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The Points Guy believes that credit cards can transform lives, helping you leverage everyday spending for cash back or travel experiences that might otherwise be out of reach. That's why we publish a variety of editorial content and card comparisons: to help you find a great card to turn your goals into reality.
Our site may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened with our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. While we don't cover all available credit cards, our editorial team creates and maintains all of the analysis of these cards, and our content is not influenced nor subject to review by any credit card company, bank or partner prior to (or after) publication. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
Guides
How to pick a strategy for your small-business credit cards
Ryan is a former TPG credit cards writer who has been around points and miles for several years and has published content at Miles to Memories, AwardWallet and The Points Guy. His wife joins him on many of his trips, and they enjoy snowboarding, diving, and seeing animals in the wild. When not traveling, Ryan is probably answering questions from his family about how he travels so much and whether this points & miles stuff is illegal.
When Ryan worked as a TPG credit cards writer, he oversaw refreshes of card reviews and card offer stories. He enjoyed racking up cash back and helping readers maximize their points and miles for their next big trip.
also contributed to this story
April 19, 2025 • 11 min read
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
Small-business owners can maximize rewards by analyzing where their business spends the most and selecting cards that align with those categories.
Building a mix of cards that complement each other can help optimize rewards across various spending areas, such as shipping, advertising or wireless services.
Elite status in airline or hotel programs may be achievable through business spending, but its value should be weighed against potential rewards.
It's important to use business cards for business expenses to avoid personal credit score impacts and to regularly evaluate whether card benefits offset any associated costs.
What to consider
Some cards offer elevated rewards for large purchases or adding employee cards, but these offers may have specific spending requirements or be targeted.
Rules for business cards can differ from personal cards, especially regarding eligibility for new bonuses and how spending affects credit reports.
Enrollment may be required to access certain card benefits, and not all perks will be valuable for every business.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed guide to evaluating spending patterns, maximizing category bonuses and leveraging business card benefits for optimal rewards.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
Owning a small business can present lucrative opportunities for maximizing credit card rewards. It can also present unique challenges because much of the information surrounding travel credit cards is focused on personal options rather than those geared toward businesses.
Let’s review 10 things you should consider as you build a strategy to maximize the rewards you can earn from your business spending.
Look at where your business spends the most
Before any other tip, you need a good understanding of your business spending — not just how much you spend but where you spend it.
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Start by looking at your business spending and the relevant merchant category codes to see where to maximize spending to earn more points or miles on every dollar you spend. Then, check the earnings from the credit card you’re currently using for business expenses; can another card do better?
If your business spends a lot on shipping products, you want a card that earns extra points or miles here. If you own a restaurant and one of your biggest bills is on groceries, chances are that the best card for your business will be different.
After analyzing where you spend the most, look for cards that earn bonus points or miles in these categories. You could even consider applying for the best card for each of your regular spending categories, as that will allow you to maximize all your transactions.
Spending your way toward elite status is possible in multiple airline and hotel loyalty programs. Depending on the program, you can boost your progress or spend your way toward status outright without ever leaving home.
If you have a small business through which you can spend significantly on a cobranded credit card, this could be a great opportunity to gain elite status in a program you enjoy.
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As you evaluate this decision, consider what this status is worth to you and compare it to the sections above to ensure you’re earning the most rewards on each purchase. Everyone’s situation is different, so you must decide which is the most valuable option for your business spending.
Build an arsenal of cards that complement each other
If your business spends broadly across numerous categories, then you should consider a card with bonus earnings in multiple categories that apply to your situation — or you could apply for multiple cards that complement one another.
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If you spend across social media advertising, shipping, wireless services and other categories not all found on the same credit card, look for cards that earn well in those categories. Choose the card that earns the most rewards in that spending category and set it as your preferred payment method with relevant vendors.
Setting up a preferred credit card for payment with different vendors can help you earn the maximum rewards on each purchase. It also avoids the situation where you or an employee can’t remember which card to use and choose the wrong one — possibly missing out on thousands of points or miles.
Be careful with business spending on personal cards
Personal credit cards can have some excellent features: big welcome bonuses, elite status with your preferred hotel or even extra rewards in a category where your business spends regularly. There’s nothing inherently wrong with using a personal credit card on these purchases.
However, you should be wary of what a large balance on your card’s monthly statement can mean for your credit score.
A full 30% of your credit score is based on your credit utilization — which reflects how much you owe compared to your total available line of credit. If you have a single credit card with a limit of $10,000 and a balance of $1,000 on that card, then your utilization is 10%.
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If you regularly put large business purchases on personal credit cards, those balances will reflect on your credit report and potentially drive your score down. Most business credit cards, however, won’t appear on your personal credit report, so large purchases on these cards shouldn’t affect your credit score.
