If you own an LLC, the first job of a business credit card is to keep your personal and business money apart, and the rewards come second. Before you compare earn rates, check four things on the issuer’s own pages: who is responsible for the balance, whether the application asks for an EIN or your SSN, how big the spend requirement is for the welcome offer, and what the annual fee is. I run Ecommerce Paradise, and that four-point check is how I look at every card below. I build stores through LLCs, including the kind covered in my high-ticket dropshipping explainer.
This guide is the LLC angle on business cards. It covers separating finances, personal liability wording, EIN versus SSN, building business credit, and the official terms that matter when your company is new. If you want a rewards and cash flow angle instead, read my guide to business cards for rewards and cash flow control. For a flat-rate focus, I also wrote about simple cash back business cards.
Important: everything here is as of November 2026, comes from each issuer’s own card page as I loaded it, and is general information. It is not financial advice, terms change, and you should check the issuer before you apply. I cannot tell you which card you will be approved for, and no card here is the best choice for everyone. Where a page did not show a number, I say “not shown” instead of guessing. Some links in this article are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you sign up for a related tool, at no extra cost to you.
Business Credit Cards for LLC Owners at a Glance (as of November 2026)
These are the figures shown on each issuer’s card page when I loaded it. “Not shown” means the page did not display it for me.
| Card | Annual fee | Rewards as shown | Welcome offer as shown | APR notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Ink Business Preferred | $95 | 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 a year in shipping, social media and search engine ads, internet/cable/phone, and travel; 1 point on everything else | 100,000 bonus points after $8,000 in the first 3 months | 17.99% to 26.99% variable; intro APR not shown |
| Chase Ink Business Cash | $0 | 5% on the first $25,000 a year at office supply stores and internet/cable/phone; 2% on the first $25,000 at gas stations and restaurants; 1% elsewhere | $750 after $6,000 in the first 3 months | 0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases; regular APR text garbled, see Pricing & Terms |
| Chase Ink Business Unlimited | $0 | Unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase | $750 after $6,000 in the first 3 months | 0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases; regular APR text garbled, see Pricing & Terms |
| Amex Business Gold | $375 | 4X on top 2 of six eligible categories each month (first $150,000 a year, then 1X); 3X on flights and prepaid hotels via AmexTravel.com; 1X elsewhere | Not shown | Not shown |
| Amex Business Platinum | $895 | 5X on flights and prepaid hotels via Amex Travel; 2X on key business purchases or single purchases of $5,000+ (up to $2 million a year); 1X elsewhere | Not shown | Not shown |
| Capital One Spark Cash Plus | $150 (refunded each year you spend $150,000) | Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase | $2,000 after $30,000 in the first 3 months | Designed to be paid in full; APR not shown |
| Capital One Spark 2% Cash | $0 the first year, then $95 | Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase | $1,000 after $10,000 in the first 3 months | 24.74% variable |
| Capital One Spark 1.5% Cash Select | $0 | Unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase | $750 after $6,000 in the first 3 months | 0% intro APR for 9 months, then 16.99% to 26.99% variable |
| Capital One Venture X Business | $395 | Unlimited 2X miles on every purchase; 10X on hotels and rental cars and 5X on flights and vacation rentals via Capital One Business Travel | 150,000 miles after $40,000 in the first 4 months, plus a second tier at $120,000 | Designed to be paid in full; APR not shown |
I could not load usable terms for the Amex Blue Business Cash, the U.S. Bank Business Shield Visa, or the Bank of America business cash rewards card, so they are not in the table. More on that near the end.
Why an LLC Owner Should Use a Separate Business Card
The SBA says an LLC protects owners from personal liability in most instances, and it also says that protection has limits. On the same page it says business banking helps by keeping your business funds separate from your personal funds, and it recommends opening a business bank account once you start accepting or spending money for the business. You can read that in the SBA’s guide to choosing a business structure.
A dedicated business card is the card-side version of that advice. In my experience, the practical benefit shows up long before any lawsuit. When every ad, software subscription and supplier payment sits on one card tied to the business, bookkeeping at tax time takes minutes instead of days, and a personal grocery run never ends up in the wrong column. I am not a lawyer, and whether a court respects an LLC’s separateness depends on your state and facts, so ask an attorney if that is your worry.
