The Chase Business Cash Rewards card is not new, but if you’re in the market for a small business credit card, it’s certainly one worthy of consideration. Let’s cover the high-level essentials:
- 0% fixed APR on both purchases and balance transfers for the first 6 (or 12) billing cycles
- A variable purchase APR, as low as 14.24% (as of today), afterwards
- A tiered rewards scheme with no merchant or category spending restrictions:
- For the first $2000 of spending in a billing cycle, earn 1 point per $1
- For new net purchases between $2000 and $2500, earn 5 points per $1
- For new net purchases over $2500 in a cycle, earn 1.25 points per $1
- You can redeem 5000 points for $50 or use the points towards merchandise.
- Receive quarterly management reports
- Receive additional cards your employees can use
While Chase markets the card as giving “up to 5% [cash] back,” that’s clearly misleading, as you’ll never receive a total return of 5%. If we were to use Chase’s logic, a flat 1% credit card could be marketed as giving “up to 100% back” if it was tiered such that you don’t earn anything for the first $99 of spending, but you earn $1 for the 100th dollar. But I digress.
Doing the math, the cash back percentage maxes out at 1.8% if you spend exactly $2500. That’s pretty nice. If you spend more within a cycle, your return will of course slowly move closer to 1.25%. So if you spend over $2500 in business expenses every month, you would earn somewhere between 1.25% and 1.8%, which is quite a nice return when you consider that it applies to any purchase, not just at specific merchants.
In addition, as a Visa, you’re unlikely to need another card should you so choose, in contrast with an Amex or Discover card, that do not enjoy universal merchant acceptance.
The news is not so good if you plan to carry a balance on the card. As is usually the case, if you won’t be able to consistently pay your bill in full, the first thing to consider is not the rewards or cash back, but the regular APR. And in this case, you can do better. Other Chase business cards, as well as business cards from other issuers, can offer better rates.
If, however, you don’t plan to carry a balance, this card is an excellent choice. It offers a high percentage of cash back every time, and you can use it almost anywhere.
