Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.
Corporate credit cards offer increased spending power and enhanced expense management tools — without a personal guarantee.
Switching to a corporate card, sometimes called a commercial credit card, can be a smart move as your company grows. But in general, sole proprietors and businesses with uneven cash flow are probably better served by traditional business credit cards.
You can find corporate credit cards with most major credit card companies, like American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citi and Wells Fargo. Corporate cards from these major issuers are geared toward large corporations with millions of dollars in annual revenue, and it can be difficult for small businesses to qualify.
The corporate cards on our list offer similar benefits — high limits, rewards, employee cards, no personal guarantee and expense management tools — but are more attainable for small to medium-sized businesses.
Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.
Corporate credit cards offer increased spending power and enhanced expense management tools — without a personal guarantee.
Switching to a corporate card, sometimes called a commercial credit card, can be a smart move as your company grows. But in general, sole proprietors and businesses with uneven cash flow are probably better served by traditional business credit cards.
You can find corporate credit cards with most major credit card companies, like American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citi and Wells Fargo. Corporate cards from these major issuers are geared toward large corporations with millions of dollars in annual revenue, and it can be difficult for small businesses to qualify.
The corporate cards on our list offer similar benefits — high limits, rewards, employee cards, no personal guarantee and expense management tools — but are more attainable for small to medium-sized businesses.
Here are the best corporate credit cards from our partners
| Credit card▼ | NerdWallet rating▼ | Annual fee▼ | Rewards rate | Intro offer | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ramp Card Apply now on Ramp's website | 4.0/5 Best for Simple cash back | $0 | 1.5% Cashback | N/A | Apply now on Ramp's website |
Brex Card Apply now on Brex's website | 3.2/5 Best for Venture-funded startups | $0 | 1x-7x Points | 10,000 Points | Apply now on Brex's website |
BILL Divvy Corporate Card Apply now on BILL Spend & Expense's website | 2.9/5 Best for High rewards rates | $0 | 1x-7x Points | N/A | Apply now on BILL Spend & Expense's website |
Our pick for
Simple cash back
Ramp Card
Read Review
Apply now
on Ramp's website
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5% Cashback
Intro offer
N/A
The
Ramp Card
offers the simplest rewards program of our picks, plus useful spend management tools.Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5% Cashback
Intro offer
N/A
The
Ramp Card
offers the simplest rewards program of our picks, plus useful spend management tools.Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- Simple, straightforward rewards
- No personal guarantee or credit check
- Direct integrations with popular tools and card-level spending controls and alerts
Cons
- Balance must be paid in full each month
- Not available to sole proprietors or unincorporated businesses
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases, no minimum spend required.
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
- No personal credit check or personal guarantee required.
- Issue unlimited virtual cards and physical cards for each employee.
- Prevent out-of-policy spending with built-in controls, including spend restrictions by category or merchant.
- Ramp is a corporate charge card powered by Visa. Businesses are required to pay the monthly balance in full by each statement period.
- Must have at least $75,000 in cash in any U.S. business bank account to qualify.
- Must have most of your operations and corporate spend in the US (although Ramp does support international transactions and will waive all related transaction fees).
- Ramp is only available to corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships. Individuals, sole proprietorships and unregistered businesses are not eligible.
Our pick for
Venture-funded startups
Brex Card
Read Review
Apply now
on Brex's website
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x Points
Intro offer
10,000 Points
The
Brex Card
offers standout rewards rates on travel and restaurants, but you'll generally need venture funding to qualify.Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x Points
Intro offer
10,000 Points
The
Brex Card
offers standout rewards rates on travel and restaurants, but you'll generally need venture funding to qualify.Pros
- No annual fee
- New cardholder bonus offer
- Qualify with limited/bad credit
- Bonus categories
- No foreign transaction fees
- No personal guarantee
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure
- High capital requirement for approval
- Daily repayment may be required
- Get 10,000 points when you spend $3,000 on a Brex Card within your first 3 months.
- No personal guarantee needed – Brex does not ask for a personal credit check or security deposit during the application.
- Credit limits 10-20x higher than traditional small business corporate cards.
