Secured Business Credit Cards

No, there is no secured business credit card from American Express. Amex doesn’t offer secured consumer credit cards either. In fact, the easiest American Express credit cards to get require at least good credit for approval.

Amex is not the end of the road for those who want a secured business credit card, however. The Wells Fargo Business Secured card is one of the best options. It gives 1.5% cash back for every $1 spent, and it charges a $25 annual fee. The minimum deposit is $500, and whatever amount you deposit becomes your credit limit. It’s also one of the only secured business cards that reports to the business credit bureau Dun & Bradstreet. That can help if you’re trying to build your business’s credit history, though business credit reports aren’t as influential as personal reports.

Secured business credit cards are an option for business owners with bad credit or limited credit history. But business owners don’t need to get a secured business credit card for company expenses. You’ll find lots more secured credit card offers for individuals than businesses. Personal secured credit cards also generally come with lower minimum deposits than secured business cards, and the best ones have no annual fee.

The best secured consumer credit card out right now is the Discover it Secured card because it has no annual fee and gives 1 - 2% Cash Back on purchases. And all the cash back you earn in the first year will be doubled. Considering many secured credit cards don’t even offer rewards, it’s a nice cherry on top.

You need a credit score of 700 for an American Express business card. That means you must have at least good credit for decent approval odds. American Express does not offer business cards for bad, fair, limited or no credit. Nor do they have any secured business cards to help rebuild credit.

It’s important to note that an applicant’s credit score is not the only factor that Amex considers. Things such as payment history, income and current debts are also important. But the higher your score, the better your chances of approval become. Keep in mind that Amex will look at your personal credit during the approval process because you will have to provide a personal guarantee to pay Amex back if the business cannot. This is normal for business credit cards.

There are several easy approval business credit cards. That’s because the easiest business credit cards to get only require fair or bad credit. They include Capital One Spark Classic for Business,  the Staples Business Credit Card, and the Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card. It’s also worth noting that while you must have a business to get one of these cards, your personal credit history matters a lot more than your company’s.

Here are your options for easy approval business credit cards:

• Limited Credit: Capital One Spark Classic for Business
  You’ll get 1% cash back on all purchases. There’s no annual fee, and the purchase APR is 24.24%.
• Fair Credit: Staples Business Credit Card
  You’ll save $50 on a purchase of $150 or more made within 45 days of opening your account. You’ll also get 5% back in Staples credit for each purchase. There’s no annual fee. Your APR will be somewhere between 14.99% and 23.99%, depending on credit worthiness.
  
• Bad Credit: Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card
  You’ll get 1.5% cash back on purchases. The annual fee is $25. The minimum security deposit is $500. And the APR is 16.40%. The BBVA Compass Business Secured Card is another good option.
  
• Personal Option: Discover it Secured Credit Card

You’ll get 2% cash back on the first $1,000 you spend at gas stations and restaurants each quarter. You’ll get 1% cash back on all other purchases. Discover matches the cash back you earn the first year. There’s no annual fee, the APR is 24.24%, and the minimum deposit is $200.

There are a few easy approval business credit cards, so you shouldn’t let limited or damaged credit prevent you from getting the card your business needs. And remember, if you pay your bills on time and keep your credit utilization ratio low, your credit should steadily improve over time.

There is no way to get guaranteed business credit card approval. Business credit cards always have certain requirements that must be met for approval, such as exceeding credit and income thresholds, having proof of U.S. residency and/or providing a Social Security Number (SSN).

The closest thing to guaranteed business credit card approval is a secured business credit card. The Wells Fargo Business Secured card has high odds of approval even to people with bad credit. It requires a minimum $500 cash deposit. This deposit serves as collateral and is equal to your credit limit. But even though the deposit makes Wells Fargo’s risk very low, they might still reject your application if you have pending tax liens or bankruptcies on your credit report.

Business credit card approval relies on your personal credit history. The reason is that business credit cards require a personal guarantee. Issuers need an assurance that any money they lend will be paid back. The personal guarantee states that if the business is unable to repay a debt, then the business owner is personally liable.

The only secured business credit card that reports to D&B is the Wells Fargo Business Secured Mastercard. It offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases, charges an annual fee of just $25 and requires a security deposit of at least $500.

There are just two other secured business credit cards available right now: the BBVA Compass Business Secured Visa and the Metro Credit Union Visa Secured Card. Those two report to the three major consumer credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – but not to D&B, at least not directly. Dun & Bradstreet often incorporates information from the other bureaus’ reports.

Here’s what you should know about secured business credit cards that report to D&B:

• 1 of the 3 available secured business credit cards reports to Dun & Bradstreet: Wells Fargo Business Secured Mastercard.
• All major secured credit cards report to the three consumer credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
• D&B, Experian and Equifax are the three major business credit bureaus.
• Dun & Bradstreet reports are geared more to credit agreements with vendors, bank loans and annual revenue data.
• Your personal credit history is much more important than your business’s credit history when it comes to getting approved for a business credit card.
• Small business owners are personally liable for debt on nearly all business credit cards.

Although opening a credit card is the easiest way to build credit personally, it’s not as efficient with business credit. 

If you want to build business credit, your first step to be to register for a D-U-N-S Number from D&B. This will get you on Dun & Bradstreet’s radar, at the very least. You should also open a business bank account using your Employer Identification Number. That will help establish a financial identity for your company that’s separate from you as an individual. And then you need to ask your vendors to report your payment history to D&B using your D-U-N-S. 

That’s at least what Dun & Bradstreet recommends. Tracking so-called trade credit is one of the most important things business credit reports do that personal reports don’t.

The only secured business credit card that reports to a business credit agency (D&B) is the Wells Fargo Business Secured Mastercard.

However, all major secured business credit cards report to the three consumer credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Secured business cards are always your friend. It saves you when you're financially in distress. But the thing is that you just have to be diligent in paying your obligation. And the company where you bought your item is assured that it gets paid still even if you failed to settle your obligation. But if you want to build your credit score, just pay your obligation on time. so Simple. The Bible says, "Owe no one anything except to love."- Romans 13:8. It doesn't mean that you don't incur any debt, but it means you pay your obligation on time.

There is a BBVA secured business credit card, called the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Card.

The minimum opening deposit is $500 and you can make deposits in increments of $100. You must have a Secured Credit Card Savings account and your available credit will be 90% of your savings account balance at any given time.

It does not charge an annual fee the first year your account is open ($40 after). You also get 1-3 rewards points per $1 spent. All in all, it's a fair option if you're a business owner in the process of rebuilding credit.

Wells Fargo Business Secured is a secured card, so it won't be too hard to get approved for it. What I mean by that is that it doesn't really have a minimum score requirement.

There's no guarantee you'll get approved though. If you've got a pending bankruptcy, you might find yourself rejected.

To answer your second question, yes, it does report to both D&B and the personal bureaus.

All of the secured business credit cards currently available build business credit, including the Wells Fargo Business Secured Mastercard, the BBVA Compass Business Secured Credit Card, and the Metro Credit Union Secured Business Credit Card. All three suggest on their websites that they make information available to business credit bureaus and help build business credit.

Building business credit is different than building personal credit. The major business credit bureaus - Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax - compile information about businesses differently than credit bureaus do about consumers. So there may be additional steps to take in order to build business credit, such as opening a business bureau credit file for your business, or encouraging your vendors to report your payment information to business bureaus.

It’s worth noting that business credit scores aren’t nearly as important as personal credit scores as far as getting approved for business funding, trade credit accounts, and credit cards. But if you want to build business credit, secured business credit cards can help.