A business credit card can be incredibly convenient for managing your business's financial transactions. Whether you're paying a vendor or buying supplies to keep your operation running, finding the right credit card not only separates your business and personal expenses but also helps you build business credit.
Generally speaking, having a low credit score can limit your credit card options. To help you save time, we've done the legwork for you by researching the best business credit cards for business owners with poor credit. In addition to highlighting our top overall pick, we've identified each card's best attribute.
Best Business Credit Cards for Bad Credit
Here are Business Insider's picks for the top business credit cards for poor credit:
- Best overall: Capital One Spark 1% Classic†
- Best for business tools: Ramp Visa Corporate Card
- Best for building business credit: Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Business Credit Card
- Best for earning deposit interest: FNBO Business Edition® Secured Mastercard® Credit Card
- Best for no personal guarantee: Brex Card
Bad Credit Business Credit Card Reviews
If you're considering a business credit card for bad credit, here's what you should know about the business cards that made our list.
Capital One Spark 1% Classic†
The Capital One Spark 1% Classic† is our overall pick for an unsecured business card for bad credit. Since it's an unsecured credit card, you don't need to put down a deposit or personal guarantee to use the card.
Capital One designed the Capital One Spark 1% Classic† for fair-credit applicants — people who have defaulted on a loan within the last five years or who have a thin credit file.
The card doesn't charge an annual fee and earns 1% cash back for every dollar spent on the card with no earnings cap. Hotel and rental car bookings through the Capital One Travel portal earn 5% cash back.
Ramp Visa Corporate Card
The Ramp Visa Corporate Card is a corporate card that performs multiple business functions. It offers a straightforward rewards program that earns up to 1.5% cash back on purchases and comes with integrated financial functions that help business owners automate time-consuming bookkeeping.
The Ramp Visa Corporate Card is a charge card rather than a credit card, so you're responsible for repaying the full monthly balance on your billing statement. Thus, you don't have to worry about annual percentage rates (APR).
Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Business Credit Card
Building your business credit is just as important as building your personal credit. The Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Business Credit Card helps business owners with poor credit achieve this goal while earning rewards.
This card requires a $1,000 minimum security deposit to open the account, which then becomes your credit limit. You can earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases with no limit. As your credit strengthens over time, Bank of America might offer to transition you to an unsecured card.
FNBO Business Edition® Secured Mastercard® Credit Card
Like several other cards featured on this list, the FNBO Business Edition® Secured Mastercard® Credit Card requires a security deposit equal to 110% of your desired credit limit.
This card has a minimum credit limit of $2,000 to $100,000, which means you'd have to deposit a minimum of $2,200 to open an account. You can deposit up to $110,000 to max out the $100,000 credit limit on the FNBO Business Edition® Secured Mastercard® Credit Card.
This secured card is unique because you can earn interest on the security deposit you leave with First National Bank of Omaha. This interest rate varies based on your individual credit file and is determined by the card issuer.
The FNBO Business Edition® Secured Mastercard® Credit Card has a $39 annual fee.
Brex Card
Some business cards require a personal guarantee which states that you'll personally repay any borrowed amount if your business can't. The Brex Card doesn't require a personal guarantee, and doesn't affect your personal credit. It also helps you build your business's credit file as it reports monthly payments and card activity to Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, and Equifax.
However, Brex requires cardholders to maintain a minimum $25,000 cash balance in their Brex account to keep the card open. This hefty financial requirement can be hard for many small business owners to attain.
In addition to making purchases on the card, your Brex account allows cardholders to directly assign virtual and physical employee cards to authorized team members. You can even set custom spending limits, which makes it easy to automate and streamline expense management for payroll and bookkeeping.
Compare Top Business Credit Cards for Bad Credit
$0
N/A
30.49% Variable
N/A
Fair
- No annual fee
- Travel and purchase protection
- Some other business cards offer better rewards
- No welcome bonus
Whether you have a new business or just don't have a ton of credit history, the Capital One Spark 1% Classic could be a good stepping stone. It's possible to get approved for the card with just fair credit, whereas most other business cards that earn rewards require a good or even excellent credit score.
