Walmart Business Credit Card Review, Plus Top Alternatives

On those days when you look up and realize you’re out of office supplies, cleaning gear, and you need to stock up for the company’s annual picnic, where do you go to get your shopping done? If you frequently head to Walmart or Walmart.com for your business needs, then you might be considering the Walmart Business Credit Card.

By using this credit card for some of your essential purchases, you’ll be able to build your business’ credit history and credit score. However, with all of the business credit cards available, how do you know that (even as a frequent shopper) the Walmart Business Credit Card is right for you? Will this card save you money? Will you earn cash back with your purchases? These are important things to consider when looking at Walmart’s Business Credit Card—and this review is here to help. 

We’ll take a hard look at the Walmart Business Credit Card, an in-store charge card that you or your employees can use only at Walmart stores, Walmart Supercenters, Walmart Neighborhood Markets, Walmart.com, Walmart, Murphy USA gas stations, and Sam’s Clubs. We’ll break down everything you need to know, as well as the pros and cons of getting this card. Additionally, we’ll explain another of Walmart’s credit card offerings, as well as top business credit card alternatives.

Walmart Business Credit Card: What You Need to Know

The Walmart Business Credit Card is meant to help small businesses manage their spending and separate their business and personal expenses. This is a store card, meaning that you can only use it in-store or online at Walmart stores, Walmart Supercenters, Walmart Neighborhood Markets, Walmart.com, Walmart, Murphy USA gas stations, and Sam’s Clubs. However, although you are limited to those options, there is a lot included under that one umbrella. Walmart carries a vast array of products, plus they have a myriad of locations across the country—giving you access to all of their merchandise across many regions.

Fees for the Walmart Business Credit Card

One of the factors you always want to look at when choosing a credit card is the fees. The Walmart Business Credit card for store purchases has no annual fee. Additionally, as you might expect, this card doesn’t have any foreign transaction fees—not that this is of particular concern unless you’re visiting an international Walmart and plan on using your card there.

The APR for the Walmart Business Credit Card is fairly straightforward. The rate for purchases is currently 17.05% and will vary depending on the prime market rate. You have a grace period of 26 days if you make a payment in full each time.

Regardless of your credit history, you’ll pay a delinquent APR for late or missed payments. The delinquency rate is 24.99% if you don’t make your minimum payment by the due date twice in any six billing periods consecutively.

As for late payment fees, it’s $29 for new balances of a minimum of $50, and $15 for any amount less than that. These late payment fees are not too high if you think you’ll carry a balance. Of course, you don’t have to worry about any of these rates if you intend on paying off the entire statement balance in full every month.

How to Apply for a Walmart Business Credit Card

If after exploring all of your options, you ultimately decide that you want a Walmart Business Credit Card, you should know how to apply for one. Luckily, applying for a Walmart Business Credit Card is very simple. All you have to do is go to the application link and fill out the form there. You’ll be required to fill in some basic information about you and your business and agree to the Terms and Conditions as well as the Personal Guarantee.

To finish the Walmart Business Credit Card application, you’ll click “accept and submit” and the application will be sent to Synchrony Bank, which issues the Walmart card, for approval. Synchrony will advise you on the status of your application. If you’re approved, you’ll receive your Walmart Business Credit Card account and login information. If you are not approved, you will be notified of that as well.

Pros of the Walmart Business Credit Card

Now that we’ve gone through the basics of this business credit card, let’s break down the benefits.

First, you can use the store Walmart Business Credit Card to help you better manage your purchases, since you receive an itemized monthly statement. This will be great for accounting purposes, as it will help you keep track of every Walmart purchase. With this statement, you’ll be able to see exactly where you’re spending the most—which is perfect for business budgeting or trying to trace your spending patterns. Plus, by using the credit card and paying off your bill on time, you’ll be improving your business credit score.

Additionally, since the card can only be used at Walmart, you’ll have a sense of security with your employees—knowing that by giving it to them—they can only use it there. Furthermore, in comparison to other business credit cards, it may be easier for you to get approved for the Walmart card, especially if you’re looking for an easy line of credit to spend at your go-to store.

Cons of the Walmart Business Credit Card

To be quite honest, there is not much substance to the Walmart Business Credit Card. Since you can only use the card at Walmart, it’s essentially a line of credit for Walmart without any additional perks or benefits. Whereas other cards offer perks like welcome bonuses, cash back, discounts, and more, the Walmart card has none of these.

The Walmart Credit Card for consumers, on the other hand, offers discounts and rewards that the business credit card does not. (We’ll discuss this in more detail below.) The consumer card gives you 3%, 2%, and 1% back in the form of statement credits on certain categories. Although the Walmart Business Credit Card may be helpful if you need it from a cash flow standpoint, it certainly doesn’t give you the option to truly make the most out of your card.

Who Should Get the Walmart Business Credit Card?

