Many small business owners find themselves sinking a lot of their business’s cash flow into office supplies. And when your go-to source for these supplies is one store, it’s tempting to upgrade your spending at this store by getting their business credit card.
And Staples, along with their Staples business credit card, is certainly no exception.
Though it might seem like the Staples business credit card is the most logical way to earn more for your business spending at Staples, in many instances, this isn’t the case.
In fact, many top, non-store specific business credit cards will help you earn more for your business spending not only at Staples but also anywhere else you choose to make a purchase.
Here’s our review of the Staples business credit card and how it stacks up against its top competitors.
TL;DR: The Staples Business Credit Card and Its Top Competitors
Don’t have the time to parse through the entire review of the Staples business credit card?
We’ve still got you covered. Here’s the long and short of it:
While the Staples business credit card does offer 5% rewards for every dollar you spend and no-interest deferred financing on purchases, you can only use this card at Staples.
Meanwhile, many of its top competitors offer 5% cash back in business-friendly spending categories and don’t constrict you to only earning these rewards from one store.
Plus, many of these competitors offer 0% intro APR periods, which, in practice, offer a more flexible version of the Staples business credit card’s deferred financing program.
Look into the American Express Blue Business Plus, the Chase Ink Business Cash, and the American Express SimplyCash Plus Business Credit Card if you want a business credit card with similar perks to the Staples business credit card but that won’t restrict your rewards or spending to one store.
The Staples Business Credit Card: Here’s What It Can Offer Your Business
Let’s dive into what the Staples Business More Account can offer.
Starting with the fundamentals, here’s everything you need to know about the Staples business credit card:
The Fundamentals
First thing’s first, because the Staples Business More Account credit card isn’t affiliated with a card network (like Mastercard or Visa, for example), you’ll only be able to make purchases on this card at Staples or on the Staples website.
As such, all of the perks they offer can only apply to the business spending you do with Staples, and this can seriously hinder the returns you see with this card. Put simply, because its competitors that don’t restrict your spending to one store also offer similarly stellar rewards for all of your spending, the Staples business credit card will only be worth it if it’s supplementary to another, more general business credit card.
And even then, you’ll need to be doing the majority of your business spending at Staples for it to make sense for you to get this business credit card. All in all, because the Staples business credit card is so hyper-specific in use, it’s only suited to Staples super-spenders.
Rewards
So, now that we know that all of the rewards that the Staples business credit card offers can only apply to spending that you do on the card and, by extension, only at Staples, what exactly are these rewards?
With the Staples business credit card, you’ll access the following rewards on your Staples spending:
- You’ll get a $50 statement credit on a purchase of $150 or more that you make within 45 days of opening your account.
- For every dollar you spend with the card, you’ll get a flat-rate 5% back in rewards.
As far as rewards rates go, a flat-rate of 5% is pretty solid. However, the $50 welcome bonus pales in comparison to the Staples business credit cards’ competitors’ welcome bonuses.
Deferred Financing Plan
The Staples business credit card also offers a deferred financing plan for business owners who are hoping to pay down big purchases gradually without accruing any interest.
How does that work, exactly?
When you make a Staples purchase of $299, $499, or $799, Staples can set you up on a payment plan to pay off this purchase in monthly installments over 6, 12, or 18 months, respectively.
As long as you make all of your monthly payments on time and you’ve paid off your purchase within the agreed-upon term, then you won’t have to pay any interest on your deferred financing.
While this is a pretty nice perk, many of the Staples business credit card’s competitors offer an even more lenient counterpart to this deferred financing program—the 0% intro APR period.
When we look into the Staples business credit card’s competitors, we’ll discuss this alternative in more detail, but moving forward, just know that there’s an even better option for paying down big ticket items gradually without accumulating interest.
Other Perks
Those are the most notable perks that the Staples business credit card can offer your business. However, those aren’t the only perks.
Before we move on, let’s take a look at some secondary advantages to choosing to spend with the Staples business credit card:
- Automatic upgrade to Staples Premier status
- Free next-day delivery on orders over $49.99, excluding oversized items
- Flexible payment options to pay in full or carry a balance every month
- Online account manager
- Itemized billing
- Purchase order tracking
- Spending limits and billing options for authorized users
- Ability to apply payments to specific invoices
Alternatives to the Staples Business Credit Card
Now that we’ve combed through the all the details on the Staples business credit card, it’s high time that we look into the details on its top competitors and see how it stacks up to its alternatives.