- Minimum bank balance of $50,000 from professional investors may be required to qualify for Brex.
- 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.
- Earn points on every dollar spent with industry-leading multipliers: 7x on rideshare, 4x on Brex Travel, 3x on restaurants, 2x on software subscriptions and 1x on all other transactions.
- Earn 3x Brex Rewards points on all eligible Apple purchases through the link or your Brex dashboard.
- Miles transfer program to 7 airlines (including Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Air France, and more) and their loyalty programs, giving Brex customers access to book travel across all of the major global airline alliances - Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam.
- 30-day charge card running on the Mastercard network. Enjoy global acceptance with no foreign transaction fees.
- Build business credit: Brex partners with Dun & Bradstreet and Experian to report your on-time payments.
- Make employee expenses seamless - automated receipt-capture and expense matching and reconciliation via text, email, and mobile app. Instantly add new users and set spending limits.
- Contactless pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
- Simplify reconciliation with built-in integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and more.
Our pick for
High rewards rates
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
Read Review
Apply now
on BILL Spend & Expense's website
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x Points
Intro offer
N/A
The
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
's rewards are most likely to pay off for companies with predictable cash flow.Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x Points
Intro offer
N/A
The
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
's rewards are most likely to pay off for companies with predictable cash flow.Pros
- No annual fee
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure with limits on redemption
- Balance must be paid in full each billing cycle
- Earn up to 7x rewards on restaurants and 5x on hotels with weekly billing. Terms apply.
- Credit lines up to $15 million but based on revenue, cash balance, business history and personal and business credit score.
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
- Unlimited free virtual cards.
- Spend management platform allows business owners to easily set and adjust individual and team budgets.
Full list of editorial picks: Best corporate credit cards
Click the card name to read our review. Before applying, confirm details on the issuer’s website.
Ramp Card
Ramp is a corporate charge card available to incorporated businesses in the U.S. that have strong revenue and at least $75,000 in a business bank account. You must link that account to your Ramp Card when you apply. Perks include unlimited
1.5
% cash back on all purchases (redeemed as a statement credit), unlimited cards, automated receipt matching, spending controls and expense management and forecasting tools, and discounted pricing with partner vendors like Slack. Read full review.Brex Card
The Brex corporate card comes in two varieties: paid daily or paid monthly. You need professional investors and a business account balance of at least $50,000 to qualify for monthly payments.
Brex offers a welcome bonus:
Get 10,000 points when you spend $3,000 on a Brex Card within your first 3 months.
There are high rewards rates, too: Earn points on every dollar spent with industry-leading multipliers: 7x on rideshare, 4x on Brex Travel, 3x on restaurants, 2x on software subscriptions and 1x on all other transactions. Earn 3x Brex Rewards points on all eligible Apple purchases through the link or your Brex dashboard.
Read full review.BILL Divvy Corporate Card
Bill Spend & Expense offers a useful spend management platform that lets business owners set individual and team budgets and keep an eye on their spending. Similar to the Ramp Card,
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
users can upload receipts to expenses and categorize spending on users’ cards, which may make bookkeeping easier. Bill’s rewards rates are intriguing on their face:
Earn up to 7x rewards on restaurants and 5x on hotels with weekly billing. Terms apply.
But actually redeeming them is tricky. In order to earn those high rates, you’ll have to be a Bill user for at least 12 months and spend at least 30% of your credit line in any given month. That means Bill is best suited to companies with consistent, predictable spending and cash flow. Read full review.What is a corporate credit card?
Corporate credit cards are designed for large, incorporated companies and are issued to the company rather than the business owner. Because of this, corporate cards do not require a personal guarantee. Instead, the corporation assumes all financial liability for purchases made on the card by its employees.
How do you qualify for a corporate card?
To qualify for a corporate credit card, you typically need a high business credit score, annual revenue in the millions and a dozen or more employees authorized to make spending decisions for the company. Your business also needs to be incorporated as an S corporation, a C corporation or a limited liability company, or LLC.
These requirements can vary from one card issuer to another.