One tax detail is worth knowing. The IRS says a single-member LLC is treated as an entity disregarded as separate from its owner for income tax, and a domestic LLC with at least two members is classified as a partnership by default. The IRS also notes that a single-member LLC is still a separate entity for employment and excise taxes. Details are on the IRS page for limited liability companies. The takeaway for cards is that tax rules do not separate you from a single-member LLC for income tax, so clean records are what keeps your own finances readable.
Personal Guarantee and Personal Liability: What the Issuer Pages Say
This is the part LLC owners ask about most, and it is the part I can state least precisely, because several issuers did not show their liability wording on the pages I loaded. Here is exactly what I saw.
- Chase Ink pages: “You, together with the business, are responsible for repaying all balances on the account.” That sentence appears in the employee card section of the Ink Business Preferred, Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited pages.
- Capital One Spark Cash Plus page: the application asks for personal information including your full legal name, Social Security number and monthly rent or mortgage payment. The word “guarantee” was not shown.
- Amex Business Gold and Business Platinum pages: eligibility and personal liability terms were not shown. The pages say that if you are approved and accept the card, there may be an impact to your personal and business credit scores.
My reading, labeled as my reading: when a business card application asks for your SSN, assume you are personally on the hook if the business does not pay, and read the issuer’s cardmember agreement before you apply. I cannot tell you how any specific issuer treats an LLC default, and that is a question for the issuer or an attorney. Not shown on the pages I could load; check the issuer.
The same Chase sentence matters for employee cards. If you add a VA or a contractor as an authorized user, the Chase pages say the Authorizing Officer and the business are responsible for use of the account by that person. Set spending limits before you hand anyone a card.
EIN vs SSN on a Business Card Application
Here is what the official pages say. The IRS says you can use its online tool if you are the responsible party in control of the entity, and that applicants need that person’s SSN or ITIN. It says the tool gets you an EIN directly from the IRS in minutes for free, and that you never have to pay a fee for an EIN. It also says to form your LLC with the state before you apply, because applying first may delay your EIN. The page is the IRS’s EIN application page.
On the card side, Capital One’s pages list “Tax ID or Employer ID Number (EIN), or an SSN for sole proprietorships” as business information, and Social Security number as personal information, and say you must be an authorized representative for your business. The Chase and Amex pages I loaded did not show EIN or SSN eligibility wording. Whether a given issuer will take an LLC application with only an SSN is not shown on the pages I could load; check the issuer.
My practical take: get the EIN first, and use the LLC’s exact legal name and the same address across the bank account, state filing and card application so nothing mismatches. If you have not formed the LLC yet, my walkthrough on how long it takes to get an LLC shows the order of steps. The full sequence is in my pillar on business formation for high-ticket dropshipping.
Building Business Credit With an LLC
Chase’s Ink pages say “With Ink, your business builds its own credit history.” That is the clearest statement I found on the issuer pages. The Amex pages say approval may affect both personal and business credit scores, and none of the pages I loaded said which bureaus each issuer reports to. I removed an older claim from this post about which issuers report to personal bureaus, because I could not confirm it on an official page. Check the issuer’s terms for reporting.
In my experience, a business card is only one input. The habits that help are boring ones: pay the statement from the business bank account, keep utilization modest, and add trade accounts. For that last piece, my list of net-30 vendors covers vendors that extend payment terms to newer businesses. Whether any vendor reports to a business bureau is something to confirm with that vendor, not assume.
If you want one place to manage the business side as you grow, my setup guide for Nav for business credit is one option for tracking business credit. Nothing about it guarantees a score or an approval.
Which Official Card Terms Matter Most for a New LLC
The welcome offer spend requirement
The spend requirements on the pages I loaded range widely: $6,000 in 3 months on the Ink Business Cash, Ink Business Unlimited and Spark 1.5% Cash Select, $8,000 on the Ink Business Preferred, $10,000 on the Spark 2% Cash, $30,000 on the Spark Cash Plus, and $40,000 in 4 months on the Venture X Business. A new store with modest ad spend can find the higher ones hard to reach. Do not buy things you would not otherwise buy to hit a bonus, and compare the requirement with your real monthly spend before you apply.
Annual fee versus rewards
Fees on the pages I loaded run from $0 to $895. A no-fee card needs no math. A fee card should earn back its fee on your actual spend, and the number to compute is your annual spend in the bonus categories times the earn rate, minus the fee. The Spark Cash Plus page also says the $150 fee is refunded every year you spend at least $150,000.
