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There are just too many incentives and rewards credit cards out there to choose from, so I wanted to ask if anyone knows of a business credit card that is particularly good.

Ideally I am looking to maximize the rewards or miles or incentives the card gives me for my company purchasing.

Obviously looking to avoid the cards with the "low introductory rate" however we would be in a position to pay it off each month. It just seems wasteful to keep paying for things with a debit card.

I like free stuff!

Dan

Who knows, maybe this could pay for a vacation :)

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The first downvote was undeserving. I've read an article about a company that got an Airline Creditcard, used it to pay for just about everything, and through the purchases stacked up enough mileage to never have to spend money on airline tickets. Very smart. So there may actually be some relevance to this question. – John Sjölander Jan 21 '11 at 21:05
Since amex charges its merchants the most, i would assume they have the best rewards? I wouldnt know how to compare because Amex is all i tend to use. – Frank Jan 22 '11 at 1:21
How is this startup related? It's more like a personal finance question. It has nothing to do with startups. – TimJ♦ Jan 22 '11 at 4:21
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Except - as was said - it could be used to collect financially usabl belefits (flight tickets) from regular purchases that a startup may do. Companies sometimes spend a lot more than an individual ;) – NetTecture Jan 22 '11 at 10:19
@NetTechture - then the same can be said about asking questions about the best toilet paper - since small businesses may have toilet paper expenses and want to get the best brand as a perk to employees. – TimJ♦ Jan 22 '11 at 14:21

4 Answers

up vote 0 down vote

The American Express Plum Card is a decent one. It has two main advantages:

  • 1.5% cash back (toward the card balance) if you pay early
  • Defer payments for two months interest free

It used to be 2% back, but only one month deferred. While the cash back is nice, when you're in an industry that pays you NET30 it's really nice to be able to defer payments for a little bit.

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It has one huge disadvantage in the $185/annual fee. Wipes out all the cash back on $12k. The Chase card we have gives 1%, no annual fee, 20% extra cash back since we have a Chase checking, can make minimum payments if I need to and is linked as overdraft protection on my checking to act as a Line of Credit just in case. And since it's a Visa its accepted in far more places than Amex. – Sean Jan 27 '11 at 14:23
up vote 1 down vote

This really depends on what you are using the cards for, "business" credit cards tend to have reward categories focused around things like office supplies and gas which are probably relatively small expense categories for many small businesses.

If you are structured as a sole prop using a personal card is generally going to get you better rewards. It is also important to mention that business cards don't provide the same types of protections as consumer cards do (consumer credit card laws versus the UCC).

A couple of good all around cards are.

  1. Venture card from Capital One gives 2% cash back in airline miles, no foreign exchange fees, available as business or personal card and is a visa. Downside is the $59 annual fee.
  2. Fidelity Amex 2% cash back no annual fee and you can get cash which is nice if you don't travel much. It is only available as a personal card though and it is Amex so less places will take it.
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up vote 1 down vote

Chase Ink had the best signup bonus for me when I got my card. $200 worth of points on your first cycle. We do use Chase for our business accounts as well and we can set the checking to overdraft to the card to use as a poor man's line of credit.

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up vote 2 down vote

I favor cash back rewards over other rewards, because I can use the cash to fill an immediate business need. Most other rewards can only be redeemed for very specific items. I've seen two types of cash back programs:

  • Earn X points, and redeem for Y dollars back
  • Get X% cash back every month

I prefer the second option, because again I'm getting the cash back immediately instead of having to wait until I accumulate some number of points.

I like the American Express SimplyCash card. The only negative is that American Express is not as widely accepted as Mastercard and Visa, because, as Frank pointed out, they have the highest merchant fees. So if you get an AMEX credit card you may want to also get a Visa or MC.

I always make sure to pay off the full amount every month. Note that credit cards with rewards programs tend to have higher interest rates than those that don't. If you are not paying off the full balance of the cards every month, you'll end up paying more in fees than you get back in rewards. Those that are in this situation should look for credit cards with low interest rates, and forget about the rewards.

Also, look for a credit card with no annual fee.

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