Seeing cards with elevated earning rates is enticing. However, they usually come with a higher fee. Doing some math can help you find the best card for your business.
In short, you want to find the break-even point at which you earn enough extra points, miles or cash back to offset a card's annual fee.
The calculation works like this: Take the annual fee and divide it by the value of additional rewards per dollar spent (expressed as a decimal) to get the total spending needed to break even.
You should follow this example when choosing between two credit cards and want to apply for just one. If one of the cards has a higher annual fee, evaluate how much you need to spend to earn rewards that offset that annual fee.
If you don’t think you will meet that spending threshold, a card with a lower earning rate and a lower annual fee is best.
Understand the rules and restrictions
With personal credit cards, we are accustomed to seeing explicit rules like this:
“You cannot earn a new cardmember bonus on this card if you have applied for or earned a bonus on this card in the past 24 months.”
For business owners with multiple ventures, you may want to keep your spending separate, so having a different credit card for each one may make sense.
Different businesses spend different amounts of money. Not every business owner can meet the requirements for huge bonuses, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, try to grab them when they roll around if doing so makes sense for your business.
For example, the Capital One Venture X Business offers new cardholders 150,000 bonus miles after spending $30,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
However, not every business can spend $30,000 in three months leading some business owners to pass on offers like this one. If you’re fortunate enough to have a business with this kind of spending power, keep your eyes out for bonuses with big payouts after high spending.
This also applies to banks that offer cash bonuses for new business checking accounts after completing certain activities. The more lucrative bonuses typically require more spending or larger deposits into the new account. If this applies to you, leverage your high business spending power.
While we spend a lot of time discussing using the best credit card across various categories to maximize spending categories, we don’t spend as much time discussing the fact that some cards offer bonus points or miles on large purchases.
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For instance, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (on up to $2 million in combined purchases each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases).
Similarly, the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (see ) offers unlimited 2% cash back on business purchases, but that rate goes up to 2.5% on purchases of $5,000 or more.
Aside from elevated earning rates on cards you already have, consider applying for a new credit card if your business has big spending on the horizon. That could be a great opportunity to meet the spending requirements for a new card welcome bonus, yielding more than 2% or 3% back on your spending.
American Express routinely has offers to add authorized users on personal cards and employee cards on business accounts. Taking advantage of these offers can net tons of bonus points.
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Just note that there are limits to how many employee cards you can add to an account, and not everyone is targeted for these offers. Additionally, spending requirements are typically attached to these offers; these are usually per card, meaning you must meet the spending requirement on each individual employee card to earn the relevant bonus.
Recently, we have also seen a big increase in welcome offers with bonuses for adding and using employee cards. You may see a welcome offer like “Earn X points after spending $5,000 in your first three months of card membership. Earn another X points when you add an employee card and spend at least $1,000 on it in the first three months.”
These types of offers are targeted, so not everyone will see the same offers.
If other employees make purchases for your business, adding them strategically can really boost your points and miles balances. Just remember that you’re still responsible for all spending on the account.
Be sure to use your cards’ benefits
This tip applies to all cards — business and personal. If your card has an annual fee and you aren’t using the perks and benefits, then you probably shouldn’t be paying that annual fee.
Be sure to use benefits like the cellphone protection on the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see ) and the up to $10 in monthly wireless statement credits (up to $120 each calendar year; for U.S. providers; enrollment required) from the Amex Business Platinum Card — which offers credits worth hundreds of dollars with Dell, Indeed and Adobe that you can use each year.
Credit
Value
Details
Dell
Up to $1,150
Up to $150 in statement credits on U.S. purchases made directly at Dell and an additional up to $1,000 statement credit after spending $5,000 or more per calendar year
Indeed
Up to $360
Receive a statement credit on Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services to post open positions and find talent, up to $90 per quarter
Adobe
Up to $250
Up to $250 Adobe statement credit after spending $600 or more on U.S. purchases made directly with Adobe per calendar year
Enrollment is required for select benefits.
The Amex Business Platinum card has a big $895 annual fee (see ), but if you maximize the credits and perks it offers, you can significantly offset the cost of keeping it year after year.
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Look at your card’s benefits and ways to maximize them. If you can’t do that, look at the value you are getting out of these benefits to determine whether they offset the card’s annual fee (if there is one). If you aren’t getting more value than the annual fee and the rewards you’re earning from that card could be replicated with another card, you could probably close this credit card to save money each year.
Bottom line
Small-business owners are uniquely positioned to maximize points and miles earnings. Not every business spends the same amount of money, but these are the main elements you should consider as you build a credit card strategy to maximize your rewards.
For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum card, .