Charge card versus credit card
Capital One describes the Spark Cash Plus and the Venture X Business as designed to be paid in full, with the option to carry a portion of the balance with interest, and the Spark Cash Plus page states a 2.99% late fee for a missed minimum payment. It also says the card has no preset spending limit, and adds that “no preset spending limit does not mean unlimited spending.” Rely on that wording, and ask the issuer how your own limit will be set.
Intro APR and regular APR
Two cards in my table show a 0% intro APR on purchases: 12 months on the Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited, and 9 months on the Spark 1.5% Cash Select, which then goes to 16.99% to 26.99% variable. The Ink Business Preferred shows 17.99% to 26.99% variable and no intro APR on its page. The Chase Cash and Unlimited pages rendered their regular APR in garbled text for me, so read the Pricing & Terms link before you apply. An intro APR is a short window, not a plan to carry a balance.
Category caps
Bonus rates often stop at a cap. Chase pays 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 a year on Preferred bonus categories, and the Cash card’s 5% and 2% rates each stop at $25,000 a year. Amex Business Gold’s 4X stops at $150,000 a year in combined purchases before dropping to 1X. If your store spends heavily on ads and shipping, check that the categories on the card match the way your processors and ad platforms actually label charges.
Foreign transaction fees
If you pay overseas suppliers by card, this matters. The Ink Business Preferred page lists no foreign transaction fees as a benefit, the Business Gold and Business Platinum pages say none, and Capital One’s Spark Cash Plus, Spark 1.5% Cash Select and Venture X Business pages say none or zero. The Spark 2% Cash page did not show it. For a sourcing strategy that actually uses those suppliers, see my guide to finding suppliers for high-ticket dropshipping.
Chase Ink Cards for a New LLC
The Ink Business Preferred has a $95 annual fee and the 3 points per $1 categories in the table, which line up with how many online stores spend: shipping, social media and search engine advertising, internet/cable/phone, and travel. The welcome bonus is 100,000 bonus points after $8,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. The page also lists a 5X promotion on Lyft rides through September 30, 2027.
If you want no annual fee, the Ink Business Cash pays 5% on the first $25,000 a year at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services, and 2% on the first $25,000 at gas stations and restaurants. The Ink Business Unlimited pays a flat 1.5%. Both show a $750 offer after $6,000 in the first 3 months and a 0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases. The pages say the bonus may be unavailable if you have had the card, or another Chase for Business card without an annual fee.
I am not going to guess at approval patterns for new LLCs, because Chase’s pages did not show minimum requirements. The Ink Cash page says accounts are subject to credit approval, and that is all I can responsibly say.
American Express Business Gold and Platinum
The Amex Business Gold costs $375 a year. It earns 4X points on your top 2 eligible categories each month from six listed categories, such as advertising in select media, restaurants and gas stations. The 4X applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year and then drops to 1X. Flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com earn 3X. The welcome offer was not displayed on the page I loaded, so check the issuer.
The Amex Business Platinum costs $895 a year and earns 5X on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel, 2X on key business purchases or single purchases of $5,000 or more up to $2 million a year, and 1X elsewhere. The page lists a long set of credits, including up to $200 for airline incidental fees with one selected airline, up to $219 for CLEAR Plus, up to $360 a year for Indeed, up to $300 a year for a ChatGPT Business credit, and $250 for Adobe after $600 of U.S. Adobe purchases. Credits have conditions, and whether they are worth the fee depends on whether you would buy those things anyway. A fee this size is hard to justify for a brand-new store with little travel spend, in my experience.
Capital One Spark and Venture X Business
The Spark family on the Capital One pages starts with the Spark 1.5% Cash Select at $0 with a 0% intro APR for 9 months. At the other end is the Spark Cash Plus at $150 with unlimited 2% cash back. The Spark Cash Plus page shows a $2,000 cash bonus after $30,000 in the first 3 months, plus an additional $2,000 for every $500,000 spent in the first year. That is a high bar for a new LLC, so treat it as an offer for businesses that already move that much money.
