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Best Business Credit Cards With No Personal Guarantee Requirement
Looking for a business card without a personal guarantee? Explore the best options and rewards available, and find out how to qualify.
Jason has been writing about small business software platforms, services, and financing since 2015. Jason’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Time/NextAdvisor, Home Business Magazine, CreditCards.com, GoBankingRates, TheLadders.com, and other publications. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Jason VissersJason has been writing about small business software platforms, services, and financing since 2015. Jason’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Time/NextAdvisor, Home Business Magazine, CreditCards.com, GoBankingRates, TheLadders.com, and other publications. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University.
Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
Chelsea Krause is a writer who specializes in accounting, payroll, and small business loans. She has been helping small business owners manage their finances since 2016. She is a QuickBooks Certified User and former eCommerce store owner. Her accounting expertise has been quoted in Forbes and her work appears in Startup Nation, Small Business Bonfire, and Women on Business. Chelsea graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English & Creative Writing from George Fox University and studied abroad at the University of Oxford as well.
REVIEWED BY
Chelsea KrauseChelsea Krause is a writer who specializes in accounting, payroll, and small business loans. She has been helping small business owners manage their finances since 2016. She is a QuickBooks Certified User and former eCommerce store owner. Her accounting expertise has been quoted in Forbes and her work appears in Startup Nation, Small Business Bonfire, and Women on Business. Chelsea graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English & Creative Writing from George Fox University and studied abroad at the University of Oxford as well.
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Our content reflects the editorial opinions of our experts. While our site makes money through referral partnerships, we only partner with companies that meet our standards for quality, as outlined in our independent rating and scoring system.
Are you uncomfortable with signing a personal guarantee or wanting to keep your business finances and personal finances legally separated? Business credit cards with no personal guarantee (PG) requirement can be hard to find, but it’s not impossible.
We’ve waded through dozens of small business credit cards to find which ones have no personal guarantee so that you can simplify your search and quickly find the right no PG credit card for your business.
A personal guarantee is a legal agreement that you will be held personally liable for your business’s debt if your business fails to make its payments. It is often required by business lenders and issuers of business credit cards.
Because personal guarantees make you personally liable and affect your personal credit score, it’s no wonder business owners want to see what options they have for getting a credit card without one.
The Best No PG Business Credit Cards
There are business credit card options that don’t require a personal guarantee. While these aren’t the traditionalbest business credit cards, your business may qualify for a more non-traditional credit card with no personal guarantee with better spending rewards and expense management features than traditional cards.
Ramp: Best Corporate Card With No Personal Guarantee
$0 for the standard package, $15/user/month for Ramp Plus
Business Size
Corporations, LLCs, and LPs with $25K+ in the bank
Pros
No personal guarantee
Cash back rate up to 1.5%
Low fees
Algorithm-driven insights that can help save money
Cons
Available only to US-based corporations, LLCs, and LPs
High cash-on-hand requirements
Why We Chose Ramp As The Best Corporate Card With No Personal Guarantee
There's a reason why we consider Ramp to be one of the best corporate credit cards. The company offers an exceptionally strong corporate card and expense management platform -- all without requiring a personal guarantee or charging any fees whatsoever.
On top of requiring no personal guarantee to qualify, the Ramp corporate card sets itself apart by offering up to 1.5% cash back on all purchases. What's more, Ramp's automatic savings alerts can help you save money on unclaimed rewards, duplicate subscriptions, and other areas where your business may be leaving money on the table.
Ramp Rewards & Benefits
You’ll earn up to 1.5% back across the board on all purchases made with your Ramp card. Rewards are redeemable in the form of a statement credit.
You’ll also gain access to $175,000 in exclusive Ramp partner rewards with services like Slack and Amazon Web Services, bill payment, a savings insight tool that helps companies cut costs and limit unnecessary spending, and many integrations with other business apps.
The Ramp card is a charge card, which normally means you can’t carry a balance. However, with Ramp Flex, you can use financing to repay a bill in 30, 60, or 90 days. However, Ramp Flex currently has a waitlist and has not been rolled out to all users.
