Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence 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 | Business credit cards | |
---|---|---|
Who they're for | Incorporated or registered businesses, such as corporations and LLCs. | All business owners, including freelancers and sole proprietors. |
How repayment works | Typically must be paid in full every month; users can’t carry a balance over time. | You can carry a balance, allowing you to pay off purchases over time with interest. |
Qualification requirements | Strong revenue history and bank balance, but no personal guarantee. | Good or excellent personal credit; personal guarantee required. |
Primary benefits | Employee cards with spend controls and simplified expense reporting. | Rewards, including cash back, points and sign-up bonuses. |
Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence 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 | Business credit cards | |
---|---|---|
Who they're for | Incorporated or registered businesses, such as corporations and LLCs. | All business owners, including freelancers and sole proprietors. |
How repayment works | Typically must be paid in full every month; users can’t carry a balance over time. | You can carry a balance, allowing you to pay off purchases over time with interest. |
Qualification requirements | Strong revenue history and bank balance, but no personal guarantee. | Good or excellent personal credit; personal guarantee required. |
Primary benefits | Employee cards with spend controls and simplified expense reporting. | Rewards, including cash back, points and sign-up bonuses. |
Here are the best corporate credit cards
Best for | NerdWallet rating▼ | Annual fee▼ | Rewards rate | Intro offer | Learn more |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cash back Ramp Card Apply now on Ramp's website | 2.8/5 | $0 | 1%-1.5% Cashback | N/A | Apply now on Ramp's website |
Venture-funded startups with travel expenses Brex Card Apply now on Brex's website | 3.2/5 | $0 | 1x-7x Points | 10,000 Points | Apply now on Brex's website |
Businesses with smaller bank balances BILL Divvy Corporate Card Apply now on BILL Spend & Expense's website | 2.7/5 | $0 | 1x-7x Points | N/A | Apply now on BILL Spend & Expense's website |
Best for | NerdWallet rating▼ | Annual fee▼ | Rewards rate | Intro offer | Learn more |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cash back Ramp Card Apply now on Ramp's website | 2.8/5 | $0 | 1%-1.5% Cashback | N/A | Apply now on Ramp's website |
Venture-funded startups with travel expenses Brex Card Apply now on Brex's website | 3.2/5 | $0 | 1x-7x Points | 10,000 Points | Apply now on Brex's website |
Businesses with smaller bank balances BILL Divvy Corporate Card Apply now on BILL Spend & Expense's website | 2.7/5 | $0 | 1x-7x Points | N/A | Apply now on BILL Spend & Expense's website |
I'M INTERESTED IN:
Our pick for
Cash back
Ramp Card
on Ramp's website
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- 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
- Rewards rate varies and is determined for each customer by Ramp.
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- 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
- Rewards rate varies and is determined for each customer by Ramp.
- 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 $50,000 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 with travel expenses
Brex Card
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
- Not available to sole proprietors
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
- Not available to sole proprietors
- 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
Businesses with smaller bank balances
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
- Not available to sole proprietors.
- 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.
Ramp Card
Brex Card
IO Card
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
Rho Corporate Credit Card
- Better expense 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 dealing with expense 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 offer employee credit cards and 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Can’t carry a balance. Corporate cards generally require full payment at the end of each billing cycle, and those cycles can be as short as a day, so won’t be able to put a big purchase on your corporate card and then pay it off over several months. If that's a need, consider a business card with a 0% APR intro period instead.
- 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.