Huntington is an Ohio-based bank that’s been around since 1866. The bank’s credit card offering has some decidedly 21st-century features, however, including a compelling 4% cash back in a category of your choosing, and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
With no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee, you won’t have to worry about fee payments eating into the value of any rewards you earn with the Huntington business credit card, also known as the Voice Business Credit Card. We’ll get into the details in this review, as well as discussing some similar business credit card alternatives to the Huntington card.
Everything You Need to Know About the Huntington Business Credit Card
Fees
We all know how tempting rewards credit cards can be. It’s easy to get excited about points or cash back without stopping to consider the impact of fees. The good news is that the Huntington business credit card doesn’t come with an annual fee. That’s one less business expense for you to worry about, and it means you don’t have to run the numbers to see if the card’s benefits would outweigh the cost of the annual fee.
Planning to use your card abroad? You also won’t have to worry about pesky foreign transaction fees. That’s great news for small business owners who make frequent international business trips.
Now for the bad news. Like many other cards, Huntington’s Voice Business Credit Card comes with transaction and penalty fees. A balance transfer to the card will cost you the greater of either $10 or 3% of the amount of each balance transfer. Need to take a credit card cash advance? It’ll cost you the same as a balance transfer—the greater of either $10 or 3% of the amount of the advance.
Paying your credit card bill late is another way to incur a fee with the Huntington business credit card. The card comes with a late payment penalty fee of up to $39, and a returned check fee of up to $39, too.
Rewards
Now let’s talk about the fun part—rewards. As a cardholder, you’ll have the opportunity to pick a different rewards category each quarter. Purchases in the category you choose will earn you 4% cash back during that quarter, up to a maximum reward of $7,000 per quarter. The 10 categories that are eligible for 4% cash back are:
- Gas stations
- Travel and entertainment
- Restaurants
- Discount and warehouse stores
- Grocery stores
- Utility and office supply stores
- Electronics, computer, and camera stores
- Department, apparel, and sporting goods stores
- Home improvement stores
- Auto parts and service stores
If those categories look like they cover a substantial amount of your business spending, the Huntington business credit card might be a good fit for you. However, whenever a card has a cap on the rewards you can earn it’s worth doing the math to figure out whether your spending in a given category would exceed the rewards cap. For example, is 4% of your spending on travel and entertainment going to equal more than $7,000 per quarter? If so, you might want to consider a card that doesn’t cap rewards, or that offers a higher rewards cap.
For purchases you make in a category that’s not the category you’ve chosen for the 4% cash back, you’ll earn 1% cash back. There’s no limit on the amount of cash back you can earn from spending in the 1% categories.
In addition to these rewards, the Huntington business credit card also comes with an introductory 0% APR on balance transfers for the first 12 business cycles after the transfer. Once the introductory period ends you’ll be subject to a variable APR that will depend on your creditworthiness and the market prime rate. Check the issuer’s terms and conditions for the latest information.
The Huntington business credit card’s 12-month offer is not the longest introductory 0% APR period on the market (more on that below), but it’s a strong selling point nonetheless. Keep in mind that the 0% offer only applies to balance transfers, not purchases. If you need a period of time during which your purchases won’t rack up interest, you’ll be better off with a card that applies its 0% introductory APR to both balance transfers and new purchases.
Benefits/Features
In addition to offering 4% cash back in one of 10 categories per quarter, plus 1% cash back on all other purchases, Huntington’s Voice Business Credit Card comes with some handy benefits and features that could make your life as a small business owner a little easier.
The Huntington business credit card allows you an unlimited number of employee cards—a great feature for someone with a large team. Plus, you’ll be able to set spending controls for each card online and monitor transactions across the account.
Another feature of the Huntington business credit card is overdraft protection, though this feature is a bit of a mixed bag. When you link your Huntington business credit card to a business checking account, your credit card can cover any potential overdrafts from that checking account, up to 10% of your credit limit on the card.
Say for example you’re having some cash flow issues and your account is in danger of being overdrawn by $400. As long as $400 is less than 10% of your credit limit on your linked Huntington business credit card, that credit card will prevent you from going into overdraft on your checking account. Essentially, if you take this option you’ll be transferring money to your business bank account to cover the overdraft, and the good news is that there’s no transfer fee in this scenario. The bad news, though, is that the amount you transfer will be subject to the same variable APR as a cash advance, and there will be no grace period on the transferred amount.
