Owned Small and Medium Enterprises It offers you a lucrative opportunity to maximize your credit card rewards. It also allows you to present your own challenges, as much of the information surrounding travel credit cards focuses on personal options rather than business-oriented.
Review 10 things to consider when building a strategy to maximize the rewards you can earn from your business spending.
See where your business spends the most
Before any other tips, you need to fully understand your business spending – not just how much you spend, but where You spend it.
Start by looking at what’s related to your business spending Merchant Category Code Find out where you want to maximize your spending and earn more points or miles in every dollar you spend. Next, check the revenue from your current credit card with your business expenses. Can another card do better?
If your business is spending a lot of money on your shipment products, you will need a card that earns additional points or miles here. If you own a restaurant and have one of the biggest bills on groceries, the best card for your business may differ.
After analyzing the most expenses, look for cards that earn bonus points or miles in these categories. You can also consider applying for the best card for each regular spending category. This allows you to maximize all transactions.
Related: Business Credit Card Tips Everyone Should Follow
Think about whether elite status is important to you
Multiple airline and hotel loyalty programs can support the path to elite status. Depending on the program, you can spend your entire way to boost your progress or head towards status without leaving the house.
If you have a small business that can spend a lot on co-branded credit cards, this may be a great opportunity to gain elite status with programs you enjoy.
When evaluating this decision, consider what this status is valuable to you and compare it to the section above to make sure you are most rewarded with each purchase. Because everyone’s circumstances are different, you need to determine the most valuable option for your business spending.
Related: What exactly is the elite status of travel? How can I get it?
Build an arsenal of cards that complement each other
If your business is spending widely on many categories, you need to consider cards with bonus revenue from multiple categories that apply to your situation – or you can apply for multiple cards that complement each other.
If you don’t find social media ads, delivery, wireless services, and other categories all with the same credit card, look for cards that earn you a lot in those categories. Select the card that earns the most rewards in that spend category and set it as your preferred payment method using the associated vendor.
Setting up a preferred credit card for payments with a variety of vendors will help you earn the largest rewards on each purchase. It also avoids situations where you or your employee doesn’t remember which card to use to choose.
Related: 9 Reasons to Get a Business Credit Card
Be careful when spending business on personal cards
Personal credit cards have some great features. Great welcome bonuses, priority hotel elite status, or additional rewards in categories that businesses spend regularly. There is nothing inherently wrong with using your personal credit card with these purchases.
However, you need to be wary of what a great balance of monthly statements on your card means to you Credit score.
30% of your credit score is based on you Credit use – This reflects how much you owe compared to the total available credits. If you have a $10,000 limit and a single credit card with a $1,000 balance on that card, your usage is 10%.
If you regularly place large volumes of business purchases on your personal credit card, these balances may reflect your credit report and push your score down. largely Business Credit CardHowever, bulk purchases with these cards should not affect your credit score as they do not appear on your personal credit report.
Related: Does a business credit card affect my credit score?
Calculate the number to justify the annual fee
It’s fascinating to see cards with an increase in profitability. However, there are usually higher fees. Doing some maths will help you find the best card for your business.
In short, you want to find incredible points that earn you enough extra points, miles, or cashback to offset the annual fees on your card.
The calculation works as follows: You receive the annual fee and divide it by the value of the additional reward per dollar spent (expressed as decimals) to obtain the total expenditure needed to break the total expenditure.
When choosing two credit cards, you must follow this example and apply for only one. If one of your cards has a high annual fee, assess the amount you need to spend to get a fee that offsets your annual fee.
If you don’t think you’ll meet that spending threshold, then a card with a low return rate and a lower annual fee is best.
Understand the rules and restrictions
With personal credit cards, I’m used to seeing these explicit rules.
“If you apply for this card or earn a bonus in the last 24 months, you will not be able to earn a new card member bonus on this card.”
People often quote this rule Chase Ink Family of Business Credit Cards. However, there is no such rule.
For business owners with multiple ventures, it is recommended to keep their spending separate. So it may make sense to have a separate credit card for each.
