advertising categories, this card makes a lot of sense for you.

Travel and insurance benefits

You get a high reward point rate on travel, internet, and telephone services, shipping and online advertising. In addition to that, you get a 25% boost when you redeem the points for travel. You can even transfer your points to hotel and airline programs including Southwest, United, Marriott, Hyatt and British Airways.

You also get travel protection incentives like trip cancellation insurance and interruption insurance. You don’t need to pay foreign transaction fees. You get primary rental car coverage if you rent a car for business purposes via the card.

The tenure of protection against damage or theft when you purchase via the card is much higher than in most cards. You get protection for 120 days up to $50,000 per account and $10,000 per claim. If the manufacturer has a warranty of three years or less, you will get an extra year.

You also get damage or theft claim of up to $600 per claim if your cell phones are robbed or damaged. This is if you pay the bill using the card. You can avail of up to three claims in a year.

Customer Support

There are a few complaints online that the documents asked for this card are a bit cumbersome to get. In addition to that, the Chase Bank customer support has a long wait time and it is a bit difficult to get your issues resolved when you compare this card with cards from other credit card providers.

Who is this card for?

The Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is excellent if you advertise online and you have high travel expenses. You get significant savings when it comes to travel via this card. The card gives you reward points rather than a cash back as compared to the above two cards but it is still well worth the extra hassle of redeeming your points since you get a significant amount of savings. There is a $95/- annual charge so you need to keep that in mind. The Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is excellent if you will be planning travel, advertising expenses, etc of over $5,000 in the first three months as that will give you a very generous sign-on bonus.

Recommendation

The Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is very attractive as a business credit card, especially when you consider the sign-in bonus. If you spend up to $150,000 per year with travel and online advertising being your main business expense, then the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is an excellent card for you.

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN Review

When you want amazing travel rewards and incentives, the best card for you is the Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN. You get access to airport lounges, excellent airfare points, and great hotel spending. If you are a frequent traveler, this card is perfect for you.

In addition to that, you also get amazing discounts on car rentals and shipping. You also get rebates if you book a flight by the travel portal of Amex.

The only dampener when it comes to the Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN is that it has a very hefty annual fee of $450/-. If your business doesn’t include major travel then this card may not be the right one for you.

If you book a first-class or a business ticket via the Business Platinum® Card you can get a 35% rebate from the card. You can get rebates of up to half a million points a year. This is good enough for most small or medium businesses.

Let’s have a quick check of the features and advantages:

Incentives

You generally get one point per dollar that is spent on the card. Any purchase that you do of $5,000/- or more, you will get more than 1.5 points per dollar. This can give you up to one million more points every year. If you want a card that can get you great airfare and hotel room deals from Amex Travel then this card is perfect for you as you can get up to 5x points from it.

You get an incentive of over $1,000 when you avail of the card so that covers two years of the annual fee which is excellent. If you spend $10,000 in the first three months, you will get 50,000 points. In case you spend $10,000 more, you get an extra 25,000 points. This gives you a value of up to $1,425/- which covers three years fees.

Annual fee

The annual fee of the card is high at $450/- so unless you spend heavily on travel and hotels, this card may not be the perfect one for you.

Travel and insurance benefits

The biggest attraction when it comes to the Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN is that it gives you free access to the Centurion Lounge. You also have access to The American Express Global Lounge Collection, which has over 1,200 Priority Pass lounges in the world. You also have access to the Delta Sky Club lounges if you are flying with Delta. You also get reimbursement when it comes TSA PreCheck. You get 10 free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi passes every year. You get Gold status access with Starwood Preferred Guest and Hilton Honors. This helps you to increase your reward points when you stay at those hotels. You can also link the accounts of your Marriott and SPG hotels so that you can get more points into your Marriott Rewards Gold status. You can also search and get other properties to stay at with Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program. Every booking includes a room upgrade if it is available, noon check-in, a $100 credit and daily breakfast for your stay if you make a booking via Amex Travel.

