Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in US dollars.
A personal guarantee makes you, not just your company, liable for the card debt, and on a bank-issued business credit card it is usually a condition of the application. The picks below are drawn from the cards whose issuer states there is no guarantee. What this page adds to the issuers' own marketing is the detail beside that claim: what each card asks for instead, because the guarantee never simply disappears. It is replaced by a test of the business, and the test decides who the card is really for.
What replaces the personal guarantee on a business credit card
The picks are listed alphabetically, not ranked, and commission does not affect which cards appear. A card whose issuer states no guarantee is sized on the business, or on money it already holds, rather than on the owner's promise to pay, and the cards that state it are Airwallex Corporate Card, Brex, Mercury IO, Ramp, Rho and Rippling Corporate Card.
Brex tests revenue or funding: it asks for $500K/yr or equity funding, and an equity investment of any amount counts, with the minimum to apply on daily repayment listed as None. Mercury IO tests the balance you keep with it: it lists a minimum to apply of None but bases the limit on Cash held, so the card can never outrun the account. Ramp tests cash: the minimum to apply is $25,000 cash, held in a linked US business bank account. Rho is a charge card with a minimum to apply of None on daily terms, and its monthly terms open once a stated balance is held at Rho or across linked accounts.
One card in the no-guarantee group is different in kind and is not a pick here. The Airwallex Corporate Card is Debit (spends your balance): it spends money you already hold and extends no credit, so there is no credit line to underwrite and no guarantee to ask for. The Rippling Corporate Card carries a condition of another sort: it requires Rippling Platform.
Read the cash and revenue conditions before the guarantee: a founder with neither is the reader this marketing cannot serve.
Who qualifies for a business credit card with no personal guarantee
The entity test disqualifies before anything else does. Brex takes No sole proprietors, Mercury IO No sole proprietors, Ramp No sole proprietors and Rho No sole proprietors: what they want is a registered or incorporated US entity with an EIN. None of the cards whose issuer states no personal guarantee says it accepts sole proprietors. The cards that do state they accept one 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, Capital One Spark Cash, Capital One Spark Cash Plus, Capital One Spark Cash Select, Chase Ink Business Cash, Chase Ink Business Preferred, Chase Ink Business Premier, Chase Ink Business Unlimited, Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business and U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards, and every one of those is bank-issued. Applying for an EIN with the IRS is free and, online, issued immediately, so the EIN itself is never the obstacle; the registered entity behind it is.
Being an LLC is necessary at these issuers and not sufficient: it removes no guarantee from a bank card and raises no limit anywhere. Our guide to business credit cards for LLCs goes through what each issuer asks of the owner.
Approval and the limit are the issuer's decision on every card here.
Is personal credit checked on a no personal guarantee business credit card
The credit check and the credit report are two questions, both separate from the guarantee. The cards that state no personal credit check, or a soft pull only, are Airwallex Corporate Card, BILL, Brex, Mercury IO, Ramp, Relay Visa Credit Card, Rho, Rippling Corporate Card and Slash Platinum Card. Mercury IO publishes No personal credit check and Rho No personal credit check.
Reporting afterwards is the answer to read twice. Brex publishes No and Mercury IO Business bureaus only. Where the table says not published, the issuer has not told you, and a statement that applying does not affect your score is a statement about the application, not about the account. The full business credit card guide explains how the table keeps those three questions apart.
The trade-offs of a no personal guarantee business credit card
The picks on this page are charge cards, so there is no balance to carry and no purchase rate: Brex publishes Pay in full, no interest and Mercury IO Pay in full, no interest. If you need to carry a balance, the revolving bank cards in the table are the ones that can, and those that publish an answer on the guarantee require one.
The foreign transaction fee can be a ceiling rather than a rate. Brex publishes Up to 3%, Mercury IO Up to 3% and Ramp Up to 3%, and the calculator charges the ceiling. Ramp's comparison page lists no foreign transaction fee, but its card terms call the conversion margin a fee paid by the customer, so the table uses the terms. Rho's fee on card spend is not published at source, so its estimate is incomplete once you enter foreign spend.
Software is where a team's monthly bill comes from. Brex charges Free (Essentials) or $12/user (Premium), Ramp Free, or from $15/user + platform fee (Plus), Mercury IO Free; NetSuite from $35/mo and Rho Free. Enter your real cardholder count; a plan that is free for a founder may not be free for a team.
Some issuers publish nothing about the guarantee either way. A blank is not a no, so those cards are shown as not published, and the compare button on this page opens the table with the No personal guarantee chip on, which hides them and says how many it hid.