BBVA Business Credit Cards Reviewed, Plus Top Alternatives

The Two BBVA Business Credit Card Options

BBVA Compass offers two business credit cards—the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card and the BBVA Compass Visa Business Rewards Credit Card. The BBVA secured business credit card is an ideal option for business owners with challenged credit who want to earn rewards points, while the BBVA business rewards credit card offers up flexible rewards to business owners with good credit.

As you start out your search for the right business credit card for your small business, it’s tempting to whittle away at your possibilities bank-by-bank. And one specific bank you might look to for your go-to business credit card is BBVA Compass.

You’re likely wondering what BBVA business credit cards are available for you to include in your search. As such, we’ve compiled all the details on both of your BBVA business credit card options—the BBVA secured business credit card and the BBVA business rewards credit card—all in one place.

Read on for all you need to know to determine whether or not either of the two BBVA Compass business credit cards is a good fit for your business.

BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card

The BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card is the more accessible of the two BBVA business credit card options—by a mile. That’s because the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card requires cardholders to provide a security deposit to secure their credit limit—hence, the label “secured.”

Because this security deposit acts like a form of collateral for the card’s credit limit, BBVA Compass takes on a lot less risk by providing applicants with secured business credit cards. As a result, business owners with challenged personal credit can qualify for and build credit with the secured BBVA business credit card.

That’s the general idea, but let’s take a look at the details on the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card, broken down by whether they add or detract to its cardholder experience:

The Upsides to the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card

One of the biggest standout features that the secured BBVA business credit card offers is its rewards program. Now, having a rewards program might not seem all that special, but it’s pretty rare for a secured business credit card to have one. Because secured cards are primarily designed for building credit, not many offer up rewards for your spending.

But the secured BBVA business credit card does offer the following rewards rates:

• 1x rewards points for every purchase
• 2x rewards points in a chosen purchase category
• 3x rewards points in another chosen purchase category

Plus, the secured BBVA business credit card does exactly what a secured card needs to—it allows credit-challenged business owners the opportunity to build credit through responsible credit.

The Downsides to the BBVA Compass Secured Visa Business Credit Card

That said, the secured BBVA Compass business credit card comes with a few downsides to keep in mind. For one, you’ll have to pay a $40 annual fee for this card. Though BBVA will waive this fee for your first year, many secured cards don’t come with any annual fee, ever.

Plus, the way the secured BBVA business credit card structures its security deposit is pretty inflexible. You’ll only have a credit limit of 90% of your security deposit balance, and the minimum opening deposit is $500. From there, you’ll only be able to make deposits in additional $100 increments. This is a pretty regimented security deposit setup, especially compared to other secured credit cards.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the secured BBVA business credit card is only available in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, California, and New Mexico. BBVA business credit cards are only available in seven out of the 50 states in the U.S., so the secured business credit card they offer is only a credit building solution for a small sect of the country’s business owners.

BBVA Compass Visa Business Rewards Credit Card

Your other BBVA business credit card option is the BBVA Compass Visa Business Rewards Credit Card. This is the more premium of the two BBVA business credit card options, so it will only be available to business owners with good to excellent personal credit. The BBVA Compass business rewards card works much like an unsecured version of its secured counterpart. If you qualify for this BBVA business credit card, you won’t have to provide a deposit to secure your credit limit. That said, you’ll be able to access a similar rewards program as that of the secured BBVA business credit card—and then some.

Let’s see how the BBVA Compass Visa Business Rewards Credit Card compares to the secured BBVA business credit card:

The Upsides to the BBVA Compass Visa Business Rewards Credit Card

This BBVA business credit card will also come with the customizable 2x and 3x rewards categories that the secured BBVA business credit card comes with. However, when you spend with the BBVA business rewards credit card, you’ll also earn 2x rewards on the following purchase categories:

• Gas
• Office supplies
• Telephone
• Insurance purchases

And unlike the secured BBVA business credit card, this one doesn’t come with an annual fee at all. Not to mention, for the rest of 2018, BBVA is offering a welcome bonus for this card with the following perks:

• 20,000 bonus rewards points if you spend $3,000 in your first 90 days with the card
• 9 months of 0% intro APR for purchases
• 12 months of 0% or 3.99% intro APR for balance transfers that you request within 90 days of opening your account

All in all, this BBVA business credit card is a more lucrative rewards card than the secured BBVA business credit card.