As you’ll soon learn, even if you’re doing a lot of your business spending at Staples, you’ll still be able to get comparable perks to the Staples business credit card and without being restricted to only spending at one office supply store.
That’s the general idea, but let’s take a look at the details on what the top business credit cards can offer you:
The American Express Blue Business Plus
First up is the American Express Blue Business Plus.
Remember when we mentioned the 0% intro APR period—the more flexible alternative to the Staples business credit card’s deferred financing? Well, the Blue Business Plus offers the longest 0% intro APR period of any business credit card available on the market.
What’s a 0% intro APR period? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like—a period where your APR is 0% right when you open your card account. As long as you make your monthly minimum payments on time, you’ll be able to carry an interest-free balance from month-to-month during a 0% intro APR period.
And the Blue Business Plus’s 0% intro APR period is 15 months long.
So, not only will you be able to spend with the Blue Business Plus anywhere that accepts American Express cards, you’ll also be able to defer your payments for any spending you do within your first 15 months with this card.
The Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card
Next up on our list of top competitors to the Staples business credit card is the Chase Ink Business Cash.
At 12 months, the Ink Cash’s 0% intro APR doesn’t quite measure up to the Blue Business Plus, but it still offers a whole year of interest-free balances. And for those three months that it lacks in 0% intro APR, it more than makes up for in rewards.
In fact, if you’re looking for 5% cash back for your spending at Staples—and then some—you’ll get it with the Ink Cash. With the Ink Cash, you can access the following rewards rates for your business spending:
- 5% cash back the first $25,000 spent annually:
- At office supply stores
- On cell phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services
- 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent annually:
- At gas stations
- At restaurants
- 1% cash back on all other purchase with no limit
Not to mention, the Ink Business Cash’s welcome bonus makes the Staples business credit cards’ $50 statement credit pale in comparison. With the Ink Cash, you’ll earn $300 bonus cash back when you spend just $3,000 during your first three months with the card.
Overall, if you’re looking for top-of-the-line cash back returns on all of your spending—not just your office supply purchases at a specific vendor—then we suggest that you opt for the Ink Business Cash rather than the Staples business credit card.
The American Express SimplyCash Plus Business Credit Card
Last up on our list of the top alternatives to the Staples business credit card is the American Express SimplyCash Plus. Just like the Ink Business Cash, the SimplyCash Plus will let you access top-tier cash back returns for your business spending not only at office supply stores but also within many other business-friendly spending categories.
As you spend on your business with the SimplyCash Plus, you’ll access these cash back rates:
- 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent annually:
- At office supply stores
- On wireless phone service
- 3% cash back on the first $25,000 spent annually within your choice of one of the following spending categories:
- Airfare (when purchased directly from airlines)
- Hotel stays (when booked directly through the hotel)
- Gas stations in the U.S.
- Car rentals from eligible agencies
- Restaurants in the U.S.
- Advertising in the U.S.
- Shipping in the U.S.
- Computer hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases made in the U.S. and directly with select providers
- 1% cash back on all every other dollar spent, with no limit to how much you can earn
Plus, the SimplyCash Plus offers a welcome bonus that will also make the Staples business credit card’s $50 statement credit look like small change. If you spend $5,000 during your first six months with the card, you’ll earn a $200 statement credit.
Then, if you spend $10,000 during your first year with the card, you’ll earn another $200 statement credit. That totals up to a welcome bonus that’s worth a whopping $400 cash back.
That said, the SimplyCash Plus comes with a shorter 0% intro APR period than your other two alternatives, but you’ll still have access to nine months of no-interest balances with this business credit card.
The Verdict on the Staples Business Credit Card
With all of the necessary information laid out in front of you, you’re now equipped to decide whether or not the Staples business credit card is the right card for your business spending.
The way we see it?
Even in a—perhaps unrealistic—hypothetical situation where you’re doing all of your business spending at Staples, you’ll still be able to get 5% returns for your spending with the Ink Cash and the SimplyCash Plus. If—and only if—you’re spending more than $25,000 at Staples every year, you should look into getting the Staples business credit card.
However, even then, we suggest you look into getting another business credit card that will allow you to spend freely on your business.
The post Staples Business Credit Card Review and 3 Alternatives appeared first on Fundera Ledger.
from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/staples-business-credit-card
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