Related: Chase 5/24 Rules
As a large spender, ask for a big bonus
Different companies spend different amounts. Not all business owners can meet the huge bonus requirements, and that’s nothing wrong. However, if doing so makes sense for your business, make sure you grab them when they roll.
for example, Capital One Venture X Business After spending $30,000 on purchases within the first three months to a new cardholder, he spent another 200,000 miles on a limited offer of 150,000 miles and $200,000 in the first six months.
However, not every business can spend $30,000 in three months. Not $200,000 especially for six months. Some business owners will be giving these offers. If you’re lucky enough to do business with this kind of expenditure, keep an eye on bonuses that involve big payments after a high expenditure.
This also applies to banks that offer cash bonuses to new business checking accounts after completing certain activities. More profitable bonuses typically require more spending or larger deposits in your new account. If this applies to you, take advantage of your high business spending power.
Related: Currently offering sign-up bonuses of over 100,000 points
Use the right card for large purchases
We spend a lot of time Best credit card You don’t spend too much time discussing the fact that some cards offer bonus points or miles on large purchases across different categories to maximize your spending category.
for example, American Express Business Platinum Card Provides 1.5 Membership Rewards Points per dollar were spent on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (purchases of up to $2 million per calendar year followed by 1 point per dollar for other purchases).
Similarly, InkBusinessPremier® Credit Card (look Fees and fees) It offers unlimited 2% cashback when purchasing business, but that rate rises to 2.5% on purchases over $5,000.
Aside from rising rates of return on cards you already have, if your business has a lot of spending on the horizon, consider applying for a new credit card. This is a great opportunity to meet the spending requirements for the new card welcome bonus, earning 2% or more on your spending.
Related: Top credit cards to maximize large purchases
Beware of bonuses for adding employee cards
American Express offers daily the ability to add certified users to your business accounts to your personal and employee cards. Take advantage of these offers and you will receive a ton of bonus points.
Be careful There are restrictions The number of employee cards you can add to your account doesn’t mean that everyone is targeting these offers. Additionally, spending requirements are usually attached to these offers. These are usually per card. This means that you must meet the spending requirements for individual employee cards to earn relevant bonuses.
Recently, we’ve seen a significant increase in welcome offers with bonuses for adding and using employee cards. You will receive welcome offers such as “After spending $5,000 in the first three months of your card membership, earn X points, then adding an employee card and spending at least $1,000 in the first three months, earn another X points.”
Not everyone sees the same offer, as these types of offers are targeted.
If other employees make purchases for your business, adding them strategically can really enhance your points and miles balance. Remember that you are still responsible for all expenses on your account.
Make sure to use the benefits of cards
This tip applies to all business and personal cards. Your card has an annual fee, and if you are not using any perks or perks, you probably shouldn’t pay that annual fee.
Make sure to use benefits like mobile phone protection in Ink BusinessPreferred® Credit Card (look Fees and fees) and up to $10 monthly wireless statement credits (for US providers, registration required) Amex Business Platinum Card – Provide valuable credits Hundreds of dollars Dell, in fact, I use Adobe, which I can use every year.
| credit | value | detail |
|---|---|---|
| Dell | Up to $400 | Receive US Statement Credits for Dell to buy up to $200 every six months |
| surely | Up to $360 | Post open positions and receive a statement credit regarding actually adopting and adopting products and services to find talent up to $90 per quarter |
| Adobe | Up to $150 | Statement credits for selected annual purchases (qualified by Auto-Renewal) including Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC |
Registration is required for selected perks. Amex Business Platinum’s Dell and Adobe credits are expected to change from July 1st.
The Amex Business Platinum Card offers a large fee of $695 a year (see Fees and fees), but maximizing the credits and perks it offers can significantly offset the cost of maintaining it each year.
See the benefits of cards and how to maximize them. If you can’t do that, look at the value that’s coming out of these perks and decide whether to offset the annual fees on your card (if any). If you’re not getting more value than your annual membership fee, and you can replicate the rewards you earn from that card on another card, you can probably close this credit card and save money every year.
Conclusion
Small business owners are uniquely located to maximize points and miles revenue. Not all businesses spend the same amount, but these are the main factors to consider when building a credit card strategy to maximize rewards.
For Amex Business Platinum Card fees and fees, please see click here.
Related: How to choose the right credit card for your business expenses
