Pros
- Corporate card program with up to 1.25% cash back
- FDIC-insured commercial banking with checking and savings accounts
- Automated no-fee accounts payable
- No personal guarantee required
Cons
- Competing corporate cards offer more spending rewards
- No ATM access
- Revenue/investment requirements won’t suit smaller businesses
What Is The Rho Corporate Card?
The Rho corporate card is part of Rho’s suite of banking services. While Rho is not a bank itself (its services are backed by partner banks), its banking services are aimed to compete against more traditional banks. Rho’s pitch is that it offers “intuitive” and “faster” banking.
Rho offers three main services:
- Corporate cards
- Commercial banking (with checking, savings, and treasury accounts)
- Accounts payable
This review will focus primarily on Rho’s corporate card program, which earns a spot on our list of the top corporate credit cards. This card is a great choice for businesses who want a corporate card with banking options.
Rho Corporate Card Rewards & Perks
Rho ties your cashback rate to the frequency with which you pay off your card. All new cardholders get daily repayment terms and 1.25% cash back on purchases. If you qualify for monthly repayments, that cash-back rate goes down to 1.00% cash back.
Additionally, when you get a Rho corporate card, you’ll be enrolled in Mastercard’s World Elite Business program, which offers 4% cash back at select hotels and restaurants along with discounts and rebates with multiple partner services, including:
- 5% cash back on car rentals with Budget and Avis
- 5% rebate on Microsoft Advertising
- 20% off on Dropbox
- 25% rebate on Slack
All told, Rho’s base cashback rate of 1.25% puts it behind some other cards in the corporate card space, which is why we’re only giving Rho’s credit card a 3.4/5 category rating here.
Rho Pricing & Fees
Rho is mostly fee-free and has no pricing tiers. This lack of fees contributed to our score of 4.5/5 in this category.
Fee |
Cost |
Annual Fee |
N/A |
Account Fee |
N/A |
Global ACH Fee |
N/A |
Wire Transfer Fee |
N/A |
Foreign Transaction Fee |
N/A |
Additional Cards Fee |
N/A |
You won’t pay any of these fees:
- ACH
- Same-day ACH
- Domestic wire
- International USD wire
- Bill pay
- Additional card/user
- Card transactions (including foreign transactions)
However, be on the look-out for a couple of fees, including:
- 1% FX fees for non-US currencies
- Wire recall fee of $30
- 3% late fees
Eligibility Requirements
Rho doesn’t post stringent credit requirements for prospective companies. You also won’t need to worry about a personal guarantee or collateral requirements when applying for a Rho account. These factors could make Rho a great option for some companies.
Requirement |
Eligibility |
Business Type |
- Must be a corporation — no sole proprietors or unincorporated businesses
- Must be incorporated in the US
|
Minimum Annual Income |
- $1 million in revenue OR $1 million in equity capital raised
|
Credit Score |
N/A |
Location |
N/A |
Personal Guarantee |
|
However, with Rho’s steep revenue/investment requirements, Rho is geared toward a certain type of high-powered business or startup. Smaller businesses may need to look elsewhere for a bundled business banking account and corporate card solution.
Additionally, some companies may be declined for a Rho account because it operates in a high-risk industry. Rho defines high-risk industries as:
- Betting, casino gaming chips, etc.
- Adult dating and/or escort services
- Drug stores, pharmacies, and cannabis
- Drugs, proprietaries, and sundries
- Stamp and coin stores
- Quasi-cash, currency, money orders, traveler’s checks
- Pawnshops
- Bail and bond payments
These limitations lowered our score for eligibility requirements to 3.4/5.
Rho Corporate Card Features
Rho’s feature set is built around making banking easier and faster for businesses. It’s part of the company’s stated mission to modernize the banking industry. Rho’s payment methods, processing times, and robust features resulted in a score of 4.7/5 for this section.
Feature |
Availability |
Summary |
Cards |
|
You can assign an unlimited number of physical and virtual cards to employees |
Card Controls |
|
Supervise spending via smart limits and restrictions; change, lock, or cancel cards at any time |
Card Benefits |
|
The Rho card uses the Mastercard payment network, which provides security and safety for cardholders |
Spend Tracking |
|
Track expenses in real-time via a central dashboard, and purchases automatically link to department budgets |
Bill Payment |
|
Automated accounts payable — receive, approve, code, and pay invoices within the Rho platform |
Mobile Apps |
|
Rho recently introduced a mobile app for both iOS or Android |
Beyond those standard features, Rho offers several other features through its services, including:
- Global Payments: You can take advantage of unlimited and fee-free USD wires to 161 countries as well as foreign transactions (with a 1% fee) via 38 global currencies.
- Digital Wallets: The Rho card can be added to both Google Wallet and Apple Wallet for making contactless payments.
- Expense Tracking: Rho offers expense tracking including receipt capture, reimbursement submissions, and other AP and accounting automations.
