8 Best Credit Cards for Consultants

Advertiser Disclosure

* Advertiser Disclosure: How to Money has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. How to Money and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Lastly, the site does not include all card companies or all available card offers.

The absolute best credit cards for consultants are the ones that offer the highest rewards (or cash back) for the largest spending categories. This might mean a travel rewards credit card partnered with a specific airline or hotel, or a high-limit luxury card that gives you status perks to enhance your lifestyle.

We’ve sifted through all the available cards and programs to compile the list below. Here are the overall best credit cards for consultants, both if you’re applying under a business or in a personal name:

Best Credit Cards for Consultants – Personal

• card_name 🏆
• card_name – (See Rates and Fees)
• card_name
• card_name

Best Credit Cards for Consultants – Business

• card_name 🏆
• card_name – (See Rates and Fees)
• card_name
• card_name – (See Rates and Fees)

1. Chase Sapphire Reserve

There’s a HUGE welcome offer for the card_name credit card right now. bonus_miles_full

This card offers a ton of benefits and rewards opportunities:

• A $300 travel credit, annually
• 5x points on flights booked via Chase Travel℠
• 10x points on hotels and car rentals booked via Chase Travel℠
• 3x points on other dining at restaurants, including some delivery and take out!
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
• VIP Lounge access via Priority Pass
• DoorDash membership for 1 year

Each Chase Ultimate Rewards point is worth a minimum of 1 cent (when exchanged for cash back). But you can stretch them even further by redeeming travel and other offers in the Chase portal.

There is a annual_fees annual fee for the card_name card. But given the reward flexibility and annual credits, it’s proven to be one of the best credit cards for consultants available today.

2. The Platinum Card® from American Express

There’s also a killer welcome offer right now: bonus_miles_full

Here are some of best features:

• $200 airline incidentals credit every year
• $200 hotel credit each year for Fine Hotels or Hotel Collection
• $240 digital entertainment credit annually
• $200 in Uber cash ($15/month and bonus in December)
• $300 Equinox credit annually
• $199 CLEAR® Plus Credit for skipping airport TSA lines
• Free Walmart+ subscription
• Centurion lounge access at airports
• AND MORE!!!

You’ll also earn 5x points on all flights and hotels, either directly with airlines or through the AMEX travel portal. These points rack up fairly quickly with hefty travel spending.

All in all if your consulting business has you traveling a lot and you like to roll in style, card_name is a fun luxury to have!

Pro tip: AmEx has awesome promotions sometimes for converting points to partner hotels or airlines. For example, they recently had a +40% bonus for exchanging Amex points to Marriott points. So, 100k points would become 140k after transferring! This might not make sense every time, but it’s worth keeping an eye on those timely offerings.

3. Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

This card also comes with:

• $300 annual travel credit
• 10,000 miles anniversary credit, each year (worth $100)
• $100 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit
• Earn 10x miles on hotels/rental cars
• 5x miles earned on flights
• 2x miles on all other purchases

There’s a annual_fees annual fee for this card. But as you can see, the annual travel credit and anniversary bonus cover the cost right away. Also, Capital One has a 75,000 early spend bonus when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months after signing up!

There’s a annual_fees annual fee for this card. But as you can see, the annual travel credit and anniversary bonus cover the cost right away. Also, you can bonus_miles_full

Overall, not only is this one of the best credit cards for consultants, it’s actually a perfect fit for most personal users who like to save money on travel too.

Check out the full details and card terms here: card_name

4. Chase Freedom Unlimited

The main benefit of the Freedom card is offering an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all categories, and a few higher returns in other areas.

Here are cash back benefits:

• 5% cash back on travel purchased through  Chase Travel℠
• 3% cash back on dining
• 3% cash back on drug stores
• 1.5% on all other purchases.

If you can make these bonus categories work for you, then the card_name can be a great all-rounder credit card for you. And with a $0 annual fee, there’s no harm in keeping it open even if you aren’t using it a ton.

5. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card 🏆

The card_name is typically for high spenders, and it offers the biggest rewards for business expenses, including travel. There is a annual_fees annual fee for this card, which easily pays for itself with a killer welcome offer and ongoing earning of Chase Travel Rewards.

Benefits of this card:

• 3 points for every $1 spent on internet, phone, advertising (including social media/search engines, and travel) on the first $150,000 spent
• 1 point for every $1 on everything else, with no limit
• Additional employee cards at no cost
• Purchase protection, travel assistance, extended warranties, etc.

Chase Travel Rewards Points are very flexible. You can redeem them for cash back, exchange 1 for 1 to different partner airlines or hotels, OR book travel directly through Chase. The points are worth anywhere between 0.7 and 1.25 cents each.

