The Points Guy
- The Brex Card is a corporate card that doesn't require a credit check or any personal guarantees. It connects to your corporate bank account, and offers a number of benefits tailored to businesses.
- There are two versions of the card: the Brex Corporate Card for Startups and the Brex Corporate Card for Ecommerce. There are a few small differences, but neither card charges an annual fee.
- If Brex isn't your exclusive corporate credit card, you'll only earn 1 point per dollar on all purchases. Otherwise, it can earn you up to 7 points per dollar depending on the spending category. So it's really only a rewarding option if it's your company's exclusive card.
- Brex allows you to transfer points to seven airline partners, including JetBlue, and for a limited time you'll earn 75,000 points upon sign-up.
The Brex Corporate Card for Startups and the Brex Corporate Card for Ecommerce have both been making the headlines lately, and for good reason. Brex recently added the ability to transfer points to airline partners, making its rewards much more valuable - and it just added a seventh partner, JetBlue.
As a business card with no personal guarantees and the ability to earn a ton of bonus points, it's definitely worth considering for your business. Here's what you need to know about both versions of this unique card.
Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which can far outweigh the value of any rewards.
When you're working to earn credit card rewards, it's important to practice financial discipline, like paying your balances off in full each month, making payments on time, and not spending more than you can afford to pay back. Basically, treat your credit card like a debit card.
Read more: The best small business credit cards available now
Brex card details
Annual fee: None
Sign-up bonus: 75,000 points upon sign-up
Points earning: Up to 7x points when you make Brex your exclusive corporate card
Foreign transaction fee: None
Fees and spending limit
There's no annual fee or startup fee for the Brex cards. You'll only have to think about fees if you need more than five employee cards. Authorized user cards over five will cost $5 per card, per month.
The Brex card is a charge card without a spending limit, which means you'll have to pay your balance in full each month. While there's no spending limit, Brex may limit how much you can have outstanding on your card at any time.
How to sign up
How will Brex know if it's your only corporate card, you ask? The Brex card is the only corporate card that doesn't require a credit check, personal guarantee, or a security deposit. Instead, you'll have to link your bank account so that Brex can know what your cash situation is like. (This also allows Brex to know whether you have any other corporate credit cards linked to your bank account.) You'll generally need at least $100,000 in your corporate bank account to be approved for a Brex card.
With the Brex Card for Startups and the Brex Card for Ecommerce, there isn't a long process to get approved. In fact, you'll get approved instantly if you qualify. You can use your virtual Brex card as soon as you're approved, and your physical card will arrive in three to five days.
Read more: 4 credit cards that earn the most value for my small business
Welcome bonus
From September 24 to October 31, 2019, you'll earn 75,000 bonus Brex points when you sign up for the Brex Card for Startups or the Brex Card for Ecommerce. (Previously, the card was offering 30,000 points.)
Better yet, Brex doesn't stop at a traditional welcome bonus. It also offers welcome credits that can be redeemed with other companies during your first year as a cardmember.
Here are some of the offers available:
- Amazon Web Services - $5,000 in credit to be used over one year
- Google Ads - $150 credit
- WeWork - 15% off the list price for a six-month membership at a US location
- DocSend - three free months
- Expensify - 50% discount for your first six months
Earning rewards with Brex
The Brex card offers great rewards, as long as you're willing to make it your exclusive corporate card. Here's what you'll be able to earn for purchases:
- 7x points on rideshare, including Lyft, Uber, taxis, and scooters
- 4x points on Brex Travel, including flights, hotels, and Airbnbs
- 3x points at restaurants and coffee shops
- 2x points on recurring software charges
- 1 point per dollar on all other purchases
If you don't make Brex your exclusive corporate card, you'll only earn 1 point per dollar spent on all of your purchases. In this case, you'd be better off putting your business spending on a card like the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card or the American Express® Business Gold Card to earn bonus points.
Redeeming Brex points
Brex offers a number of options for redeeming your rewards points. You have the ability to redeem your points for cash back or for travel through Brex Travel, but now that Brex has partnered with seven different airlines for transfers, you have even more flexibility.
You can transfer your Brex points to the following airlines at a 1:1 ratio:
- AeroMexico Club Premier
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- JetBlue TrueBlue
The newest transfer partner is JetBlue, which Brex just added. To celebrate the addition of JetBlue, Brex is offering free round-trip flights on JetBlue to employees of the five Brex customers that redeem the most Brex points with the airline. This promotion is running until October 24.
Brex Card for Startups vs. the Brex Card for Ecommerce
While most of the features of these two versions of the card are the same, there are a few minor differences.
- Brex says that it offers 10 to 20 times higher credit limits than competing cards.
- Interest-free, net-60 payment terms
- Credit limit of 50-100% of your projected monthly sales, up to $5 million
Is the Brex card right for you?
The Brex card is a great option for two main types of businesses: the business that commits to using the Brex card exclusively and/or the business that can take advantage of the welcome offers that are available for the first year.
If you're not able to commit to using the Brex Card exclusively, it doesn't make sense to spend money on this card and earn only 1 Brex point per dollar for all purchases, but it could still make sense to sign up and use some of the welcome offers.
Introducing transfer partners has made the Brex Card a serious corporate card player. If you're considering a new corporate credit card and can commit to Brex exclusively or want to test out some of the services offered with the welcome bonus, take a look at the Brex Card now.
More credit card coverage
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.
Business Insider may receive a commission from The Points Guy Affiliate Network, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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