The Downsides to the BBVA Compass Visa Business Rewards Credit Card

Again, one of the most important downsides about this BBVA business credit card is that it’s only available in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, California, and New Mexico—if your business isn’t based in one of these states, then this BBVA Compass business credit card simply isn’t an option.

Additionally, though the rewards that this BBVA business credit card offers are certainly notable, they can’t quite stand up to some of the top rewards programs out there. And this is especially true when you take other business credit cards’ welcome offers into account—the welcome bonus and 0% intro APR periods that the BBVA business rewards credit card offers just don’t quite stack up.

Top Alternatives to the BBVA Compass Business Credit Cards

If neither of the two BBVA Compass business credit cards sounds like the right fit for you, it’s time to take your business credit card search beyond just what BBVA can offer.

Here are the top alternatives to the two BBVA business credit card options:

Consider the Capital One Secured Mastercard for More Flexibility Than the BBVA Secured Business Credit Card Can Offer

If you’re looking for the most flexibility that you can possibly find from a secured card, veer away from the secured BBVA business credit card and toward the Capital One Secured Mastercard.

Though the Secured Mastercard is a personal secured credit card, it is that much more efficient at doing exactly what most business owners need it to do—helping to improve their personal credit history. This secured card will allow you to provide a security deposit of as little as 25% of your credit limit. Plus, Capital One will let you provide your deposit in installments, as long as you pay it in full within 80 days of opening your account.

Granted, the Capital One Secured Mastercard doesn’t provide a rewards program like the secured BBVA business credit card does. But the Secured Mastercard also won’t charge you an annual fee to be a cardmember.

To decide between the secured BBVA business credit card and the Capital One Secured Mastercard, you need to decide whether you want more flexibility in your security deposit and no annual fee, or if you’d sacrifice those perks for a rewards program.

Look to the Chase Ink Cash for More Value Than the BBVA Business Rewards Card Can Offer

If you have good-to-excellent credit, and you’re looking to get the most value possible from your business credit card, then consider applying for the Chase Ink Business Cash instead of the BBVA business rewards credit card.

With the Ink Cash, you’ll earn a welcome offer of $500 cash back if you spend $3,000 in your first three months after opening your account. That’s about $300 more in value for the same amount spent as the BBVA welcome offer.

Even more, you’ll be able to access a 12-month 0% intro APR period for both balance transfers and purchases.

On top of all of those intro perks, you’ll also earn the following sustained rewards rates:

• 5% cash back for the first $25,000 you spend annually on:
  • Office supply stores
  • Internet, cable, and phone services
• 2% cash back for the first $25,000 you spend annually on:
  • Gas stations
  • Restaurants
• 1% cash back for everything else

The way we see it, unless you’re determined to earn rewards points rather than cash back for your spending, then the Ink Cash has the BBVA Compass business rewards credit card beat in pretty much every category.

The Verdict on the Two BBVA Business Credit Cards

Now that we’ve unfolded all there is to know on the two BBVA business credit cards—and their top two competitors—what’s your next move?

You need to take the facts that you’ve learned here and decide how they’ll affect your decision on the two BBVA business credit cards.

If they offer something non-negotiable that other business credit cards can’t—like, for instance, a secured card with a rewards program or a customizable rewards points program—then you should move forward with applying for one of these BBVA Compass business credit cards.

However, if you’re hesitant to move forward with one of these two BBVA business credit cards, then your next step to finding the right business credit card will be searching for your top alternatives. As we highlighted above, the Capital One Secured Mastercard and the Ink Business Cash are two of the best alternatives to what the BBVA business credit cards can offer.

That said, there is a wide market of business credit cards out there, so we suggest diving into your options to see which can best address your needs and preferences.

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