Business Cards

Business credit cards are an excellent option for most people. Even if you don’t think you have a business, you probably do. For example, your business can be as simple as selling items online or baked goods locally or even owning a small landscaping company.  We love business credit cards…typically, there is no hard inquiry to your personal credit and business cards will not count toward your total open accounts.  Ultimately, this will give you more options throughout your pursuit of points journey.

I want to explain why business cards are such a great option.  Most credit card companies have rules as to the number of accounts you can open within a specific timeframe to be considered for one of their cards.  Chase, for example, has a strict 5/24 rule. This means, once you have opened 5 personal cards through any bank in 24 months, they will not approve you for any additional cards. (We’ll outline this in detail in a later post)   Let’s say you have opened 4 personal cards in the last 24 months, putting you at 4/24, and you don’t want to hit 5/24. You can open one or more business cards, because no matter how many you open, they won’t add any to your 4/24.  *Pro-Tip: To avoid drawing attention to your personal or business accounts, focus on opening no more than one card per quarter.

Applying for a business card is simple.  When applying for a business card, select sole proprietor if you don’t have an LLC. Also, you can use your social security number in place of the EIN.  Answer all questions honestly; you don’t need to make a ton of money selling things to qualify for a business card. Most of the time, $1200 or more in total annual income is sufficient. Banks are not always as eager to approve business applications instantly. If you get the message that your application needs more time to review, don’t panic; this happens often.