Customer Support

The customer support for the Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN is excellent in terms of convenience and the ease in which your queries are answered. You get an excellent phone and email customer support.

Who is this card for?

The Business Platinum card is perfect for business owners who spend thousands every month on travel and who can get access to luxuries which are offered by this credit card. You get access to the Centurion Lounge and exclusive waiting areas. In case you want a credit card for other purposes like spending on office supplies, etc, this card may not be the right one for you.

Recommendation

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN is an excellent card for a business traveler. If you have hotel stays and airfare as your biggest business expense then this card is perfect for you. It has unbeatable travel perks. It is a charge card so you need to make sure that you pay any outstanding balance in full.

Capital One Spark Miles for Business Review

If you have a lot of non-travel related business expenses but you want travel rewards via a business credit card then the Capital One Spark Miles for Business is the perfect credit card for you. You can get the same reward points as you would get for buying flights and booking hotel rooms even when you are making your regular business expenses.

The best feature of the Capital One Spark Miles for Business is that you will get 2 miles for every single dollar that you will spend and it doesn’t matter what you spend on. Another excellent feature is that there are no limits and neither is there a list of bonus categories that you have to remember.

Let’s have a quick check of the features and advantages:

Incentives

You get a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles once you make purchases of $4,500 in the first three months of signing up to the card. This is a great way to rack up your travel miles.

You can use the card in any type of business purchase and you don’t have to worry as they will all be included when your miles are being counted. You don’t have to worry about crossing the rewards limit and neither will you have to pay attention to the type or category of purchase that you make. Regardless of the category, you will still make 2 miles per dollar spent.

Annual fee

There is no annual fee for the first year and from the second year onwards you will have to pay $95/-. The amount is reasonable especially since the first year is free and you get a juicy one-time bonus of 50,000 miles if you are able to meet the purchase target in the first three months.

Redemption and benefits

When it comes to redeeming the points that you have accumulated via your transactions on your Capital One Spark Miles for Business card, the first option you have is to use their travel platform. It is run by Orbitz and you can use your miles at a rate of 1 cent per mile. You can also use the miles to make purchases on other platforms or sites and use Capital One’s Purchase Eraser® which will give you partial or full statement credit. One of the advantages of using the Purchase Eraser® option is that you don’t have to worry about a minimum redemption amount. You can even redeem $1/- worth of points.

You won’t be charged a foreign transaction fee if you make overseas purchases so the card is a great one if you plan to travel internationally.

Customer Support

The customer service representatives of Capital One are well trained and are helpful. You may need help when you plan to redeem the points and having competent customer support makes solving your issues easy and seamless.

Who is this card for?

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business is a perfect card if you want to rack up travel miles but you don’t really need to travel much for your business. This way, you can bill all the expenses of your business to your Capital One Spark Miles for Business and still get miles per transaction regardless of the amount of the transaction or the category of purchase.

Recommendation

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business is a great card if you have varied business expenses and you would like to rack up your travel points. There is no limit to the points collected and you don’t have to worry about the category of your purchases. The sign-in bonus on the card is extremely generous and you should be able to meet it easily as the purchases will give you points regardless of the category of items or services that you have purchased.

What to look for when choosing a business credit card?

Whether you are applying to your first card or trying to update to a card which matches your requirements, it is important to study and research to ensure that you have got the best deal! With a lot of credit cards in the market that are great to apply for, you are guaranteed to find a card, however, there are a few aspects to bear in mind.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR)

If you don’t pay your credit card balance at the due date, interest will accrue every month. Your interest rate that can be revealed as a yearly percentage fee or “APR” will be your standard speed in which you will pay on the sum you owe. Most credit cards also provide a lesser introductory APR, in which to get temporary time during which you can repay your credit card debt with a lower interest rate (or, sometimes, 0% APR). You may have the ability to transfer a balance from one card to another to benefit from an APR rate difference.

This can be a fantastic option if you are paying off credit card debt. But be careful – your APR may revert to the default interest rate if you do not cover the minimum amount on account of your card bill in time. Until the period expires, to avoid paying rates of interest that are high, it’s also wise to attempt to pay back the balance outstanding.

