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Searching for a business credit card for an LLC tends to turn up lists sorted by rewards that treat the LLC as an afterthought, and issuer pages that say an LLC is welcome without saying what the owner has to sign. Our table takes a different cut. No issuer in it publishes a rule against a registered LLC, so this guide is about what the LLC and its owner are asked for on each application, read from the issuers' own terms, and where the answer is not published we say so rather than guess.
An LLC does not need a special business credit card
No issuer in our table sells an LLC-only card, and none publishes a rule against one. What varies is what the owner is asked to do. A bank-issued card is underwritten on the owner's personal credit, and every bank card in our table whose issuer publishes an answer on the guarantee requires one. A corporate card is underwritten on the business, through cash it holds or revenue or funding it can prove, and needs a registered or incorporated US entity to do that. The choice for an LLC is therefore between two underwriting models rather than between cards that do and do not take an LLC, and the full business credit card guide explains each question in depth. Forming an LLC does not by itself remove a personal guarantee from a bank card or raise a limit anywhere. The picks above are listed alphabetically, not ranked, and commission does not affect which cards appear.
EIN or SSN on the business credit card application
A registered LLC has an EIN, and the corporate cards require one because they require a registered or incorporated US entity: the cards whose issuer excludes sole proprietors are Brex, Mercury IO, Ramp, Relay Visa Credit Card, Rho, Rippling Corporate Card and Slash Platinum Card. Ramp takes No sole proprietors and the Rippling Corporate Card No sole proprietors; both name the EIN outright.
A bank-issued card takes the EIN too, and then asks for the owner's Social Security number, personal income and address, because it runs a personal credit check: Chase Ink Business Unlimited states Personal credit check and American Express Blue Business Cash Personal credit check. The bank cards that publish their check pull the owner's personal credit, so an EIN-only application with no owner details is not what they describe; the corporate cards that state No personal credit check come closer, and they ask the business for cash or revenue instead. The EIN itself is free from the IRS and, online, issued immediately, so it never decides the shortlist.
Which business credit cards make the LLC owner personally liable
The cards whose issuer states a personal guarantee is required are American Express Blue Business Cash, American Express Blue Business Plus, Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards, Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured, Chase Ink Business Cash, Chase Ink Business Preferred, Chase Ink Business Premier, Chase Ink Business Unlimited, Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, U.S. Bank Business Shield and Wells Fargo. The cards whose issuer states there is none are Airwallex Corporate Card, Brex, Mercury IO, Ramp, Rho and Rippling Corporate Card, and each of those sizes the card on the business, or on money it already holds: Brex asks for $500K/yr or equity funding, where an equity investment of any amount counts, Ramp asks for $25,000 cash in a linked bank account, and Mercury IO bases the limit on Cash held.
Then there are the cards whose issuer publishes nothing either way, which today are BILL, Capital One Spark Cash, Capital One Spark Cash Plus, Capital One Spark Cash Select, Corpay, Emburse, Grasshopper x Mercantile Business Card, Relay Visa Credit Card, Slash Platinum Card and U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards. Capital One Spark Cash Select's answer is Not published at source because the pages we read ask for the owner's details to establish creditworthiness and do not say whether the owner is liable. For an LLC that is the question to settle before the fee, and the way to settle it is the cardholder agreement, not the marketing page. If avoiding the guarantee is the whole point, our guide to business credit cards with no personal guarantee reads the cash and revenue conditions beside each card.
Approval and the limit are the issuer's decision on every card here, and nothing the LLC's structure does changes that.
Building business credit with an LLC's business credit card
An LLC that wants its own credit file needs a card that reports to the business bureaus and keeps the account off the owner's file, and the issuers publish that unevenly. Mercury IO is the card in our table whose issuer states it reports to business bureaus: its answer on personal credit reporting is Business bureaus only. Brex states No on personal reporting, in its own words keeping activity at the business level. The answer is not published on 25 cards, bank cards and corporate cards alike, and a vendor's line that applying does not affect your score is about the application, not about what the account does afterwards. If reporting is the reason you are choosing a card, ask the issuer in writing before you sign.
The annual fee is a separate question from all of the above. Chase Ink Business Unlimited charges $0 and Chase Ink Business Preferred $95, on the same guarantee terms. Our guide to no annual fee business credit cards covers what a card with no fee still costs an LLC in software, foreign transaction fees and interest.