It’s hard to run a business without a business credit card these days. The problem is that there are a lot of different cards with different benefits and picking the right card can be difficult. To help, we’ve created this guide to why you should get a business credit card, what you should look for in a business credit card, and a little bit about one option, the Capital One Spark Card.
Why Get A Business Credit Card
If you have a business, there are many reasons for having a business credit card. Here are a few of them.
- Access to Cash Flow/Financial Flexibility - You know that cash flow is a priority for your business. Having a business credit card can make it easier to control your expenses. Also, since business credit cards can be easier to obtain than loans or lines of credit, they make purchasing the equipment, supplies, or inventory that you need easy.
- Separation of Personal and Business Expenses - Having a business credit card makes it easy for you to separate your personal and business expenses. It can save you time and having separate statements make record-keeping and paying taxes more convenient. Some business credit cards even have online tools to help you track your expenses.
- Points, Cash-back, or other Rewards - Business cards will often offer points, cash-back, or other nice perks, such as travel credits that could earn you discounted (or free) airline tickets and hotel stays. It’s a nice way of keeping your out-of-pocket expenses down.
- Large Credit or Spending Limit - Business credit cards often offer higher credit or spending limits, sometimes higher than $50,000 or $100,000.
- Opportunity to Boost Your Credit Rating - Paying off the balance regularly on your business credit card can help boost your business credit rating when the vendors and suppliers you work with report transactions to the credit bureaus.
- Advantages over Personal Credit Cards - A business credit card can provide you with more advantages over personal credit cards, such as higher spending limits that make large company-related purchases possible.
- Better control on employee spending - If your business requires travel, purchase of inventory or supplies, or other responsibilities that need employees to spend company money, a business credit card can help you track exactly what they’re buying and how much they’re spending. You can also set spending limits for employee cards based on credit limits. Many credit card companies offer free (no annual fee) business credit cards for employees.
- Business Perks - Business credit cards sometimes offer rewards, such as discounts on business travel, shipping, and business supplies. Depending on what you need, some even offer rewards on advertising purchases.
- Easier and More Organized Record Keeping - Having a business credit card can record keeping easier, which helps when you are making large company-related financial transactions. Most business cards will offer an online portal or app that can help you track and file expenses. This can also help when you’re filing your taxes and/or applying for a business loan since well-organized records are a time saver. Anytime access to your business’s spending records can also help speed up financial transactions or even allow you to take advantage of opportunities, such as purchasing property and/or inventory more quickly.
- Higher Limit Purchase Protection - A business credit card with a higher spending limit allows you to make larger purchases with more purchase protection. More protection means more peace of mind when making large, company-related expense commitments.
What To Look For In A Business Credit Card
Now let’s consider what you should look for with a business credit card. The first things to consider are costs and fees. Some of these include:
- Annual fee
- Interest rate (APR)
- Transaction fees
- Penalty fees
Next, you’ll want to figure out which benefits are the most important to you, such as rewards, cash back, or help with building credit. These benefits usually take the form of features, such as:
- Rewards or Cash Back
- Loyalty Points
- Travel Protections
- Expense Management
The Capital One Spark Card
There are many good business cards in the market from top banks in the nation. Here, we are going to talk a bit more about the Capital One Spark Card. We are thankful to Kelly Caiazza from Capital One’s East Bay branch for providing us all the information that helped us in clearly summarizing the benefits of Capital One Spark Card.
Kelly Caizza, Capital One (East Bay)
(510)856-7244 / kelly.caiazza@capitalone.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellycaiazza/
Capital One offers the Spark Cash card and the Spark miles card. Each card offers a unique variety of premium features and value-driven benefits for businesses. Here is some of what you get when you have a Spark card.
Spark Cash card:
- Unlimited 2% Cash Back
- Covers all purchases with no rotating categories or limits
- Spend Above Your Credit Limit
- Maximize rewards with no hassles or over-limit fees
- Extended Warranty and Protection
- Purchase Records for Better Organization
- Download into Quicken, QuickBooks, and Excel
- No Consumer Credit Bureau Reporting
- Free Employee Cards
- Rewards That Won’t Expire
Spark Miles card:
- Unlimited 2X miles on every purchase everywhere, 5X miles on hotel and rental car bookings made with Capital One Travel
- Turn miles into gift cards
- Redeem your miles for an account credit or a check
- Cover recent travel purchases
- Transfer your miles to more than 10 leading travel loyalty programs
- Instant Purchase Notifications
- Free Employee Cards
- $0 Fraud Liability
If a Spark card sounds like the right choice for your business, just get in touch with Kelly Caiazza in East Bay. You can reach her by phone at (510)856-7244, or email her at kelly.caiazza@capitalone.com.
Tags: business credit card, Capital One Spark Card
Select business type ✐