Ramp Fees
With Ramp’s standard subscription plan, you’ll pay no fees whatsoever. There are no annual fees, late fees, foreign transaction fees, etc. The only fees a standard Ramp customer will ever face are those associated with Ramp Flex financing, which is an optional service.
If you opt for Ramp Plus instead, you’ll pay $12/user/month. As for Ramp Enterprise, pricing for that is quote-based.
When To Use Ramp
You want cash back on all purchases instead of managing custom spending categories
You need expense management features and automated savings insights
You want a corporate card with no monthly, annual, or foreign transaction fees
You have at least $25K cash on hand in order to qualify for Ramp
Why We Chose Revenued As The Best Credit Card With No Personal Guarantee For Bad Credit
Technically, Revenued's Business Card is not a business credit card. With the Revenued Business Card, you'll get a flexible line of credit based on your revenue. Because of this, Revenued has no personal guarantee or credit score requirements. In fact, your credit won't be checked at all. You will, however, need $20,000+ monthly cash flow and be in business for at least 1 year to qualify.
While Revenued no longer offers cash back, it still offers business owners with poor credit (or no credit at all) the chance to access more funding than they would otherwise qualify for from most lending institutions.
Revenued Rewards & Benefits
Unfortunately, Revenued no longer offers cash back for your business spending.
Still, it remains a decent financing option for businesses that a) have poor credit and b) don’t qualify for a competing corporate credit card option.
Revenued Fees
With Revenued, instead of paying interest on what you borrow, you’ll pay a fixed factor rate that varies between 1.1 – 1.5. Your particular factor rate will depend on your business history, revenue history, bank balance, and other variables.
The card also carries no annual or monthly fees.
When To Use Revenued
You have poor credit and don’t qualify for corporate cards
You value having no personal guarantee more than purchase rewards
You are prepared for a card with a factor rate fee structure
Must make Brex your exclusive corporate card for high rewards rates
Eligibility requirements for monthly payments are especially high
Why We Chose Brex As The Best No Personal Guarantee Credit Card For Cash Back
The Brex corporate card offers the highest rewards rates of all the cards on this list, but only if you make this card your only business credit card and pay off your balance daily. You can earn up to 8x points per dollar spent with Brex, with a minimum of 1x earning on every purchase. You'll also get a host of other business features geared toward the needs of investor-backed startups. All this for a card with no personal guarantee requirement and no credit check requirement.
Brex Rewards & Benefits
The Brex card features a rewards scheme with 8x points for ridesharing apps and taxis, 5x on travel, 4x at restaurants, 3x on Apple products, 3x on recurring software subscriptions (or 1.5x on advertising purchases), and 1x on everything else.
To earn points at these rates, you’ll need to pay off your Brex card daily and use Brex as your only corporate card. If you pay monthly, your rewards rate will be 1x lower for each category (7x on rideshares, 4x on travel, etc.). And if you don’t qualify for the exclusive program, you’ll just earn an unlimited 1 point per dollar spent.
Additional reward options are available for life science companies and certain businesses that seek custom flat-rate rewards.
Use your points to pay for travel expenses, redeem them for gift cards, or take them back in cold, hard cash. The Brex fintech platform also offers spend management, automated bill pay, partner rewards, a mobile app, and much more.
Brex Fees
With a Brex Essentials account, you’ll be charged no fees whatsoever — no annual fees, late fees, ACH fees, or foreign transaction fees.
Brex now offers two additional subscription tiers: Premium and Enterprise. With Premium, you’ll pay $12/user/month and get such features as custom expense policies and custom procurement workflows.
With Enterprise, you’ll also get local cards/billing in 50+ countries and locally-funded payments in 40+ countries, among other features. Pricing for Enterprise is quote-based.
