How to Apply for a Business Credit Card
One of the easiest ways to maximize points is to get a business credit card. Why? Business cards have some of the highest signup bonuses (often enough for a round-trip flight to Europe or a week of family hotel stays from a single card), and many come with strong ongoing benefits. Most banks, airlines, and hotels offer a business card version of the personal card you may already have.
By getting just one business card, you can give a BIG bump to your points and miles total. In addition, most programs allow you to combine or merge your points into one account.
If filling out a business credit card application feels intimidating, you’re not alone. Most beginners we talk to are surprised by how straightforward the process actually is. This article walks you through it step by step, so you know exactly what to expect.
What Qualifies as a Business?
First of all, let’s define what a business is in terms of being eligible for a business credit card. A business can be any occupation, profession, or trade that earns income. So, if you have employees and make a large amount of business income, you are obviously eligible.
But even a smaller operation that regularly earns income can count as a business. Read this article for more on business card eligibility.
How to Apply
Not sure which business card is right for you? Open your personalized CardGenie® recommendations for a personalized match, or browse our Best Business Cards page to see this month’s top offers. (Using Travel Freely links is one of the best ways to support the site!)
Tell the bank about your business
The first section of the application asks about your business. If you run an established business, whether small, mid-sized, or larger, these answers should be straightforward: fill them in with your real business details.
If you operate as a sole proprietor (a freelancer, consultant, side-gig earner, or anyone who earns income from a trade or profession without a formal company structure), you are still eligible to apply as a business. Below are examples of how to fill out each field in that situation. Use your best judgment to answer differently if the examples don’t match your circumstances.
Business Information
- Legal Name of Business: Use your registered business name if you have one. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name can use their legal name here.
- Business Name on Card: The name you’d like printed on the card. For an established business, this is usually the business name; for a sole proprietor operating under their own name, it can be your name.
- Business Mailing Address: Your business address. Sole proprietors who operate their business from home can use their home address.
- Type of Business: Choose the structure that matches your business (for example, LLC, Corporation, Partnership, Non-Profit, or Sole Proprietorship).
- Business Tax Identification Number: Established businesses typically use their EIN. Sole proprietors can use either a Social Security Number or an Employee Identification Number (EIN) for the business (you can create an EIN free from the IRS, found here).
- Business Category/Type/Subtype: Pick whichever categories are closest to your business.
- Number of Employees: Enter the number of people your business employs. A sole proprietor with no employees would enter 0.
- Annual Business Revenue: Enter your annual business revenue. If your business is newer or seasonal, project a reasonable amount based on your revenue to date.
- Years in Business: The number of years you’ve been operating your business (even if you haven’t generated revenue every year).
Personal Information
This section is about you personally:
- Authorizing Officer: For an established business, use the appropriate title. For a sole proprietor, this is Owner.
- Gross annual income: Include all of your income, not just business income.
The rest should be self-explanatory.
Keep records of your answers: In some cases Chase will ask to speak with you before approving your application. In those cases, they are likely to ask some of the same questions (annual business revenue, number of years in business, total gross income, etc.). Ideally, your answers should match what you entered on the application.
Check Application Status: After submitting your application, you can check the status by calling the automated status line: (888) 338-2586
Video: How to Apply
How to improve your chances of success
The following tips can help with approval, but none are guaranteed:
- Use an EIN instead of your SSN when entering your Business Tax ID on the application.
- Do not call if your application isn’t instantly approved and goes to a pending status.
- Call if your application is denied.
Do not call if your application goes to a pending status
When applications aren’t instantly approved and go to a pending status, people frequently find that they get approved without calling. When people do call, they sometimes reach analysts who are stricter, which can lead to denials on applications that might have otherwise been auto-approved.
The approval process goes through up to 3 “gates”:
- Instant Approval (this is rare with Chase Ink business cards)
- Automatic Approval, sent by mail (may take several weeks)
- Analyst Phone Approval
If you’re not instantly approved, then calling bypasses gate 2 and may reduce your overall chance of approval. Instead, we recommend waiting to get a letter in the mail. Hopefully, it will say “congratulations.”
Of course, if you are contacted for more information then you absolutely should talk to them on the phone. In some cases they may simply need more information about you or your business before your application can go through the next review stage.
Call if you are denied (and call again)
If your application is outright denied (either instantly or by mail), then call the reconsideration line (the phone numbers are listed here). There are many cases where analysts have overturned denials over the phone.
The analyst will likely ask a lot of questions. Make sure your answers match your application. Also, if you already have multiple business cards with that bank, make sure to let the analyst know that you don’t need more credit. Tell them that you are willing to move available credit from another card or cancel another card if necessary. Be prepared to answer financial questions about your business, why you want the card, and how you expect to use it. There is nothing wrong with saying that you were attracted “by the welcome bonus and by the 5X spend categories” (as an example).
If the analyst doesn’t approve your application, call again. Many people have had luck simply calling a few times until they reached an analyst willing to take a chance on their business.
Ready to get a business credit card? Check out Our Best Business Cards or This Month’s Best Offers page.
Want to know even more? Check out our Free PDF Guide for Small Business Owners.
