This article contains general information and is not intended to provide information that is specific to American Express, or its products and services. Similar products and services offered by different companies will have different features and you should always read about product details before acquiring any financial product.
Business rewards credit cards may be helpful to companies looking to potentially increase the value from their spending and help keep their cash flow running smoothly.
Business credit card rewards may help you earn cash back or points (for travel and other rewards). A cash back card may be more straightforward to manage, while a points card may require more management but may provide value to your business if it involves a lot of travel.
The right business rewards card could depend on several considerations, including your spending, your team's size and bandwidth, and other factors that are valuable to your business. There is a lot to consider before you can choose the right card for your business.
How Do Business Points Cards Work?
Points-based business cards may offer rewards in the form of points, which you may redeem for different types of rewards. The exact types of rewards may vary widely among programs, as well as your earning potential and points value. Points-based business cards may fall into two main categories:
- General-purpose points cards: Some cards may offer reward points that you may redeem for travel within the card issuer’s rewards portals. Cards may offer bonus points after you spend a certain amount during an introductory period. Although redeeming points for travel rewards could provide higher value, you may have more flexibility with other types of rewards.
- Co-branded travel points cards: Some card issuers may partner with specific airlines and hotel chains to offer opportunities to earn and redeem points with those companies. These rewards may go straight into your loyalty account with that specific carrier.
How to Use Business Points Cards
Co-branded travel cards could provide more value if you plan to book most of your business travel with a particular airline or hotel (or partners in its travel alliance).
General-purpose points cards may require more effort to maximize the value from the cards since different cards assign different values to their points. To help understand the value of a points-based rewards, you may divide the dollar value by the points cost for each reward. For example, if you are able to redeem 75,000 points for a $1,500 flight, the points are essentially worth 2.0 cents per point. But if you can book the same flight by transferring just 60,000 points directly to the airline itself, the value of the points may increase to 2.5 cents per point.
Points cards may offer opportunities like these to stretch rewards but may require additional time to determine the right approach.
How Do Business Cash Back Cards Work?
Business cash back credit cards may provide rewards that you can directly redeem for cash back (or cash substitutes, like gift cards). Here, too, you can find two common types of cash back cards:
- Flat-rate cash back cards: These cards may provide the same cash back rate on all your business spending, such as 1%.
- Category-specific cash back cards: These cards may provide higher cash back rates in certain types of purchase categories.
How to Use Business Cash Back Cards
Credit card issuers have different ways of dispensing cash back. Here are a few things to consider before opening a cash back card:
- Rewards could be issued as a statement credit, paper check, gift card, or similar cash substitute.
- Rewards may be issued automatically at regular intervals, or continue to accrue in your account until you redeem them. (In this case, consider checking to make sure they don’t expire.)
Overall, business cash back cards may be more straightforward to manage than business points cards because the redemption options may help reinvest cash flow back into your bottom line. However, they may not offer the same opportunity that business points cards do when it comes to potentially increasing the redemption value of points.
Tips for Choosing a Business Rewards Card
Choosing a points card or a cash back card may depend on the type of business as well as your individual preferences. Here are some things to consider:
- How often do you travel for business? Travel rewards cards may help you potentially get more value from your spending, while offering rewards to help you potentially reduce costs and enhance your travel experience, such as redeeming points for hotels or car rental.
- How much time do you have to manage redemptions? If you have limited resources to dedicate to managing your card, you might prefer a cash back card for the ease of redeeming cash back.
- How much flexibility do you want in redemption options? Cash back cards may offer more straightforward rewards, while general-purpose points cards may offer more redemption choices than co-branded cards.
Keep in mind that you may not have to choose between cash back and points rewards cards. Some companies may find value in having multiple business credit card types. For example, if your business spends a lot on fuel and you make frequent business trips, you might consider having both a cash back card and a rewards card and using them strategically.
Consider Your Business Needs
Earning rewards could be one of the perks of business credit cards. You may not earn rewards on other types of business spending, like writing checks or swiping a debit card, after all.
However, other factors specific to your business may play a role in deciding on a credit card. Some questions to consider are:
- Do you need employee cards and how will they be used?
- Do your vendors accept all or only certain credit cards?
- Will the possibility of rewards offset any fees you may incur from the card?
Explore cash back and points cards to help find the right one for your business.
Consider the American Express Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card
The new Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card is designed to help you get business done with straightforward cash back, flexible cash flow features and access to American Express financial tools and solutions. Card Members can earn unlimited 2% cash back1 on all eligible purchases and unlimited 5% cash back2 on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express® Travel Online3. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as statement credit and at Amazon.com checkout. Purchases eligible for multiple cash back rates will only receive the highest eligible cash back rate.
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Terms and Conditions
1. Basic Card Members will earn Reward Dollars (Reward Dollars) for eligible purchases on their Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card (Card Account). The number of Reward Dollars earned is based on a percentage of the dollar amount of their eligible purchases during each billing period. Basic Card Members will earn a reward of 2% on all eligible purchases. Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents, gift cards, or person-to-person transactions, or any portion of a purchase that is covered by Reward Dollars at point of sale. Basic Card Members can redeem Reward Dollars for statement credits or for eligible items at Amazon.com checkout, with no minimum redemption amount. Basic Card Members cannot use cash back to pay their New Balance (or Minimum Payment Due or Amount Due, if applicable) on their most recent billing statement. Statement credits, or any reversals of a statement credit, may be applied to either their Pay Over Time balance or Pay In Full balance, at our discretion. The Basic Card Member must link their Card Account to their Amazon.com account in order to use Reward Dollars at Amazon.com. When a Basic Card Member uses Reward Dollars at Amazon.com, we will charge their Card Account for the purchase, deduct the Reward Dollars from the available Reward Dollars on their Card Account, and apply a credit to their Card Account to reflect the Reward Dollars used. In addition to these Terms and Conditions, the terms and conditions for Shop with Points at Amazon.com apply to eligible purchases made with Reward Dollars at Amazon.com.
2. You will earn 5% cash back for each dollar charged for eligible travel purchases on your GraphiteTM Business Cash Unlimited Card from American Express. Eligible travel purchases include scheduled flights made online at AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™, minus returns and other credits. Additionally, eligible travel purchases include prepaid hotel purchases made through American Express Travel, over the phone with our Travel Consultants or made online at AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™, minus returns and other credits. Eligible travel purchases do NOT include non-prepaid hotel bookings, scheduled flights and prepaid flight and hotel packages booked over the phone, vacation packages, car rentals, cruise, hotel group reservations or events, ticketing service, cancellation or other fees, interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. To be eligible for the 5% cash back, you must both reserve and charge the travel purchase with the same eligible GraphiteTM Business Cash Unlimited Card. To modify a hotel or air reservation, you must cancel and rebook your reservation. You can cancel and rebook your reservation on AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™ or call a representative of AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™ at 1-800-297-2977. Cancellations are subject to hotel cancellation penalty policies. If hotel reservations are made or modified directly with the hotel provider, the reservation will not be eligible for this 5% cash back benefit. To be eligible to receive Reward Dollars, Card account(s) must not be cancelled or past due at the time of Reward Dollars fulfillment. If booking is cancelled, the Reward Dollars will be deducted from the cash back account. Reward Dollars earned will be credited to the cash back account approximately 6-10 weeks after eligible purchases appear on the billing statement.
3. American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. is acting solely as a sales agent for travel suppliers and is not responsible for the actions or inactions of such suppliers. Certain suppliers pay us commission and other incentives for reaching sales targets or other goals and may provide incentives to our Travel Consultants. For more information visit www.americanexpress.com/travelterms.
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