When To Use Brex
Your corporation spends a lot on Brex’s high-earning categories, like rideshares and travel
Your startup has received equity investment and you want an exclusive corporate card
You are ready to make Brex your only corporate card to unlock the highest rewards
Why We Chose The Coast Fleet Card As The Best No PG Card For Trucking Businesses
If fuel costs are a major part of your business expenses, the Coast card may help you run your business more efficiently. Unlike the other cards in this article, the Coast card is a fleet card -- a specialized payment instrument that helps trucking businesses save money on the cost of fuel and maintenance while monitoring employee spending. While many gas credit cards are specific to certain brands of gas stations, the Coast fleet card can be used at fuel stations nationwide with no personal guarantee required.
Coast Card Rewards & Benefits
You’ll receive a discount of 2 cents per gallon of fuel purchased with the Coast card, plus 1% cash back on all non-fuel purchases. You’ll also get access to a number of Coast partner benefits, such as a 10% discount on maintenance and oil changes at Jiffy Lube and a 30% discount on QuickBooks products for 6 months, and higher cents per gallon rewards at certain locations.
Coast also offers the unique ability to integrate with your fleet GPS tracking for expanded security and expense management like automatically denying transactions where vehicle location and card location don’t match.
Coast Card Fees
Coast charges a fee of $4 per active card per month. This fee is charged only to cards that have a completed transaction during the billing period.
When To Use Coast
You have a trucking company and you want to maximize rewards on fuel and other employee purchases
You want advanced employee management and security features specific for trucking businesses
You want to customize spend controls by vehicle and/or driver
Why We Chose Stripe As The No PG Business Credit Card For New Businesses
Stripe offers newer businesses that use the company's payment processing services a chance to apply for a corporate credit card without signing a personal guarantee. With discounts on useful services and integrations with financial software platforms like QuickBooks and Xero, Stripe can help your business get started on the right foot. We particularly like the fact that you can get a credit line that grows with your business.
Stripe Corporate Card Rewards & Benefits
Use the Stripe corporate card, and you’ll earn a flat, unlimited 1.5% cash back on every business purchase. Your rewards balance will be automatically credited to your balance each month.
Stripe also does not offer additional redemption options, such as airfare points or gift cards.
Additional special offers are available to Stripe Corporate customers from about 20 partner companies. These include discounts and credits, such as 25% off an annual Slack subscription, three months free with Gusto and Guideline, and $5,000 in AWS credits.
You can also earn a higher rewards rate on spending with select partners, such as 5% cash back on purchases with Kasa and Snap or 50% cash back on 1Password spending.
Limits apply to the amount of spending that will earn you cash back at these rates.
Stripe Corporate Card Fees
Stripe’s corporate card comes with no fees whatsoever — no annual fees, no late fees, and no foreign transaction fees.
Of course, there’s no APR to worry about, as Stripe’s card is a charge card — you can’t carry a monthly balance.
When To Use The Stripe Corporate Card
You already use Stripe’s payment processing services
You want a flat 1.5% cash back reward structure
You want a card with no monthly, annual, or foreign transaction fees
You understand that the product is still in beta and you must request an invite to apply
We spend hours researching and evaluating each corporate card that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Rewards & Perks 40%
Rates & Fees 25%
Features 20%
Eligibility Requirements 5%
Customer Service 5%
User Reviews 5%
When rating corporate cards, we use a 15-point rubric that looks at rewards and perks, rates and fees, features, eligibility requirements, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.
Rewards & Perks: 40% of the total star rating
Rates & Fees: 25% of the total star rating
Features: 20% of the total star rating
Eligibility Requirements: 5% of the total star rating
Customer Support: 5% of the total star rating
User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating
Note: We use a different credit card rating methodology to evaluate traditional business credit cards, as they often differ from corporate cards in benefits, qualifications, and use cases.
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we examine specific attributes like cash back and spending rewards, reward redemption options, annual fees, employee card access, extra perks and features, credit score and revenue requirements, customer support options, and the overall reputation of the corporate card issuer.
What's The Benefit Of Getting A No Personal Guarantee Business Credit Card?
