Costco Business Card Review: Bonus Cash Back on Your Business Spending

If you're a business owner who does quite a bit of shopping at Costco, then you could get a lot of cash back with the Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi, an advertising partner with The Ascent. This card offers several bonus categories that make it great for earning cash back, and it won't cost you anything extra. To see if you should apply, check out the good and the bad of this card in our Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi review.

This credit card is a good fit for: Business owners who shop at Costco and want to earn some of the top cash back rates on the market.

Top perks

Here are the most valuable benefits you get with this Costco business credit card.

Up to 4% back

The Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi earns the following cash back rates:

• 4% for eligible gas and EV charging spending worldwide, including at Costco (applies to the first $7,000 spent in this category per year)
• 3% unlimited on eligible travel and restaurants (including purchases made through Costco Travel)
• 2% unlimited on all other eligible spending through Costco or Costco.com
• 1% unlimited on all other eligible spending

Some credit cards earn more back on either gas and groceries or travel and restaurants, but not both. With the Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi, you won't need to choose, because it earns ample cash back in all those categories.

No annual fee

This is a no annual fee card, although you will need to pay an annual fee for a Costco membership. One extra perk of having a Costco credit card is that you can carry that instead of your Costco membership card.

No foreign transaction fee

You can use this card anywhere in the world without paying an extra fee.

Damage and theft purchase protection

Your Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi may cover repair costs or refunds if eligible purchases you make with the card are damaged or stolen. The card's purchase protection lasts for 120 days from the date of the sale (or 90 days for residents of New York).

What could be improved

Before you apply for this card, there are some drawbacks you should know about.

Rewards for Costco purchases

While the cash back this card earns is a plus, it does fall a bit short when it comes to the percentage you can earn at Costco (besides the store's gas stations) and Costco.com. For a store card, 2% back at the store itself isn't the best.

Learn more: Best Rewards Credit Cards

Sign-up bonus

Sign-up bonuses are a popular incentive many credit cards offer to new clients, but the Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi doesn't have one.

0% intro APR intro offer

Some business credit cards have 0% intro APR offers, which are useful for clients who have expensive business purchases they need to pay off over time. With this card, you'll pay the standard interest rate from the beginning.

One annual cash back distribution

A potential frustration is that you can't just redeem your cash back at any time. Instead, you'll receive your cash back for the prior year after the close of February's billing cycle. Most cardholders get a reward certificate, although Citi and Costco reserve the right to send cash back of over $10,000 through alternative methods.

You can use your reward certificate for cash back or to purchase merchandise. The certificate is good until Dec. 31 of the year you receive it.

This method of receiving cash back is obviously less convenient than redeeming it online whenever you have enough for the redemption minimum, which is what most cash back cards offer. And the bigger problem is that all your cash back is forfeit if your credit account is closed before reward certificates are sent out. If you decide you want to close your card in June, you’ll have to wait until the next year or throw away all your cash back.

Read more: Best Business Credit Cards

To have the best chance of getting the Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi, you should have an excellent credit score of at least 720. Although this is a business credit card, Citi also heavily weighs your personal credit during the application process.

You're eligible for a business card with any type of business, including a sole proprietorship, and your business doesn't need to be making money yet. A Costco membership number is required to fill out the application.

Read more: Best Cash Back Business Credit Cards

Your business has you or your employees on the road often, and you're looking for one of the best credit cards for gas or EV charging purchases. That 4% cash back rate will help you save quite a bit of money on those expenses.

As you'd expect, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi is also a fantastic option if Costco is your retailer of choice. Those who aren't Costco loyalists may want to explore more credit card reviews first. But if you shop at Costco for most of your business supplies and use Costco Travel to book your trips, then you'll get quite a bit of value from this card.

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.