4 BEST SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARDS FOR FINANCING YOUR BUSINESS

1. BILL Divvy Corporate Card

Ideal for: BILL Divvy Corporate Card is a credit card designed for small businesses with little or no credit history. It has no annual fee, free online access to your account, and a free suite of business credit building resources.

About BILL: BILL offers two types of credit cards. One is a credit builder card for new businesses without any established business credit. The other is a regular credit card for those businesses having already established business credit.

When you choose BILL, you’ll earn rewards for all your spending and get helpful expense management and accounting softwares.

What is predictable: You'll never pay an annual fee with BILL and your interest rate is determined based on your business credit. As you build a strong business credit profile your credit cards interest rate will decrease.

REWARDS AND BENEFITS (TERMS APPLY)

• No annual fees
• Flexible rewards
• Unlimited virtual cards
• Unlimited employee cards
• Rewards for all spending
• Free expense management and accounting software
• Enforceable budgets
• Integrates with BILL expense management software
• Integrates with most accounting software
• Real-time fraud protection
• Reports to business credit bureaus

FEES

• No annual fee.

2. BREX BUSINESS CREDIT CARD

Ideal for: LLCs, LLPs, S-Corps, and C-Corps that want to build business credit based solely on the business’s EIN. Brex reports to major business credit bureaus and has two different card options; one is a daily repayment card, the other is a monthly repayment card. Brex is a great starting point for businesses that want access to higher amounts of capital than what most traditional business credit cards grant limits for.

What is predictable: You'll never pay any fees or interest with Brex. Brex makes money solely when you use the card through fees it collects small fees from merchants every time you use the card. 

REWARDS AND BENEFITS (TERMS APPLY)

• No fees
• Reward program
• Larger credit limits
• Reports to major business credit bureaus

FEES

• No fees

3. AMERICAN EXPRESS PLUM

Ideal for: Business owners who seek maximum flexibility, especially if their cash flow toggles between feast and famine. They also have to tolerate a hefty annual fee.

Plum is unlike any other card on this list. First, it’s a charge card, which usually means you must pay off your balance each month—except you can defer payment interest-free for 60 days. This helps small business owners with short-term cash flow issues. The ability to make purchases and pay vendors while not suffering from a late penalty can free up breathing room until the cash comes in.

Second, Plum has a novel way of earning rewards: If you do the opposite of what we just said and pay your bill early, you get a discount. To earn this perk, you must pay off your balance on the card within 10 days of the closing of your billing cycle. Do that, and you automatically earn a 1.5% discount. It shows up as a statement credit that will be applied to your bill the following month.

The downside to this card? A unique annual fee. It’s $250, the only annual fee on this list, and higher than many other small business credit cards that, if they insist on this fee, usually comes in around $95.

REWARDS AND BENEFITS (TERMS APPLY)

• Early Pay Discount has no limit on the number of rewards you can earn.

• Spending limit grows with your business.

• Free employee cards, which all receive the Early Pay Discount.

• Purchase protection for 120 days if anything is lost or stolen.

• Extended warranty up to two years added to a manufacturing one.

FEES

• Waived annual fee for the first year, then $250.

• No balance transfer fee.

• No cash advance fee.

• No foreign transaction fee.

4. CAPITAL ONE SPARK CASH SELECT FOR BUSINESS

Ideal for: Businesses with a variety of moderate expenses spread over many categories.

With a 0% intro APR for 9 months, no annual fee, and no special bonuses, this might not seem like a desirable card. But this simplicity is its attraction. You earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases, which means you don’t have to spend time fretting about spending caps or category bonuses.

Sure, you’re trading off a longer 0% intro APR term and some heftier rewards percentages, but you’re getting a solid card without any distractions from your core business.

REWARDS AND BENEFITS (TERMS APPLY)

• $200 cash bonus after you spend $3,000 in the first three months.

• 0% intro APR on purchases for 9 months.

• 1.5% cash back on all purchases with no cap on rewards.

• Free employee cards.

• Auto rental damage waiver.

FEES

• No annual fee.

• No balance transfer fee.

• No foreign transaction fee.

• 3% or $10 cash advance fee (whichever is greater per transaction).

USING THESE CARDS WISELY

It bears repeating that credit cards can help you launch a small business by offering interest-free loans and helpful rewards—or they can crush you under steep interest rates. They’re not a replacement for sound financial practices and well-capitalized pursuits.

Instead, they’re powerful tools for covering that inevitable gap between marketable concept and bankable profits. Best of all, these cards are configured in slightly different ways, so you can choose the one that will serve you best right now—and swap it out when your needs change later.