How To Get A Corporate Credit Card

A corporate credit card may sound like a good fit for your situation, but if you’re like many business owners, you probably aren’t sure where to get started.

After all, personal and small business credit cards are ubiquitous, but you’re unlikely to encounter advertisements for corporate credit cards in your casual travels. You also won’t find easy, online sign-up forms for corporate credit cards.

So how do you go about getting one?

Work For A Corporation That Uses One

This sounds a bit like cheating, but it illustrates an important point about corporate credit cards. A company will usually have multiple copies of a corporate card for use by multiple personnel. In fact, one of the big advantages of corporate cards is that they streamline your company’s incidental and travel expenses.

Of course, this advice only applies to people who would be satisfied with simply having access to a corporate credit card. If you own a company and want to open an account, however, there’s a bit more you’re going to have to do.

Incorporate

As obvious as it may sound, you’ll probably need to, you know, incorporate if you have aspirations toward a corporate card.

Regular small business credit cards require you to give the issuing bank your personal guarantee. That means that the bank can come after your personal assets, not just your business assets, should you default on your debt. This isn’t a great deal, but it comes with one major advantage: you don’t actually have to have a business to qualify for a business credit card. Likewise, you can get one if your business is a simple sole proprietorship with no partition between your personal and business identity.

Corporate cards, however, require your business to be formally incorporated as an S-corp, C-corp, or LLC. Your business is solely responsible for corporate credit card debt — the bank cannot come after your personal assets.

Earn Over $4 Million In Annual Revenue

Sadly, there’s no way around this one. Before most banks will issue you a corporate credit card, you’re going to have to demonstrate that your company is raking in some serious cash. Since the issuer will be dedicating premium customer support services to your company–and without even the protection of a personal guarantee–they’re looking for an account with some serious clout.

This can be a blessing in disguise. Corporate cards come with some significant costs that wouldn’t necessarily scale down well to small businesses anyway.

Find A Bank You Want To Work With

Corporate credit cards are issued primarily by large banking institutions, so there are far fewer options than there are with other credit cards. Since you’ll have access to far more customer service than would a personal or small business credit card holder, you’ll want to research those institutions’ corporate customer service policies and reputation.

Most corporate cards come with rewards programs not unlike those of small business credit cards. You’ll still want to factor rewards programs into your calculations, but given the costs of maintaining a corporate credit card, rewards won’t play as significant a role as they do with the lower-tiered cards.

Many issuers will want you to commit to a minimum number of cards and annual spending, so make sure you know what they expect from you.

Once you know what institution you want to get a card from, you’ll need to reach out to them by phone, in person, or submit an inquiry form to begin the process.

Make Sure Your Company’s Credit Score Is Good

Not to beat a dead horse, but you won’t be able to rely on your personal credit score to get a corporate credit card.

You’ll also want to demonstrate good corporate accounting practices. Banks will want to see good cash flow, for example.

Final Thoughts

Corporate credit cards are an elite product for large, stable businesses with numerous employees. Expect a more involved process than you’d get with a personal or small business credit card.

Haven’t hit $4 million yet and still want a card? Consider a small business credit card or even a personal business credit card.