The Spark 2% Cash has a $0 first-year fee and then $95, a $1,000 bonus after $10,000 in the first 3 months, and a 24.74% variable APR. The Venture X Business costs $395, earns unlimited 2X miles, and lists a $300 annual Capital One Business Travel credit and a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit of up to $120. Its limited-time offer is 150,000 miles after $40,000 in 4 months, with a second tier at $120,000. Capital One’s pages say bonuses may not be available to existing or previous Capital One Business cardholders.
Cards I Could Not Verify This Time
An earlier version of this post covered the Amex Blue Business Cash, the U.S. Bank Business Shield Visa and the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards card with specific bonus, APR and fee figures. I could not load usable terms for any of them from the official sites today. The Amex Blue Business Cash page returned an error, and the U.S. Bank and Bank of America pages failed to load. I removed those numbers rather than keep figures I could not confirm. Not shown on the pages I could load; check the issuer.
Before you apply to any card, compare it with what you spend. My guide to a credit card rewards strategy for suppliers, ads, software and VAs shows how I map categories. The business card comparison page sorts cards by what you spend on.
The Formation Stack I Use Before Applying
A business card sits on top of a real company, so I form the LLC first. My default is Bizee. The steps are in my guide on how to set up Bizee.
If I want the registered agent’s address on public filings instead of mine, I look at Northwest Registered Agent.
Another option is LegalZoom. Another is ZenBusiness. I have not verified each service’s current pricing for this article, so compare their own pages.
For contract access I use LegalShield. It is not required to form an LLC or to apply for a card.
After the LLC and EIN come the business bank account and bookkeeping. On day one I connect the card feed to Finaloop for Shopify stores. For simpler setups I use FreshBooks.
If a personal charge lands on the business card by mistake, I reimburse the business from my personal account and note it. You can compare more options in my review of expense tracking apps.
For international supplier payments I use Wise alongside the domestic account. I sell through Shopify.
When you are still choosing what to sell, the high-ticket niches list is where I start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an EIN to get a business credit card for my LLC?
Capital One’s pages list a Tax ID or Employer ID Number (EIN), or an SSN for sole proprietorships, as business information. Chase and Amex did not show EIN or SSN eligibility wording on the pages I loaded, so check the issuer. The IRS says its online EIN tool is free and you never have to pay a fee for an EIN.
Will I have to personally guarantee a business credit card for my LLC?
Chase’s Ink pages say you, together with the business, are responsible for repaying all balances on the account. The Capital One Spark Cash Plus page asks for your SSN, and the Amex pages I loaded did not show liability wording. I cannot confirm each issuer’s guarantee terms, so read the cardmember agreement and ask the issuer before you apply.
Can a brand-new LLC get a business credit card?
That is the issuer’s decision and I cannot predict it. The pages I loaded showed no minimum time in business or revenue figure. Capital One’s page says the application may be declined if you have a freeze with credit bureaus, and Chase’s page says accounts are subject to credit approval.
Does a business card build business credit separate from my personal credit?
Chase’s pages say your business builds its own credit history with Ink. The Amex pages say there may be an impact to personal and business credit scores if you are approved, and Capital One’s page says pre-approval has no impact on your personal credit score. I could not confirm bureau reporting for each issuer, so check their terms.
Which card terms matter most for a new LLC?
In my experience, the welcome offer spend requirement, the annual fee, whether the card is designed to be paid in full, and the bonus category caps matter most. Compare each against your real monthly spend, and read the Pricing & Terms before you apply. This is not financial advice.
Final Checklist Before You Apply
Form the LLC, get your EIN for free from the IRS, open the business bank account, and use one card for business spending only. Then pick a card whose spend requirement, fee and liability wording you have read on the issuer’s own page. Terms change, so confirm everything with the issuer before you apply. If you are new to the model, the free Ecommerce Paradise beginner guide is a good place to start.
Informational only, not financial advice. Card terms change often and LLC rules vary by state. Verify current annual fees, offers, rates and eligibility directly with the issuer and your state before you apply or file.
Related Articles
These guides cover the formation, credit and bookkeeping side of running an LLC-based store.
- Net-30 Vendors for Building Business Credit
- How Long Does It Take to Get an LLC Before You Launch Your Store?
- Ecommerce Credit Card Rewards Strategy for Suppliers, Ads, Software and VAs
- Your Ecommerce Payout Is Not Your Profit: The Cash Flow System Store Owners Need
- Best Expense Tracking Apps (2026)
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
