Brex Corporate Card overview
The Brex Corporate Card for startups offers a lucrative rewards structure and generous benefits for cardholders who pass its selective application process. While you can get a lot of value out of this card, keep in mind that it isn’t as widely available as small-business credit cards. Card Rating*: ⭐⭐⭐½
*Card Rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.
It’s pretty easy to find a small-business credit card that fits your needs, whether you’re looking for a way to earn rewards to fund business travel, save on monthly bills or a mix of both. But tech startups and larger businesses who spend far more than the rewards caps on small-business cards may be hard-pressed to find a corporate card that caters to their needs while still offering rewards and other perks at the scale they need.
While you don’t have to be a registered business to apply for and utilize a small-business credit card, that isn’t the case for the corporate cards offered by Brex. These cards are only available to US corporations and other non-individual liability companies, such as LLCs, LLPs, C-corps and S-corps. Furthermore, you must have at least $50,000 in a business bank account to qualify for a card. Unfortunately, that means freelancers, sole proprietors and side hustlers won’t be eligible.
Let’s take a deeper look at this card to determine whether it’s right for you and your business.
The information on the Brex Corporate card for startups has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Brex Corporate Card pros and cons
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Brex Corporate Card welcome offer
Earn 10,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months.
While we’ve seen a higher bonus offered before with this card, this isn’t a bad welcome offer considering the low spending requirement. If your business qualifies for the card, you’ll likely hit this bonus requirement in your sleep.
There are two things to keep in mind before applying for this card. First, the Brex corporate card is a charge card, and payments are automatically drafted out of your business account each month. Second, Brex requires access to a business banking account with a minimum cash balance of $50,000. Some may find this intrusive, but it’s how Brex justifies offering larger spending limits to its customers.
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Related: Do I need a business to get a business credit card?
Brex Corporate Card benefits
The Brex corporate card doesn’t offer many of the perks you’ll see across traditional small-business cards or luxury travel cards from issuers like Amex and Chase. The card doesn’t offer hundreds of dollars in travel credits, automatic elite status at any hotel brands or exclusive lounge access. However, Brex does offer an impressive list of discounts on top services.
For example, you’ll get up to $5,000 in credit over a year on Amazon Web Services. You’ll also get up to 50% off UPS shipping and 25% off 12 months of Slack plans. Other partners include Freshworks, QuickBooks, Gusto, Vouch, Experian and more. Brex values their partner offers at over $180,000 in value. While it’s unlikely that any business — startup or otherwise — will take advantage of every partner offer, corporations can save a lot of money through these offers.
As a World Elite Mastercard, this card also comes with perks like access to Mastercard Travel Services and Mastercard Airport Concierge. The Brex corporate card also has business features, including expense management tools, accounting integration and receipt capture capabilities. Employee cards are available for no additional cost.
The Brex corporate card can also be combined with additional cards with different controls, such as a card for a one-time purchase or employee cards with embedded policies that only allow them to pay for select things. The Brex corporate card automatically collects itemized receipts, which can help automate employee compliance. It also includes a suite of built-in expense management software.
You have to be a non-individual liability company to get this card because Brex cards do not require a personal guarantee. Brex acts as the underwriter on the card, and they use your employer identification number (EIN) rather than a personal SSN. Because of this, your Brex card doesn’t affect your personal credit score (though it will affect your business credit score). It also means you’ll have a higher spending limit than on a traditional small-business card.
Related: How to get a business credit card
Earning points on the Brex Corporate Card
The Brex Corporate card offers a rewards structure that would benefit many corporations.
With this card, you’ll earn:
- 7 points per dollar on ride-hailing, including Uber, Lyft, taxis, scooters and more
- 4 points per dollar on travel booked through the Brex travel portal
- 3 points per dollar on restaurants
- 2 points per dollar on recurring software subscriptions
- 1 point per dollar on everything else
Getting 7 points per dollar on any category outside of a cobranded hotel credit card is rare, but keep in mind that out of all of these categories, a high-powered corporation is likely to spend the least on ride-hailing throughout the year. It’s a great return, but make sure that this is a category you’re actually spending a lot on before jumping for joy at the 7 points multiplier.