American Express, for example, requires at least $4 million in annual revenue and yearly credit card spending equal to 10% or less of your annual revenue to open one of its corporate credit cards. AmEx corporate cards are available to limited liability partnerships as well as corporations and LLCs. See more American Express business credit card options.
JPMorgan Chase corporate cards, on the other hand, are geared toward even larger companies. Most require an annual credit card spend of $10 million or more and have specific use cases: travel, business-to-business payments and single-use virtual cards. See more Chase business credit card options.
Other corporate credit cards from fintech companies, like Ramp, Brex and BILL, have more attainable requirements. The
Ramp Card
, for example, is available to incorporated businesses with at least $75,000 in a business bank account. And venture-backed startups can qualify for a Brex Card
if they maintain a business account balance of $50,000.Benefits of a corporate credit card
There are several advantages to going with a corporate card program:
- Personal credit is protected. Corporate cards do not affect your personal credit. Approval is based on your company’s revenue and business credit score (among other factors), and payments on the card — as well as any missed payments — are recorded on the company’s business credit report.
- Reduced personal risk. Unlike business credit cards, corporate cards do not require business owners to sign a personal guarantee. That means your personal assets are not on the line if an employee misuses a card or your company folds and can’t pay the outstanding balance.
- Better reporting. Corporate credit card programs offer businesses robust ways to track expenses. Your cardholding employees typically will be able to file their expenses electronically, saving you time checking reports. Also, it will be easier for you to see where and how your employees are spending your company's money.
- Ability to set spending limits. Setting rules for spending is crucial for business success. Corporate card programs let managers set limits on the amount of spending and the categories in which employees can spend. Many companies forbid the personal use of a corporate credit card.
Drawbacks of a corporate credit card
Corporate credit cards also have disadvantages, including:
- In-depth application process. Setting up a corporate line of credit will likely be a more involved process than applying for a business credit card online. Card issuers will evaluate your business stability to establish creditworthiness, so be prepared to share your legal and financial information for corporate card approval.
- May require a minimum number of cardholders. Some corporate card issuers require that eligible corporations sign up for a minimum number of employee cards. If your business doesn’t need that many authorized cardholders yet, you may want to research cards that do not have that requirement — or hold off on getting a corporate card until then.
Who is liable for purchases on a corporate card?
Corporate credit cards allow multiple employees to use cards to make purchases on the employer's behalf. Who is legally responsible for those charges depends on the card; some default to corporate liability, while others give you the option to choose between corporate, individual or joint liability.
Corporate liability
The company is responsible for paying the bill. The issuer doesn't check employees' credit. Employees file expense reports so the company can reconcile charges with the card statement each month, but the employee doesn’t have to pay the bill upfront. This is the standard with most corporate card programs.
Individual liability
Employees must pay all charges on the card, and they get reimbursed when they file an expense report. The issuer will check employees' credit before giving them a card, but this check is a “soft pull,” meaning it doesn’t affect employees' credit scores.
Joint liability
The company and the employee are responsible for debt on the card. Employees are responsible for repaying personal or unauthorized spending on the corporate card but are not personally held liable for any expenses charged in compliance with company policies. However, if a long overdue balance gets reported to credit reporting bureaus, it may affect the employee’s credit.
Business vs. corporate credit cards: Which one is right for you?
As your small business grows, you may be thinking about changing from a small-business card to a corporate credit card.
Consider moving to a corporate credit card if:
- Your company is incorporated.
- Your annual revenue tops several million dollars.
- You’ve authorized multiple employees to make business-related purchases.
- You have a significant volume of financial transactions.
If you do not meet these thresholds, sticking with a business credit card may be a better option for you.
Last updated on September 7, 2023
Methodology
NerdWallet's Credit Cards team selects the best credit cards for small business based on overall consumer value, as evidenced by star ratings, as well as their suitability for specific kinds of small-business operators. Factors in our evaluation include annual and other fees, rewards rates, the earning structure (for example, flat-rate rewards versus bonus categories), redemption options, bonus offers for new cardholders, introductory and ongoing APRs, and other noteworthy features such as special financing arrangements, free cards for employees or tools for managing business expenses. Learn more about how we rate business credit cards.