Now that we’ve broken down the pros and cons of this card, let’s look at what kind of businesses are best-suited for the Walmart Business Credit Card. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it’s hard to say that this card would be the absolute best possible choice for any small business. Look at the facts:

• No benefits, rewards, or discounts
• No breaks for late payments, regardless of credit standing
• No ability to use beyond the Walmart family of stores
• Not even the best Walmart credit card out there 

In other words, small businesses really can’t get much use out of this card. The card is simply a line of credit—and although it shouldn’t be too hard to get approved for— if you’re spending on a business credit card, you might as well get something in return.

As we mentioned above, however, it could be beneficial to limit your employees’ spending to one store. But if you’re really concerned with limiting their purchasing power, there are other options you can explore, including a prepaid card, like Bento for Business. Otherwise, this card is probably best-suited for a regular Walmart customer who is looking for a simple credit card to establish business credit.

Alternatives to the Walmart Business Credit Card

You may be considering the Walmart Business Credit Card because you’re looking for a pretty simple card with which you can easily keep track of purchases or itemize your spending. Although this card may help you in those areas, it’s worth considering other options available to you as well. While the Walmart Business Credit Card only allows you to use it at Walmart and doesn’t give you any rewards, these alternatives have comparable perks while offering you more benefits, too:

The Walmart Mastercard From Synchrony Bank

If you’re really interested in a Walmart credit card, it’s worth thinking about their consumer credit card. This card gives you the option of both spending outside of Walmart as well as at their stores and provides those statement credits we briefly mentioned above. Their Earn 3-2-1 program allows cardholders to earn:

• 3% back on Walmart.com purchases
• 2% back on Murphy’s USA and Walmart gas purchases
• 1% off anywhere your card is accepted

There’s no annual fee, and the APR is similar to the Walmart Business Credit Card. However, late penalties with this card are a bit higher if you plan to carry a balance, and there is a foreign transaction fee. 

Although this consumer card may have merits in comparison to Walmart’s business credit card, there are certainly other business credit cards that can strike a great balance.

American Express Blue Business Plus

If you tend to carry balances and are concerned about APR, the American Express Blue Business Plus might be a great pick for you. This business credit card carries the longest 0% intro APR out there right now at 15 months. So, you can go interest-free on any balance you carry that entire time. After the 15 months are over, a variable APR kicks in, depending on the prime market rate and creditworthiness, so make sure you check the terms and conditions.

Of course, you can use this card anywhere that accepts American Express cards and not just at Walmart. So, that’s a definite benefit of this card—but you’ll also be earning rewards, too. For every dollar you spend, you’ll earn 1x in rewards points with no limit, and 2x rewards for up to $50,000 in purchases annually.

You can redeem these rewards for nearly anything, including merchandise and travel—which could be a big boom to your business. Plus, there’s no annual fee on this card, so it’s certainly worth considering.

Capital One Spark Cash for Business

One of the pros of the Walmart Business Credit Card is its simplicity. There are no complicated terms, rewards, or spending categories to keep track of. If you want more from your business credit card, but don’t have the time or desire to track your benefits, the Capital One Spark Cash for Business Card might be for you.

The Spark Cash card is one of the simplest cash back rewards card available to business owners. You get unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases—each day, every day. Also, if you travel abroad, there no foreign transaction fees.

Another perk of this business credit card is the generous welcome offer. If you spend $4,500 with the card within the first three months of opening your account, you’ll get a $500 one-time cash bonus. You also get free employee cards, meaning that you earn rewards on what they spend as well.

This card has an annual fee of $95, but Capital One waves it for the first year. So, not only can you try out the card without risk, but if you get the signup bonus, the fee is covered for the next five years.

Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card

The Bento for Business card, which we mentioned earlier, is a little different from the previous two. Unlike the American Express Blue and Capital One Spark Cash cards, Bento is a prepaid business credit card. Similar to the Walmart Business Credit Card, this card is simple and offers no rewards—it’s just a line of credit.

But the difference here is that when you sign up for Bento, your card is hooked up to your checking or business banking account. Therefore, you supply the funds for the card yourself, securely transferring cash directly onto the card to fund your credit line. If your biggest concern is employee spending, this card lets you set limits (since you choose how much goes on the card at any given time), but also allows for flexibility.

With this Bento card, you can easily set spend limits, track card activity, automatically integrate expense data into your bookkeeping software, and create as many cards as your business needs. This way, you can carefully monitor your finances, but also give your employees the ability to spend outside of Walmart.

Is the Walmart Business Credit Card Right for My Business?

Ultimately, you might want to seriously consider your other options before filling out a Walmart Business Credit Card application. Although you may be a frequent Walmart shopper, who wants a simple, straight-forward business credit card, there are cards out there that work for those requirements—plus give you added benefits. Every dollar can help your small business, so you should pick a card with intention—one that’s going to help you earn rewards, points or discounts, or lets you control spending with a degree of flexibility that isn’t also limiting. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide which business credit card is right for your business, but it’s worth remembering that there are plenty of options that will give you more than a store charge card.

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