Like a regular credit card cash advance, this overdraft “protection” option is a pretty risky one that can end up costing you a pretty penny. It’s always best to avoid overdrawing an account, and to compare the cost of any overdraft fees your checking account charges to the cost of the linked credit card overdraft protection option that Huntington offers.
Top Alternatives to the Huntington Business Credit Card
If you’re not 100% sold on Huntington’s Voice Business Credit Card, you’re probably wondering what some comparable cards might be. It’s always a good idea to shop around see what else is on the market. Let’s take a closer look at two alternatives that offer similar rewards to the Huntington business credit card.
Best Alternative for Cash Back Rewards: Chase Ink Business Cash
Feeling like you want a higher cash back rewards rate than the Huntington business credit card offers? You might be interested in the Chase Ink Business Cash card. The Chase Ink Business Cash card comes with a $500 signup bonus when you spend $3,000 in your first three months as a cardholder. That’s a solid deal, and beats out the Huntington business credit card, which doesn’t offer a signup bonus.
The Chase Ink Business Cash card comes with the same introductory 0% APR period of 12 billing cycles, after which your APR will be a variable rate based on your creditworthiness and the market prime rate. However, unlike the Huntington business credit card, the Chase Ink Business Cash card offers that 0% introductory APR on both balance transfers and purchases.
Having a 0% APR on new purchases can be helpful when you’re getting started with a new business or expansion and you want a longer runway before you have to start paying interest on anything you don’t pay off from month to month. Of course, ideally your cash flow would allow you to pay your bills in full each month, but if you’re worried that this might not be the case for several months, an introductory 0% APR that applies to both purchases and balance transfers can make a big difference to your finances—and your stress levels.
When it comes to the actual rewards rate, the Chase Ink Business Cash card does things a little differently than the Huntington business credit card. The Chase Ink Business Cash card has three rewards tiers—5%, 2%, and 1%, depending on where you spend.
The 5% cash back rate applies to the first $25,000 you spend in a year on purchases from office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services. You’ll earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 you spend annually at gas stations and restaurants. The 1% cash back rewards rate applies to all other purchases, with no dollar cap.
If you know you can spend enough to earn the signup business, you need a 0% purchase APR, and/or you spend heavily in the Chase Ink Business Cash card’s 5% cash back category, you might prefer the Chase card over Huntington’s Voice Business Credit Card.
Best Alternative for Long 0% APR Period: Blue Business Plus Card From American Express
Looking for the longest introductory 0% APR period you can get? The Blue Business Plus Card from American Express offers the longest 0% APR period on the market, at 15 billing cycles. Not only is this the longest 0% APR period on the market, but it also applies to both balance transfers and purchases. Keep in mind that when those 15 billing cycles have ended, any balance you’re carrying or that you carry on the card in the future will be subject to a variable APR that will depend on your creditworthiness and the market prime rate.
The AMEX Blue Business Plus Card is the one for you if you’re looking for the longest available offer on interest-free balance transfers and purchases. This could be the case if you need time to pay down credit card debt from another card, or if you think you’ll have a lot of startup costs in your first 15 months as a cardholder and you’re not sure you’ll be able to pay your bill in full and on time at the end of each business cycle. Ideally, by the time those 15 months have ended, your balance will be down to $0 and you’ll be in a position to pay your full credit card bill each month from that time on.
Who Should Get the Huntington Business Credit Card?
We’ve walked you through the features of the Huntington business credit card and told you about some comparable alternatives. Now it’s time to answer the question of who should get the card. If you already have a business checking account with Huntington, getting a business credit card from the same bank could make a lot of sense. And with no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and unlimited employee cards, there’s not a lot of downside risk to the card.
Not already a Huntington customer? You might still be tempted by the card’s rewards and features, especially if you like the idea of being able to choose your 4% rewards category every quarter. For other customers, that option might sound like too much of a hassle. In that case, a card like the Chase Cash Ink Business Cash card that has established rewards tiers in different categories might be a better, more low-maintenance option for you. And if you need a long introductory 0% APR period on both balance transfers and purchases, the AMEX Blue Business Plus Card is probably the one for you.
The post The Huntington Business Credit Card Review, Plus Top Alternatives appeared first on Fundera Ledger.
from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/huntington-business-credit-card/
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