We’ve already mentioned the main benefit of getting a business credit card without a personal guarantee — you won’t be held personally liable for your business’s debt, no matter what happens to your business.
However, these cards carry some other advantages to consider — and a few drawbacks as well.
The Advantages Of A No PG Business Credit Card
If your business fails and you can’t pay off your balance, the credit card issuer can’t seize your personal assets
Many credit cards that lack a personal guarantee are corporate credit cards, which typically give you features like spend management and business software integrations
Some of these cards don’t even check your personal credit when you apply, and rely on other metrics like annual revenue instead
The Disadvantages Of A No PG Business Credit Card
Many cards require your business to be a corporation or LLC — non-incorporated businesses will have a smaller set of options
Some business credit cards have high cash-on-hand or annual revenue requirements and are difficult for startups or smaller businesses to obtain
Since most business credit cards require a personal guarantee, it may be hard to find a credit card that both a) doesn’t require one and b) offers a rewards-earning structure that fits your business spending
Some business credit cards without a personal guarantee will initially require you to make daily repayments
Types Of Credit Cards With No Personal Guarantee
Generally speaking, business credit cards that don’t require a personal guarantee come in three forms:
Now, these three credit card types target different markets — corporate cards target sizable corporations or some startups, store-branded credit cards target businesses that spend with the store in question, and fleet cards target trucking businesses.
The right type of no personal business credit card for your business is going to depend on your business structure, spending patterns, and business revenue (for example, most corporate cards require substantial annual revenue or proof of equity investors).
How To Get A No Personal Guarantee Business Credit Card
For most small business owners, getting a company credit card without a personal guarantee probably won’t be a walk in the park. That said, the relative lack of card options without a personal guarantee doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
The Small Business Association says that about one-third of businesses with employees will fail within their first two years. That’s why credit card issuers are leery of extending credit to small businesses without a proven track record. This is why most issuers of business credit cards require a personal guarantee in the first place.
To get a card with no personal guarantee you’ll need to prove your:
Financial stability
Consistent spending patterns
Possible funding resources like equity investors if you’re a startup
Don’t Qualify For A Business Credit Card Without A Personal Guarantee? Your Next Best Options
Many no PG business credit cards have stringent qualification criteria. If you can’t find a business credit card that works for you, you might look for a secured credit card instead. Since these cards require you to post a security deposit, they are relatively easy to obtain.
Using a secured credit card responsibly can help improve your credit, thus qualifying you for better credit card options in the future. It’s one of the best ways to improve your credit score.
Finally, if you’re thinking about how to get a corporate credit card, know that although the requirements may be tough to meet, you’ll also get benefits not commonly offered by normal business credit cards, such as custom spend management, integrations with time tracking and accounting software, and other exclusive business perks. And with the rising popularity of fintech companies, more and more card issuers are making corporate cards a viable option for businesses of all types and sizes.
So, while it may take a bit more work to find the right option, you can find a business credit card while sticking to your guns of not wanting to sign a personal guarantee.
FAQs: No Personal Guarantee Business Credit Cards
How can I open a business credit card without personal credit?
You can open a business credit card without personal credit in two ways.
You can apply for a business credit card that does not require a personal credit check or guarantee.
You can apply for a secured business credit card, which requires you to make a deposit that will equal your credit limit.
Use a secured credit card responsibly, and your credit profile will grow, enabling you to qualify for better business credit cards in the future.
What credit score is needed for a business credit card?
Most credit card issuers will look for a credit score of 600 or above. However, people with lower scores might qualify for a secured business credit card or another card designed for borrowers with poor credit.
If I have a business credit card with no personal guarantee and I can't pay the balance, are my assets safe?
If you did not sign a personal guarantee when applying for your credit card and you can’t pay your balance later on, your personal assets will be safe from being seized. However, your business assets may still be seized.
Jason has been writing about small business software platforms, services, and financing since 2015. Jason’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Time/NextAdvisor, Home Business Magazine, CreditCards.com, GoBankingRates, TheLadders.com, and other publications. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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