- Auto-Synced Accounting: Rho features a native QuickBooks integration and supports Sage and Wave via Plaid. Auto-syncing allows you to easily reconcile purchases the moment an employee swipes a Rho card. On top of that, employees can digitally upload receipts, and Rho will categorize purchases automatically.
- Spending Categories: Besides smart limits, admins can set limits on spending amounts and spending categories for each employee.
- Higher, Stable Credit Limits: Rho claims that customers can receive higher credit limits that won’t fluctuate. According to Rho, the company’s underwriting process — which looks at annual revenue, cash on hand, growth metrics, predictive analytics, and “non-traditional” data points — may offer some customers higher credit limits than elsewhere. Additionally, your credit limit won’t be determined via a percentage of your current cash, allowing for a more stable and consistent credit limit.
- Custom Logos: Your company’s Rho card can be tailored with a custom logo.
Lastly, Rho offers multiple ways to add money to your account, although each method has different processing times:
Incoming Payment Method |
Processing Time |
ACH |
1-3 business days |
International ACH |
1-2 business days |
Domestic Wire Transfers |
1-5 business days |
International Wire Transfers |
3 days |
Check Deposit |
2-3 business days |
Rho Customer Service
Rho’s customer service options are available from 8 AM to 9 PM EST.
Rho Customer Service |
Availability |
Phone Support |
|
Email Support |
|
Support Tickets |
|
Live Chat |
|
Dedicated Support Representative |
|
Knowledge Base or Help Center |
|
Videos & Tutorials |
|
Company Blog |
|
Social Media |
|
Rho assigns specialists to every client to provide customers with “high-touch, one-on-one support.” A solid number of support options paired with high-quality support contributed to our customer service rating of 4.5/5.
Rho Corporate Card Reviews
Because Rho is fairly new on the scene, there aren’t many customer reviews around. With the limited scope of customer opinions, we reached out to a couple of Rho customers to get their thoughts. Here’s what one user told us:
Rho’s customer service is nothing short of incredible. Anytime I’ve had a question they get immediately back to me with insightful answers. Every interaction I’ve had with them, they’ve come across as very professional and a huge help to grow my business. I love their cash back on every purchase card the most. — Kenny Rose, founder and CEO of FranShares
Another user said this:
Rho Business Banking is excellent. Their customer service is responsive, easy to understand, and everything works in line with my requirements. I have been pleased with their attention to detail including finding solutions for my logistical issues within minutes. The only con would be the limits on international wire transfers. This can become challenging to navigate around when dealing in larger amounts. — Sara Bernier, founder of Born for Pets
Is Rho Safe?
While Rho is a fairly new company, its services are backed by reputable and longstanding banks.
Rho’s checking accounts are offered through Webster Bank, N.A., and FDIC member, and its savings account via American Deposit Management Co. and its partner banks. The checking and savings accounts are FDIC-insured (up to $250,000 for the checking account and $75 million for the savings account via the entities mentioned).
Webster Bank, N.A. issues the Rho corporate card. The card operates on the Mastercard network, which provides fraud protection and standard credit card protection.
Final Verdict: Is The Rho Credit Card Worth It?
Rho Review |
|
Business Size |
Incorporated businesses with $1 million in revenue or $1 million in equity capital raised |
Rewards Rate |
1.25% cash back (4% cash back at select restaurants and hotels) |
Choose If You Need |
- FDIC-insured commercial banking features
- A corporate card that offers daily or monthly repayments
- Unlimited physical and digital employee cards
|
Whether Rho is worth it will depend on your business. Businesses that meet the revenue/equity investment requirements and can pay off the Rho corporate card daily (to get the 1.25% cash back rate) will particularly benefit from Rho. Businesses with irregular cash flows may also benefit from Rho’s flexible repayment terms.
However, smaller businesses may not see much benefit — in fact, they may not qualify for a Rho account in the first place.
The main problem with Rho is that several competitors in the corporate card space, including Brex, Ramp, and BILL Spend & Expense, will see you earning more rewards for your business spending while offering a similar suite of expense management features.
As an alternative, if you want a handy spending instrument for you and your employees and you don’t need a full expense management suite, check out the best business credit cards.
Corporate Card Review Methodology
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing business credit cards and corporate cards since 2018. Our writers have evaluated over sixty different business card products. In each corporate card review, we evaluate rewards and perks, rates and fees, features, eligibility requirements, customer service, and user reviews. Read more about how we rate corporate cards.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Rewards & Perks 40%
Rates & Fees 25%
Features 20%
Eligibility Requirements 5%
Customer Service 5%
User Reviews 5%
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.
When comparing corporate cards, we consider many data points, including the specifics of cash back and spending rewards, the presence of annual fees, the breadth and flexibility of reward redemption options, revenue and time in business qualifications, credit score requirements, and extra perks. Our lists of the best corporate cards include only those we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points and often share qualities such as widespread availability, low fees, competitive rewards, and reasonable revenue, cash-on-hand, and time in business requirements.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the corporate cards included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.