6. American Express® Business Gold Card

Basically, you choose 2 categories that will get you 4x rewards points, and then you’ll get 1x points on all other purchases. You can change these categories annually, so can make the highest rewards possible as your business spending changes.

So let’s say you drive a lot to meet your clients… you can select GAS as one of your rewards categories, and you’ll earn 4x points on all gas purchases. These points can be redeemed for cash back, or purchasing travel via the AMEX portal.

There’s also a generous welcome offer right now… bonus_miles_full This card also has a annual_fees annual fee, so be sure to only apply if your spending will earn enough points to cover the annual fee.Check out all the terms of the card_name here!

7. Capital One Spark Cash Plus

This card offers an unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases. There are no minimums or expiration dates. Hotels and rental car purchases earn a little higher – 5% cash back – so if you have travel in the mix, that’s an additional perk.

There’s a annual_fees annual fee for this card_name. But, as far as welcome offers, you can earn bonus_miles_full.

One last thing to note here: This is a “pay-in-full” credit card. Which means the balance is due in full, each month. You must have excellent credit to be approved for this card.

8. Amazon Business Prime American Express Card

Here are the benefits of the card:

• 3% cash back on Amazon purchases (up to $120,000 each year)
• 2% cash back on restaurants, gas stations, wireless providers
• 1% cash back on everything else.

Since Amazon owns Whole Foods, the 3% also works for grocery shopping there. Depending on your business, this could be a huge return each month.

The card_name has a $0 annual fee. And, a $100 statement credit after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. Definitely a no brainer if you shop at Amazon a lot!

Should you get a business or personal credit card?

There are a few of differences between business and personal cards you might want to consider before applying:

• Credit Score Impact: Personal cards obviously impact your personal credit score, whereas small business credit cards have little impact on you as an individual. If you are trying to grow your credit, it might be a better move to get a personal card in order to accrue good history for your consumer credit report.

• Welcome bonuses & rewards: Business credit cards typically offer larger welcome bonuses and heftier cash back rewards, making them look even more enticing. That being said, many require users to meet higher spend amounts in order to snag those superior welcome offer requirements.

• Bookkeeping and accounting records: Some business credit cards come with additional software and transaction records from the credit card provider. Depending on how complex your consulting business is, this could be handy come end of year tax time.

• Credit limits: Personal cards have spending limits based on your personal income. Business card limits are given based on the business income – which for brand new businesses might be very little – or even nothing at all! A business card with only a $500 credit limit doesn’t do you much good. In that case, a personal card might prove to be a better option.

All things considered, business owners can easily apply for both personal and business credit cards. And since there’s no harm in carrying multiple credit cards, you might even benefit the most from spreading rewards across different categories!

What’s the best credit card for MBB Consultants?

Typically, when you join a Big 3 or Big 4 firm as a consultant, they will issue you a corporate credit card. It will likely be one from American Express.

Now, you’re probably wondering, “do I have to use their corporate card or can I use my own credit card and expense things?”. This all depends on the company you work for and their specific policies. Based on my experience and friends I know, you are likely to be forced to use your corporate card for business expenses, not personal. The AMEX corporate cards also hook up with Concur and other expense reporting software quite nicely, so it is preferable from an accounting standpoint.

But there’s good news!… Although you’ll likely be using a corporate AMEX for MBB consulting, your firm might allow YOU to keep all the points that are accrued from the expenses and travel. Check with your manager or whoever approves your expenses. Sometimes they have programs to pay, say, $100 annually and keep all the points you accrue. That might be a small price to pay for all of the rewards you rack up throughout the year.

Why having a separate work card is important:

It’s important to separate your business and personal expenses. Tax deductions, for one, become a lot easier to track when all of your business expenses are tied to one credit card. With a single set of statements you’ll be thanking yourself come tax filing time!

Many consultants get reimbursed for purchases like travel and meals, so it’s also handy to have a separate account to reconcile each month. Things get messy if you charge everything to the same card and can’t remember which expenses are business and which ones are personal.

Lastly, if you run a legitimate business and LLC, it’s incredibly important not to “commingle” your funds. Your business needs its own bank account and credit card for purchases.

The Bottom Line:

Picking the best credit cards for consultants is quite easy… You just need to forecast the biggest spending categories, then pick a card (or two!) that give you the highest rewards or perks you prefer.

If you’re still confused about what’s best for you, we have a custom credit card tool that you’ll like. By toggling a few preference buttons, this search tool will let you browse the top matched cards based on your criteria. Give it a whirl!

---

_{*Advertiser Disclosure: How to Money has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. How to Money and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Lastly, the site does not include all card companies or all available card offers.}

_{*Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.}

_{*User Generated Content Disclosure: Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.}

_{*For rates and fees of card_name, See Rates and Fees. For card_name, See Rates and Fees. For card_name, See Rates and Fees}