If you travel frequently for business, taking advantage of rewards with a business card without foreign transaction fees can maximize your rewards and provide added perks and coverage for owners of small businesses.
Business credit cards typically feature lower annual fees and key features like an introductory 0% APR period; plus they often provide points, miles or cash back incentives!
1. Chase Ink Business Preferred and Ink Business Premier
An Etsy store, freelance writing gig or rideshare business. A business credit card can help keep your expenses separate while some cards offer attractive sign-up bonuses and earning potential across several common monthly spending categories; others even avoid foreign transaction fees that could dilute rewards values over time.
Chase offers two excellent business credit cards – Ink Business Preferred and Premier. The former caters specifically to business owners with significant monthly spending and features an attractive points-earning rate, generous welcome bonus, and numerous perks, such as 25 percent boost when redeeming points through Chase portal travel agency and ability to transfer points between hotel loyalty programs.
Ink Business Premier fills a niche in the market by catering to small-business owners looking for straightforward cash back without travel benefits and don’t mind paying an annual fee of $25 or higher. While still boasting an impressive rewards rate, its sign-up bonus and travel perks aren’t as generous as those of Ink Business Preferred.
The Premier card’s other main selling point is its lack of foreign transaction fees, which can quickly mount when making purchases abroad or paying invoices in another currency. This alone can save significant sums over time.
These cards also offer many useful perks, such as cell phone insurance and extended warranty coverage for free; trip delay protection; purchase protection against damage or theft and travel delay coverage are just a few examples of useful extras that help offset some of their high annual fees.
Both cards require good to excellent credit – as defined by FICO, 670 or above is considered excellent by them – and both report your activities directly back onto your personal credit report, so before applying, carefully consider your needs before making the commitment to apply for one for your business.
2. U.S. Bank Business Altitude Connect World Elite Mastercard
Just like its sister card, the Chase Ink Business Preferred, this card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees and provides a generous signup bonus that may help cover its $95 annual fee. It could be perfect if you frequently travel internationally – which makes this credit card the ideal solution for frequent travelers.
U.S. Bank Business Altitude Connect World Elite Mastercard offers an exceptional rewards scheme, providing an impressive return on your travel expenditures. You’ll earn 5X points when booking hotels and car rentals directly through its Rewards Center, 4X points at gas and EV charging stations, 2X points when dining out or ordering takeout/delivery from participating restaurants, as well as 1 point for all other eligible purchases made using this card.
Spend at least $6,000 within 180 days after opening your card to unlock an exceptional welcome bonus of 60,000 points – this is more than the typical initial bonus available from other business credit cards!
The card offers other advantages as well, including pay-over-time features and airport lounge access (four visits included in program) as well as travel assistance services that could prove invaluable if you frequently travel for work. Business owners who frequently travel should seriously consider this card for themselves and their clients.
One advantage of the card is that there are no balance transfer or cash advance fees, making it perfect for businesses seeking to consolidate debt into one easy monthly payment.
Note that business credit cards report your account activity directly to credit bureaus, meaning if you carry a balance on this card it’s likely to negatively impact your score. To minimize its effects, try paying it off as soon as possible so as not to negatively affect your score; or look for alternatives without annual fees or lower rates on balance transfers and cash advances; provided your personal credit score exceeds 700, it should not be difficult securing approval.
3. Capital One Venture X Rewards
If you don’t mind paying an annual fee that’s higher than those associated with Chase Sapphire Reserve or The Platinum Card from American Express, but still want an exceptional travel credit card offering outsized rewards and luxury benefits, the Capital One Venture X Rewards could be perfect for you. Offering simple ways to accumulate and redeem miles across purchases made, generous welcome offers, Priority Pass Select membership benefits, Hertz President’s Circle status upgrades and travel protection perks (among others), this credit card may just be right.
The Venture X card provides 5X miles on hotel and rental car purchases as well as 2X miles for flights booked through Capital One Travel, while you can also redeem them for nontravel-related redemption options such as gift cards. Plus, its $300 travel credit can offset its annual fee, and each account anniversary yields 10,000 bonus miles that could potentially be worth $100 towards travel expenses!
At no additional cost, the Venture X card allows you to add up to four authorized users at no additional charge – providing them many of the same benefits as its primary cardholder such as up to a $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck membership and cell phone protection up to $800 per claim with only $50 deductible, primary car rental coverage and trip delay protection if flights are delayed six hours or more as well as lost luggage reimbursement. In addition, Capital One also offers special travel-related perks not often seen with other cards such as complimentary access to Hertz Gold Plus/Prestige Lounges membership!
Capital One stands out as being among the few business credit cards to not charge additional fees for services such as those provided by Amazon and Dropbox. Furthermore, Capital One waives foreign transaction fees – an invaluable asset considering most businesses need international transactions for business operations. Since Capital One pulls your credit report from all three bureaus at once, maintaining good standing with this creditor is key in order to qualify.
4. American Express Blue Business Cash(tm) Card
American Express’ Blue Business Cash Card offers an exceptional cash back program for purchases up to $50,000 annually, without an increased rewards cap like other AmEx cards. Your rewards are automatically redeemed as statement credits within two billing statements after purchase is made.
This business credit card does not charge foreign transaction fees, making it ideal for small businesses with occasional overseas purchases. Frequent international travelers may prefer a business travel credit card offering bonus rewards on airfare, hotels and rental cars instead.
American Express Blue Business Cash Card provides an attractive 0% APR promotional period on new purchases during its initial few months of ownership, helping reduce financing costs associated with big expenses you’ll be able to pay back over time with monthly payments.
This card does not charge an annual fee, saving money compared to most competitors. But if your business spends over $50,000 annually, other business credit cards may offer more lucrative rewards; Ink Business Preferred and Premier cards in particular have greater returns in certain categories like office supplies or internet, phone, and cable service services.
American Express requires cardholders to provide personal guarantees; therefore, their evaluation will consider both personal and business histories before determining approval. For the best chances of approval, WalletHub suggests having a high credit score as this can increase chances of approval significantly.
American Express’ Blue Business Cash Card provides some attractive benefits, including its straightforward rewards structure and no foreign transaction fees. But for business credit cards with even more standout features like luxury travel perks or no annual fee – such as those from Ink Business Preferred and Premier.
