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The Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® credit card is an exceptionally good small business credit card.
You get to pick from one of six business-related categories where you’ll earn 3% cash back each month, tailoring your rewards to your spending habits. You’ll also get 2% back on dining purchases and 1% back on everything else.
Unfortunately, there’s a $50,000 annual spending limit on the 3% and 2% cash back categories combined. Not a huge deal if you’re a smaller business or even a freelancer who’s flying solo, but that could be an obstacle for bigger, more established businesses.
The card features a few potentially helpful benefits, like cash flow management tools and travel protections, as well as a promotional introductory APR that gives you 0% for 9 billing cycles on purchases (then 13.74% - 23.74% Variable APR).
And there’s not much more to it. Pairing simplicity with strong cash back rates, the BofA Business Advantage Cash Rewards is a great pick if you’d like to earn rewards on your business spending, but aren’t looking to pay an annual fee to do so.
The Cash Rewards Mastercard is one of five BofA-issued business credit cards:
Card & Rewards | Annual Fee |
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Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® credit card | $0.00 |
Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card | $0.00 |
Bank of America® Platinum Plus® Mastercard® Business Credit Card | $0.00 |
Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card | $50 for the company and $25 per card |
Asiana Visa® Business Card | $80 |
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We’re giving the Bank of America Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard 5 out of 5 stars. The $50,000 annual limit on its 3% and 2% cash back earnings might seem too small to some, but that’s basically the card’s only drawback. It’s a fantastic (and simple) option for smaller businesses or anyone who’s new to business credit cards.
In spite of its customizability, this card’s rewards program isn’t too tough to wrap your head around. You pick a 3% category, use the card where it makes sense, then choose from three simple options to redeem.
That’ll give you a cash back equivalent of up to 3%, or up to 5.75% if you’ve reached the highest tier (Platinum Honors) of Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards for Business program.
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Most of these 3% category options are common enough when it comes to business credit cards, but there aren’t many that let you choose between such a useful selection every month. And 3% is a very good rate for a business card with no annual fee.
Keep in mind that you need to activate the category of your choice each month, if you want to change it, but gas is selected by default. If you don’t change anything you’ll keep the same 3% category.
Certain business owners may not find the 2% dining category quite as useful, but it can still come in handy if you ever travel for work, or meet with clients or coworkers.
Remember that you’ll only earn at the 3% and 2% rates until you’ve spent $50,000 in those categories annually. After that, it’s 1% on everything until the end of the year, so you’ll want to switch to a different card for the year’s remainder.
The Business Advantage Cash provides strong rewards from the start, but you can ramp up your earnings considerably as a member of BofA’s Preferred Rewards for Business program.
The program features three tiers, and your tier is determined by the combined balances of your BofA business deposit accounts and/or Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch business investment accounts. Each tier gives you a rewards bonus with eligible Bank of America business cards, among other benefits.
Tier | Minimum Combined Balances | Rewards Bonus | Business Advantage Cash Earnings |
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Gold | $20,000 | 25% | 3.75%; 2.5%; 1.25% |
Platinum | $50,000 | 50% | 4.5%; 3%; 1.5% |
Platinum Honors | $100,000 | 75% | 5.25%; 3.5%; 1.75% |
Redeeming with this card is incredibly simple. There aren’t too many options, which might seem a detriment to some, but that simplicity could be perceived as a benefit by others. Not everyone wants to spend time strategizing reward redemption schemes.
You have three ways to redeem your cash back:
It doesn’t matter which you choose — you’re always getting the same value for your rewards.
The Business Advantage Cash Rewards card offers a few useful benefits, but nothing too flashy. That’s perfectly normal at this fee tier.
Purchase APR | Balance Transfer APR | Cash Advance APR |
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0% for 9 billing cycles, then 13.74% - 23.74% Variable APR | 13.74% - 23.74% Variable APR | 25.74% Variable APR for Cash Advances and Convenience Checks |
Annual Fee | Foreign Transaction Fee |
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$0.00 | 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each transaction |
Balance Transfer Fee | Cash Advance Fee |
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Either $10 or 4% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater. | Either $10 or 4% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater. Includes Convenience Checks. |
Penalty APR | Late Fee | Returned Payment Fee |
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None | Up to $49 | $39 |
The main attraction here is the card’s introductory APR offer. It’s not the longest offer of this sort on the market, but it could be useful if you’re looking to make a big business purchase in the near future and you’re not sure you can knock out the full price in a month to avoid interest.
Take note that there’s a foreign transaction fee, so this isn’t the best card for international travel.
