- Ideal applicants for secured business credit cards
- Our picks
- How we picked the best secured business credit cards
- Sources
- About the author
- User questions & answers
- Expert opinions
Ideal Applicants for Secured Business Credit Cards
Secured business credit cards are best for small business owners and authorized representatives, such as officers or executives, whose personal credit history is damaged to the extent that they have a “bad” credit score, below 640. Approval for a business credit card depends mainly on your personal credit history and disposable income, and you’re unlikely to get an unsecured business credit card with bad credit.
In addition, a secured business credit card is an especially good fit for applicants who don’t mind placing a refundable security deposit but do plan to pay the card’s bill in full every month. A secured card’s spending limit typically equals the amount of the cardholder’s security deposit, and secured cards aren’t known for low interest rates.
Our Picks for the Best Secured Business Credit Cards
Very few secured business credit cards are available to new applicants right now. As a result, if inexpensive credit improvement is your top priority, you should definitely consider secured cards branded for personal use along with business-branded cards. Using a personal credit card for business never increases your individual liability, and that’s especially true when you can’t spend more than your security deposit.
Our editors compared both corporate and consumer-branded offers to identify the best secured credit cards for small business owners of all types. You can find a recap of their selections listed by main feature below.
Best Secured Credit Cards for Business Comparison
| Credit Card | Best For | Annual Fee | Minimum Deposit |
| Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured credit card | No Annual Fee | $0 | $1000 |
| First National Bank of Omaha Business Edition® Secured Mastercard® Credit Card | Low Annual Fee | $39 | $2000 |
| Truist Enjoy Cash Secured Credit Card | Gas & Utilities | $19 | $400 |
Your goal in finding a secured business credit card, other than minimizing refundable fees, should be to graduate to a higher credit tier and a better offer as quickly as possible. To do that, you must use your card responsibly – by making on-time payments and keeping your credit utilization low – and keep tabs on your credit score.
How We Picked the Best Secured Business Credit Cards
To identify the best secured credit cards for business, WalletHub’s editors compare all of the secured cards in our database of more than 1,500 credit card offers. We consider secured cards branded for business use as well as those intended for consumers, given that using a general-consumer card will not increase a small business owner’s personal liability. In addition, considering secured credit cards for businesses and consumers alike dramatically increases a small business owner’s card selection. This ultimately helps applicants find the best card for their needs and maximize their savings as they improve their credit standing.
In particular, the best secured credit cards for business use have low annual fees, good rewards and monthly credit-bureau reporting. We prioritize such features when comparing offers and select the best options for different types of applicants based on two-year cost.
How Two-Year Cost Is Calculated
Two-year cost is used to approximate the monetary value of cards for better comparison and is calculated by combining annual and monthly membership fees over two years, adding any one-time fees or other fees (like balance transfer fees), adding any interest costs, and subtracting rewards. Negative amounts indicate savings. When fees or other terms are presented as a range, we use the midpoint for scoring purposes.
Rewards bonuses and credits have been taken into account for two-year cost calculations. However, bonuses applicable to only a very small portion of cardholders are not considered. For example, credits and bonuses awarded for spending or redeeming rewards through a company portal with non-co-branded cards have not been taken into account. Similarly, bonuses and credits related to spending with specific merchants using a non-co-branded card have not been taken into account (for example, if Card A offers credits with DoorDash, this feature would not be factored into calculations because it is hard to assess how many cardholders would use the benefit or exactly how much value they'd get from it).
Cardholder Spending Profiles
Given that different users have different goals and are likely to use their credit cards differently, we identified spending profiles that are representative of different users’ financial priorities and behaviors. For each cardholder type, we have assumed a specific amount of monthly spending by purchase type (e.g., groceries, gas, etc.), as well as an average balance, balance transfer amount, amount spent on large purchases and average monthly payment. Spending assumptions are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Sources
WalletHub’s picks for the best secured credit cards for business are based on our proprietary database of 1,500+ credit card offers, which is kept up to date as offers change. This database makes card comparison and market-wide analysis very easy. We also supplement this information with thousands of user ratings and our own experiences, which provide valuable insights into what it’s actually like to use each card.
