Business credit cards have several points in their favor

No matter how many miles you fly or nights you stay in hotels, personal credit cards are still a powerful points-earning tool at your disposal. But if you own a small business or operate some sort of side enterprise, business credit cards can be another equally effective way to boost those loyalty balances.

Don’t you need a business to get a business credit card?

The answer is technically yes, said Sean McQuay, a credit-card analyst at NerdWallet.com.

But what qualifies as a business is flexible. “If you have a side moneymaking enterprise, that can count,” McQuay said. “Giving music lessons, selling antiques or reselling cellphones … all those count as business activities and can help you qualify for a business credit card.”

The U.S. has nearly 28 million small businesses (defined as having fewer than 500 employees), according to 2010 figures from the Small Business Administration. Of those, more than half operated out of homes, and more than three-quarters of small businesses had only one employee: the owner.

Business travel cards are attractive because of high sign-up bonuses and earning opportunities.

But those are just the beginning. “Business cards offer bonuses for the kinds of expenses that are common to small businesses,” Gary Leff, founder of the points and miles blog View from the Wing, said by email. “Instead of giving bonus points for groceries, they may award bonus points on purchases of travel, advertising or office supplies.”

Besides the points-earning opportunities, there are several reasons getting a business credit card just makes good financial sense.

For a start, it minimizes the impact of your business spending on your personal credit. “Spending on a business card can be better for your credit than putting the same spending on a personal card,” said Leff, “because business cards usually are not included in your personal credit report.

“So your spending on them should not reduce your utilization ratio [how much of your available credit you are using each month] and thus lower your personal credit score.”

But, McQuay said, “your Social Security number is required to apply for a business credit card, and your personal identity and credit is tied to the account. So ultimately, you are personally responsible for your spending on these cards.”

On the positive side, “generally, business cards have higher credit limits than personal ones,” McQuay said, “which makes sense because you can often incur large expenses to start and run a business, so having a higher limit is useful.”

Among the cards these experts like:

— The Chase Ink Plus. It “earns five points per dollar on telecommunication spending [cellular phone, landline, Internet and cable TV services] and at office supply stores,” said Leff, “and those points transfer to a variety of different airline and hotel frequent-flier programs.”

— The American Express Business Gold Rewards Card. “The card lets you choose a category to earn triple points in, from airfare, advertising, gas stations, shipping, or computer providers, and then you earn double points in the others,” Leff said. “Membership Rewards points, which are incredibly flexible, transfer to a variety of different frequent-flier programs. Plus, the card offers OPEN Savings, which are automatic rebates at specific merchants.”

— Capital One Spark Miles Select and Spark Cash Select cards. “Capital One’s overall strategy is to issue products that are simple to use and easy for the account holder to maximize,” McQuay said. “These cards offer versatile redemption options.

“For businesses looking to earn rewards without devoting a lot of time to strategizing how to redeem them, Capital One’s cards are hard to beat.”

travel@latimes.com