A grace period could apply should you pay your statement balance in full every month by the payment due date.  The period between the time the interest starts accruing and when you make a purchase is known as the grace period.  You do not need a card which starts charging immediately. Make sure you have a card with a decent grace period.

Fees and Charges

Even if a card provides great advantages, you may have to spend a ton if you don’t read the fine print.   Let’s start with the yearly fees. Cards that charge a yearly fee may offer superior rewards in return, and a lot of these rewards (such as savings on travel) can offset the price of this fee.  If you don’t need that, you might save money by benefiting from cards which waive the charge for your first year.  If you would like a no yearly fee card, you will find many to pick from. Another fee to search for is overseas trade fees.  Should you use your card abroad, the credit card company may charge up to 3 percent of each dollar spent.  There are several credit cards which do not charge overseas trade charges; you may easily prevent paying extra while you are traveling by picking a card sensibly.

Benefits

Many card issuers provide reward programs for their clients to make them utilize the card.  Assuming you are likely to buy things and also the card issuer does not charge additional to the benefits program, it can be a wonderful advantage.  Among the greatest benefits of credit cards would be the benefits programs.  Your regular purchases can earn you points, which you may apply toward traveling, retail purchases, cash back, and much more. Decide on a card which provides you rewards for things you buy the most, commonly gasoline stations, grocery stores, or specific stores or internet retailers.  Just make sure you spend on what you would normally purchase, because paying more simply to find a reward probably will not help save you cash in the long run.

Credit Limit

The card which would be the best for you would be the one that has a credit limit which will give you flexibility but also make sure that you don’t overspend. Getting into credit card debt in today’s world of show off Instagram and consumerism is a real threat.

If you are in college, then getting a lower limit credit card makes sense and you can keep increasing your credit card limit as your monthly expenses keep increasing. If you have a larger credit limit then your spending, then it is good as your credit score increases. But the most important thing to keep in mind when you decide on the credit limit is to know yourself. If you are a habitual spender, the best option is to have a low credit limit card. This will help you as you won’t be able to take on debt that you can’t pay off.

Customer Support

If you use your credit card frequently, you are bound to call the customer service of the credit card company a few times as there are many instances when you need to either crosscheck a purchase that you have made or in case there has been some fraudulent charge that you would like to contest, you need to speak to someone who is competent and confident. You would want to speak to someone who can understand and resolve your issue quickly. Good customer service is very important when it comes to finance and credit cards. You can check the website of the credit companies before you decide on the credit card that you need to buy. Also, call them and check how difficult it is to get human contact i.e. a person either on an online chat or on the phone. You can even try to ask questions and see if they can answer complicated questions we have done exactly that for you while selecting the credit cards above.

Spending Habits

You need to understand how you would want to use your credit card before you apply for a credit card.  If you will be paying the full balance, you don’t have to really worry about the interest rate on the credit card. If you expect that you would be carrying forward the balance one month to the other, then you would need a credit card that has a longer grace period. If you need a card only for emergencies you can go for a card that is no frills and which has low-interest rate fees that are low. Are you planning to have a credit card to pay for all your monthly expenses or just for emergencies? You can accordingly decide on the credit limit of the card. And finally, if the card is going to be your main or primary card, it is better to have a good credit limit and strong rewards point.

Conclusion

There are many excellent credit cards in the market and depending on your requirement you can choose the most appropriate one for you. If you want a cash back card which is free and you can get substantial cash backs on your hardware, software and telephone services, then the SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express is good for you. If you want a great cash back card for online advertising and travel then go for the Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business. Similarly, if you don’t mind points rather than cash back and want a great card travel and online advertising then go for the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card. If you are looking for a card which will give you travel mile points on every purchase, the Capital One Spark Miles for Business is an excellent card and finally, go for the Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN for excellent travel, hotel, airfare, and airport lounge deals.


Just Digital Team

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