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.

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.

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.

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.

Yes, there is a BBVA secured business credit card, called the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Card. It requires a deposit of at least $500 and 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.