Read more Best Business Credit Cards With No Foreign Transaction FeesThough it’s not for everyone, the Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® credit card is one of the more impressive no annual fee business credit cards. The reward rates are commendable, and the chance to pick your own category every month is a huge plus. The simple redemption options are sure to appeal to the busy business owner.
The benefits, while few in number, are fairly good for a card this basic.
The introductory purchase APR offer is good, too, if you’ve been looking to make an important purchase that you don’t think you can cover in a single month.
The card’s main downfall is the $50,000 annual spending limit on its 3% and 2% rewards categories. But while that could be a dealbreaker for some businesses, there are plenty of potential cardholders out there who won’t have any trouble working within those confines.
Click the “Apply Now” button below, and you’ll be directed to Bank of America’s official, secure application for the Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard. Fill out and submit the necessary personal and business information, and BofA may approve or deny you instantly after conducting a hard personal credit inquiry.
If not, the bank may tell you to wait while your application is reviewed, or you could be asked to provide more information.
The Business Advantage Cash Rewards card is intended for applicants with excellent credit. Though it’s a business card, that still refers to your personal credit, because business cards typically require a personal guarantee.
“Excellent credit” has a fairly ambiguous definition. VantageScore clearly defines “excellent credit” as scores of 750 or more. FICO, on the other hand, defines “very good” credit as scores from 720–799 and “exceptional” scores as anything above that.
So you can typically assume that credit scores above 750 or so are considered excellent or approaching excellent, regardless of scoring brand. However, you can still be denied with excellent scores or even approved with scores that only fall in the “good” range; each business card application is approved or denied on a case-by-case basis. (Not sure if you’ll qualify? See how easy it can be to qualify for business cards.)
securely on the issuer's website
Strong as it may be, the Bank of America Business Advantage Cash isn’t a one-size-fits-all credit card. You may benefit more from a card with travel rewards, or something that delivers a flat reward rate on every purchase. We’ll walk through a few cards you might want to use in place of, or alongside, the BofA Business Advantage Cash.
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Though the Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card bears a similar name to its Cash Rewards counterpart, it’s fairly different, especially in terms of rewards.
The main thing is that you’re earning points rather than cash back, which means you can swap rewards for travel. That’s not possible with the Business Advantage Cash.
There’s no spending limit, either, which adds a bit of appeal for larger businesses.
Unlike the Business Advantage Cash, the Travel card charges no foreign transaction fee, which makes it a better card to bring along if you’re traveling abroad.
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As you can see, the spending categories here aren’t as exciting as the Cash card. The good news is that the base rate is 1.5X points on every purchase (aside from BofA Travel bookings), rather than 1X like with most cards.
You also get the same percentage boosts for being a Preferred Rewards member that we described above, increasing the card’s earning potential considerably.
For businesses that don’t spend a lot and prefer a card with no annual fee, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Review) is an outstanding option. It features a varied rewards program, a signup bonus, and a handful of decent (if basic) benefits.
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All of these categories are covered by the Business Advantage Cash in some respect, but here, you don’t have to choose between anything. You get these rates at all times, up to the spending limits.
Those $25,000 annual limits may seem low for a lot of companies, but as with the BofA card, this could still work for small businesses and freelancers, or if you’re using another card like it after you hit $25K.
Where the Business Advantage Cash card shines with its multifaceted reward structure, the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (Review) prioritizes simplicity. You earn at a flat rate up to a set annual spending limit (after that you earn less), and you don’t have to think about how you redeem. There are a few benefits, too.
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One of the more interesting elements of this card is that you don’t actually have to do anything to redeem your rewards. The cash back is automatically credited to your account at the end of each billing period.
The main weakness here is that you can’t redeem your rewards for travel, or anything other than cash back. If you prefer that flexibility, consider this card’s point-earning counterpart, The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Review).
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The information related to American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
The Capital One Spark Cash for Business (Review) earns cash back at a flat rate like the Amex card above. But here, there’s no spending limit on rewards — you earn at the same rate whether you spend $500 or $5,000,000 in a year. That’s a huge plus for bigger businesses where limits like $25,000 or $50,000 might seem like nothing.
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The Spark Cash card’s rewards structure is about as simple as it gets. You earn 2% on everything, with no category restrictions and no spending limits. Cash back can be redeemed as a statement credit or by mail in check form.
The information related to Capital One Spark Cash for Business has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share this review if you thought it was helpful, or leave a comment below if we missed something that should be discussed.
With no annual fee, the Bank of America Business Advantage Cash delivers a strong, flexible reward structure and a handful of benefits. But there’s a $50,000 annual spending limit on its bonus categories, which may seem fairly limiting, especially to bigger businesses.
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The information related to The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
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