Capital on Tap Business Credit Card review: Worth it for a chance at a high limit?

At a glance, the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards card is another 1.5 percent flat-rate business cash back card that charges no annual fee. But thanks to the Preferred Rewards for Business program, this card could offer unmatched value if you have a banking relationship with Bank of America. Depending on how much money you keep in your qualifying Bank of America business deposit accounts and Merrill business investment accounts, you can boost your rewards rate by up to 75 percent to 2.62 percent back on all qualifying purchases. That’s easily the highest flat rate you’ll find on a business card. Plus, the card carries an introductory APR offer, an easier-to-reach sign-up bonus and a more reasonable variable APR range.

Don’t let the annual fee scare you off. If your small business spends heavily, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus should more than earn its keep thanks to its unlimited 2 percent flat cash back rate. Plus, you can get your $150 annual fee (See Rates & Fees) refunded every year you spend at least $150,000. If you spend more than $50,000 per year, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus should earn you more rewards than the Capital on Tap Business card. That said, one potential catch with the Spark Cash Plus is that it’s a charge card. While this could give you increased flexibility via no preset spending limit, it also means you’ll need to pay off your balance in full each month.

The Bank of America Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards Mastercard credit card is a solid option for supplementing the Capital on Tap. As a “choose your own bonus category” card, it earns 3 percent cash back in the category of your choice and 2 percent back on dining purchases (on the first $50,000 in combined choice category and dining purchases each calendar year, then 1 percent). You can choose from several popular business spending categories, including travel, office supply stores, gas stations (including EV charging stations), computer services, telecom and wireless services, business and consulting services. You can even change your choice category once per calendar month to match your business’ evolving spending habits.

If your expenses are a bit more consistent, the Ink Business Cash Credit Card may be worth a look. It offers 5 percent cash back on the first $25,000 you spend in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year, as well as 2 percent cash back on the first $25,000 you spend in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year.  

If you find yourself making frequent purchases that fall out of the typical cash back business categories, like travel and internet services, and you’d rather spend time focusing on growing your business rather than rewards, it’s best to get a flat-rate card. With the Capital on Tap’s 1.5 percent on all purchases, you don’t have to worry about when or where you earn cash back.

Features like free employee cards with customizable spending limits and real-time spending alerts can also make managing finances easier. Knowing employees are earning a flat-rate back for all purchases can bring peace of mind if you would otherwise be concerned about them maximizing rewards categories.

Sometimes, a card’s ability to handle your business budget is more important than a card’s rewards. While a charge card can be a great tool for expensive purchases, it requires you to pay off the full balance at each billing cycle. Meanwhile, business owners can have up to a $50,000 credit limit with the Capital on Tap Business card, depending on creditworthiness.

This gives a lot of room in your budget without the pressure of having to pay it off instantly. Be aware that this card’s APR can go as high as 35.99 percent. However, if you receive an interest rate closer to the low-end rate of 18.49 percent, having a temporary balance won’t be too bad of an option. 

The best business cards offer rewards in key business spending categories, so a primary factor in a business card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a business card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average small-business owner’s spending habits. In other words, we assess whether the card earns rewards at a high rate in the most popular business spending categories. 

We researched 10 key business spending categories including dining, gas, office supplies, travel, telecommunications, insurance and more to get a sense of the average small-business owner’s spending habits. We assumed an average annual spend of around $40,000 per year based on Bankrate survey data. 

Using this data, we are able to assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your business purchases — as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other business cards, factoring in the card’s annual fee.

The better these values, the higher its score will be, making it more worthy of inclusion in our list and increasing its potential ranking.

We also score business cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each business card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other business cards. This is because an intro APR on new purchases or balance transfers can be a lifesaver if you need to pay down debt, finance a large business purchase or free up cash flow. 

While intro APRs are not uncommon on business cards, they aren’t a given, so cards that offer this sort of payment flexibility will score higher in our card rating system.

Even more important to both a card’s score and its inclusion in our list, however, is how its annual fee influences its overall value. We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. 

Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value. However, if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score and a spot in our list even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against those of other cards in the category when you subtract annual fees.

We rate each business card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on only a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you opt for some redemption options over others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to travel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. Top-tier perks include benefits like airport lounge access, travel credits, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs.

We give extra weight to perks especially useful or valuable for small-business owners, like being able to qualify with no personal guarantee, digital advertising credits, free employee cards and accounting perks.

Though the Capital on Tap Business card is meant for small businesses, those businesses must be established. To be eligible, you need to be a director or majority shareholder of the company, the business (and you) must be in the U.S. and the business must earn at least $30,000 in annual revenue. 

The Capital on Tap can be used internationally anywhere that accepts Visa cards and it doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee. However, there are a few countries where the card will be denied due to compliance with certain national and international laws.