The rest of the categories are also generous. Earning 4 points per dollar on travel is great, especially since it isn’t as strict in definition as The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is on its 5 points per dollar for airfare and prepaid hotels. Just keep in mind that you’re booking through an issuer portal, so there is a possibility that you won’t earn elite qualifying points or miles on some bookings, especially hotel reservations.
My favorite spending category on this card is the 2 points per dollar on software. You don’t see this specific category often on small-business cards, and Brex has a broad definition for recurring software subscriptions. Pretty much any subscription qualifies, from Slack to Salesforce to Grammarly and everything in between. You can earn a lucrative number of points annually on your business subscriptions alone.
What really sets Brex apart from small-business cards is that there is no cap on bonus rewards. Traditional small-business cards will cap your rewards annually, typically in the $150,000 range. Corporations spending $500,000 or more each year would be left juggling five different credit cards (all with a different rewards structure and annual fee) to earn bonus rewards all year. With Brex, you’ll earn bonus points whether you spend $100,000 a year or $1 million.
Unfortunately, there’s a catch. To qualify for this rewards structure, this has to be your exclusive corporate card. What does that mean, exactly? Well, Brex doesn’t clearly define exclusivity, and considering you’re stuck with a flat 1 point per dollar on all purchases if this requirement isn’t met, this lack of clarity in the terms and conditions is concerning. While you may be able to get away with just putting the majority of your spending on the card to qualify for bonus rewards, full exclusivity may be required. If you’re not ready to call it quits with your other business and/or corporate cards, the Brex Corporate card may not be the card for you.
Related: How to get a business credit card with just an EIN
Redeeming points on the Brex Corporate Card
Brex offers several ways to redeem your points. They can be redeemed for a wide range of options, including gift cards, travel, cryptocurrency, cash back, mental health benefits, team offsites, executive coaching, billboards, donations, airline miles and gifting and transferring points.
We like that Brex has multiple ways to redeem your points, including some unique ones like billboards and team offsites. If your business spends a lot on advertising, being able to redeem your points for a billboard ad might be something you strongly consider.
Brex points are worth 1 cent when redeemed for travel through their portal and 0.6 cents per point when redeemed for cash back. Luckily, you can get a higher value for your points when you utilize transfer partners.
Related: Cash back vs. travel rewards: How to choose a credit card
Transferring points on the Brex Corporate Card
Brex has seven airline transfer partners, greatly increasing the value of its program.
The seven transfer partners are:
Brex points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, and points can also be transferred to any employee account.
Transferable points currencies have become more valuable as many airlines have shifted toward dynamic award pricing. The addition of transfer partners to the Brex program is a major improvement.
Fortunately, all three major airline alliances are represented by this list: Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam. This greatly opens up your redemption options. For example, you can transfer Brex points to Avianca LifeMiles at a 1:1 ratio, then redeem those miles for a Lufthansa first-class flight from the US to Europe at a reasonable rate — all without costly carrier surcharges.
Related: Credit card transfer partners: Guide to transferring points and miles to airlines and hotels
Which cards compete with the Brex Corporate Card?
The Brex Corporate card is unlike many other business cards. It’s built for a niche group of businesses and isn’t comparable to many other cards. Its only direct competitors are other corporate cards.
The information on the American Express Corporate Platinum Card® has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
For additional options, check out our full list of the best business cards.
Related: How to choose the right credit card for your business expenses
Is the Brex Corporate Card worth it?
If your business has the cash on hand to qualify and can utilize the generous spending multipliers, this card could be a good fit, especially since it has no annual fee. However, if you can’t meet the strict requirements your business might be better suited for other business card offerings.
Bottom line
If you meet the requirements to apply and have a budget that outpaces the spending limits and rewards caps on typical business cards, the Brex Corporate card could be exactly what you need. The program continues to improve as Brex adds more airline partnerships. If most of your spending falls under this card’s bonus categories, you can earn many points to use for travel and other redemptions.
Before applying, I suggest contacting the Brex sales team to ask any clarifying questions and discuss your specific business needs.
Related: How a business credit card could help your personal credit scores
For rates and fees of the Amex Blue Business Cash, click here.