Brex Card Review: A Corporate Credit Card for Companies of All Sizes

One of the best reasons to get a business credit card is to separate your personal and business finances. But most small business credit cards require a personal guarantee that you will pay the debt if the business fails. The Brex Card is a corporate credit card that doesn't involve your personal credit at all. And even better, it's available to companies of all sizes -- not just giant corporations. Though you need to pay one of the two versions of the Brex Card daily, you earn purchase rewards and pay no annual fee. Check out our full Brex Card review for all the details.

This credit card is a good fit for: Business owners who want to avoid a personal guarantee, but whose company doesn't meet typical corporate card requirements.

Top perks

This card has many perks, both intangible and value-based.

No personal guarantee required

The key thing that separates a corporate card from a small business credit card is that most small business credit cards have a personal guarantee that ties you to the credit card no matter what. So if you default on a business credit card, your personal credit takes a hit. And if your business goes under, the bank can still come after you for any remaining balance.

Corporate credit cards, on the other hand, are only associated with your business. In other words, a Brex Card won't interact with your personal credit in any way, giving you complete separation of your personal finances and your company's finances.

Earn up to 8x points per dollar

The Brex Card is a corporate card, and also a rewards credit card. It has a very lucrative rewards structure, albeit a somewhat complex one. If you have the Brex Card that is paid daily (the other is paid monthly), you can earn these purchase rewards:

• 8x points on ride-hailing services (including Uber and Lyft)
• 5x points on travel booked via Brex Travel
• 4x points on restaurants
• 3x points on eligible Apple purchases through the Brex Rewards portal
• 1.5x points on ads
• 1x points on other purchases.

Certain companies can also qualify for extra rewards. Specifically, companies that identify as tech also receive:

• 3x points on recurring software

And companies that identify as life sciences companies can earn:

• 8x points on conference tickets
• 2x points on lab supplies

There's no cap on how many rewards you can earn. Brex rewards don't expire as long as your account is open and in good standing.

Build business credit

As a corporate card, the Brex Card doesn't impact your personal credit. But it can help your business build credit. Specifically, the Brex Card reports your payments to the commercial credit bureaus so you can build a business credit history. It can therefore help you improve your business credit score, and a good business credit history can help you get business loans and other business credit lines.

READ MORE: Best Cash Back Business Credit Cards

No annual or employee card fees

Usually, high rewards rates mean high annual fees. But the Brex Card offers big rewards and $0 annual fees. Employee cards also come without fees. Brex Card users can issue unlimited cards to employees, as well as set custom limits and track team expenses.

So how does Brex make money without annual fees? Through merchant interchange fees. These are small fees charged to a merchant when you use your card to pay.

Zero fraud liability

The laws that limit credit card fraud liability for consumers don't automatically apply to business credit cards, even corporate credit cards. But the Brex Card comes with $0 fraud liability protection, thanks to its partnership with Mastercard. If your Brex Card is used to make fraudulent purchases without your authorization, you aren't on the hook for those charges. Simply report the charges as fraud and let the fraud protection services take care of the rest.

What could be improved

No credit cards are perfect, and this card has its share of drawbacks.

Requires a Brex Cash account

The Brex Card is not a standalone credit card product -- you must have an active Brex Cash account to get a Brex Card. Brex Cash is a corporate bank account you can use for deposits and payments, as well as receiving revenue from payment services like PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon.

The Brex Card is essentially an extension of your Brex Cash account. Your card is tied to your account, and your card payments come from your Brex Cash balance.

Card balance must be paid daily

There are two main versions of the Brex Card: one that is paid daily, and one that is paid monthly. The monthly version is only available to companies that meet specific revenue requirements.

The Brex Card available to businesses of any size must be paid daily. It's tied to your Brex Cash account, and the card draws from your account every day, like a debit card.

Your card's spending limit is tied to your Brex Cash balance. Your Brex Card spending limit equals up to 100% of your Brex Cash balance, and also takes into consideration your company's spending patterns and business credit history.

Sole proprietors don't qualify for a Brex Card

Corporate credit cards, by nature, are only available to businesses that exist as separate entities. This includes the Brex Card. Applicants can only use an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to apply for a Brex Card -- a Social Security number (SSN) can't be used.

These restrictions mean that only certain business structures qualify for a Brex Card. This includes:

• LLC
• LLP
• S-corp
• C-corp

Sole proprietors, consumers, and unincorporated partnerships are ineligible. The Brex Card is also limited to U.S. companies, so businesses registered outside the U.S. can't use or open a Brex account.

The Brex Card is a corporate credit card that doesn't involve your personal credit. You don't undergo a personal credit check to apply, and your personal credit history or credit score doesn't matter.

Brex may check your business credit, if you have any. However, Brex doesn't state any specific business credit requirements to qualify for their Brex Card. You do have to set up a Brex Cash account and keep it funded to maintain your Brex Card spending limit and daily payments.

• You want a corporate credit card for your business but don't qualify for a more traditional corporate card.
• You are able to make the most of the generous purchase accelerators to maximize your rewards.
• You don't want to pay an annual fee.
• Your company finances are sufficiently liquid, so you can pay the card off daily.

Check our list of credit card reviews to find alternatives if the Brex Card isn't the right fit.

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.