So, you’ve decided to drive for Lyft, start a travel blog, or teach English as a second language. Depending on your situation, this could be an excellent idea. After all, earning more money is a smart way to “give yourself a raise” when your employer can’t or just won’t.
Still, you do need a few tools to win the game. If you anticipate having some start-up costs or you want to earn rewards on spending for your new business, for example, you could accomplish both of these goals with the right business credit card.
Remember though, you need to pay your balance in full every month to avoid credit card interest. No exceptions! If you’re paying interest on your business purchases, your side hustle will not help you get ahead. You can trust us on that one.
The best business credit cards
Which business credit card is best for your side hustle? That depends on your spending style and your goals. We dug deep on a few of the best options to help you decide.
- Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card — Best for travel
- Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business – Best flat-rate rewards
- SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express – Best rewards with no annual fee
- Chase Ink Business Cash℠ credit card – Best for cash back enthusiasts
Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card — Best for travel
The Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card really is the ultimate business card for side hustlers who love to travel, mostly because there are so many ways to redeem your points. You can cash them in for travel through the Chase portal, transfer them 1:1 to popular airline and hotel partners, or redeem for cash-back, gift cards, or merchandise.
On the earning side of the equation, you could rack up 3 points per $1 on up to $150,000 spent each year on travel, shipping, internet, cable and phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines (then 1x after the cap), and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. Best of all, you could earn 80,000 points – worth $1,000 in travel after you spend $5,000 on your card within three months of account opening.
If your side hustle is online or you spend a ton on shipping or cable and phone services, this is the card to get — and it’s not even close.
Ideal card for: Bloggers, drop-shippers, eBay sellers, and online entrepreneurs.
Annual fee: $95
Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business – Best flat-rate rewards
The Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business makes things easy by offering unlimited 2% cash back for every dollar you spend. You could also get an intro bonus offer after you spend a certain amount on your card within three months of account opening, and you can cash in your rewards for statement credits in any amount at any time.
If you don’t plan to spend a lot of money in any particular category, a business card that offers flat rate of rewards is probably the way to go. After all, this card doles out 2% back on everything, which is hard to beat!
Ideal card for: Uber or Lyft drivers, Task Rabbits, anyone who wants to earn cash-back on side hustle spending.
Annual fee: $0 the first year; then $95
SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express – Best rewards with no annual fee
Not everyone wants to pay an annual fee on their business credit card, and can you blame them? The goal of your side hustle is making money and not spending money, right?
Fortunately, some of the top business cards let you earn travel rewards with no annual fee. The SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express lets you earn 3% back in one category of your choosing out of eight that include airfare booked direct, hotels booked direct, select car rentals, U.S. gas stations, U.S. restaurants, select U.S. advertising, U.S. shipping, select U.S. hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases.
You could also earn 5% back at U.S. office supply stores and on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and 1% back on all other purchases. Note: The 5% and 3% categories are limited to your first $50,000 in spending per year. After that, you earn 1%.
If your side hustle requires a lot of spending in any of these categories and you hate annual fees, this card is hard to beat.
Ideal card for: Uber or Lyft drivers, travel agents, Ebay sellers, drop shippers, hustlers who hate fees.
Annual fee: $0
Chase Ink Business Cash℠ credit card – Best for cash back enthusiasts
The Chase Ink Business Cash℠ credit card offers cash-back with no annual fee. Is this a dream? Not at all. This card really is all it’s cracked up to be.
Once you have the Chase Ink Business Cash℠ credit card, you could earn 5% back on the first $25,000 spent at office supply stores and with internet, cable and phone services each year (then 1%), 2% back on the first $25,000 spent at gas stations and restaurants each year (then 1%), and 1% back on all other purchases. You can redeem for cash-back, gift cards, merchandise, and more.
Ideal card for: Uber or Lyft drivers, anyone who can spend big at office supply stores, side hustlers who love cash back.
Annual fee: $0