Capital One Spark 1% Classic†
$0
N/A
N/A
None
No Credit History
- Up to 1.5% cashback on purchases
- Very high credit limit available
- No annual fees, late fees, or foreign transaction fees
- Can't carry a balance since this is a charge card
- Must link a business bank account with at least $25,000
- No welcome bonus
- No annual fee.
- Earn up to 1.5% cashback.
- Automated expense management software built into your corporate card, reimbursements, and more.
- Access to discounts and rewards with partner vendors.
- No interest charged because ramp is a corporate charge card. Unlike regular credit cards, charge cards require you pay your balance in full by each statement period and not carry over balances.
$0
N/A
27.49% variable
N/A
Poor
- Flat-rate 1.5% cash back is generous for a secured card
- No annual fee
- Potential upgrade to a unsecured version
- $1,000 minimum security deposit
- 4% balance transfer fee
- 3% foreign transaction fees
$39
N/A
25.99% variable
None
Poor
- High credit limit available
- Earn interest on your security deposit
- Available for applicants with very low credit scores
- $39 annual fee
- Requires a security deposit of 110% the requested credit limit
- No rewards
$0
N/A
N/A
Earn 10,000 points
Poor to Excellent
- No personal guarantee
- Several bonus categories
- Discounts with Slack, Zoom, AWS and more
- No annual fee
- You can only earn bonus rewards if Brex is your only corporate card, so it doesn't pair well with other business rewards credit cards
- Fewer options for redeeming rewards compared to some business credit cards from Amex and Chase
The no-annual-fee Brex Card is lauded as an extremely user-friendly bank for startup companies. The definition of "startup," however, isn't nearly as lenient as you'll find with other banks, such as Chase and American Express. Sole proprietors aren't eligible for the card — nor are small and medium businesses, for that matter. If you do qualify, Brex offers generous rewards and valuable airline transfer partners such as Avianca, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and more.
Brex CardBusiness Credit Cards for Bad Credit Frequently Asked Questions
Searching for a small business credit card that addresses the needs of your business operations can be daunting. Add your credit background into the mix, and more questions might surface. Here are some common questions about business credit cards for bad credit that other business owners have asked.
Can you have a business credit card with bad credit?
Yes, you have business credit card options as a business owner with bad credit. However, due to your credit, you might have fewer business card products accessible to you.
What is the minimum credit score for a business credit card?
There's no universal minimum credit score for a business credit card. Generally, a minimum 670 FICO score is considered good credit. The higher your credit score, the better your eligibility for a business credit card.
Can I get a business credit card with bad personal credit?
Despite having bad credit, it's possible to get a business card. Although accessing unsecured business cards might be limited, there are a handful of secured business cards that offer day-to-day convenience for your business needs.
What is the best business credit card for bad credit?
The best business credit cards for bad credit are products with a low or no annual fee and moderate APR. Additionally, look for cards that offer business solutions unique to your needs, like bonus rewards for office purchases or built-in spending controls for your employee-issued cards.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Chose the Best Business Credit Cards for Bad Credit
Business Insider's credit card team evaluated several factors to determine our list of best small business credit cards for bad credit. We examined the following areas:
- Eligibility — Is the card secured or unsecured? What kind of collateral is required to secure the business card? Is the card accessible to customers who don't have strong credit?
- Annual fee — Does the card have an annual fee? If it does, do the card's rewards program and/or features outweigh the cost of the fee?
- Possible rewards — Does the card have a rewards program? Are there maximum caps in which cardholders can earn rewards? Is the program straightforward?
- Benefits — What types of benefits does the business credit card offer? Does its features and tools meet the minimum expectations of an everyday business? Does it offer unique or premium perks?
Learn more about Business Insider's credit card rating methodology.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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