Business credit card for rehabbers?

Rehabbing & House Flipping
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Business credit card for rehabbers?

Ben Hollingsworth
Lincoln, NE · Member since 2017 · 24 posts · 12 votes

Hey all,

We're just getting started in the flipping and BRRRR world. We have an LLC with its own checking account to use when paying for stuff. We'd like to get a credit card that's specific to this business. Are there any cards that have perks which are particularly well suited to rehabbing investment properties? We don't plan to travel as a business expense, so we really don't need airline miles. Would a cash back card be best?

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Kyle J.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
5y

@Ben Hollingsworth I like the Chase Ink Business cards. There's a couple good ones (Business Unlimited with 1.5% cash back on everything, or Business Cash with 1% cash back on everything + 5% back on select categories). Both have no annual fee, allow you to put in job names/numbers when making purchases, give you the option to get extra cards with different card numbers for authorized users/employees (so you can track who made which purchases), and they don't report the balances on your personal credit report (so it won't count against your DTI ratio for future lending purposes). The cash back you accumulate for your purchases is a nice bonus too. :)

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  • Kyle J.
    Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth I like the Chase Ink Business cards. There's a couple good ones (Business Unlimited with 1.5% cash back on everything, or Business Cash with 1% cash back on everything + 5% back on select categories). Both have no annual fee, allow you to put in job names/numbers when making purchases, give you the option to get extra cards with different card numbers for authorized users/employees (so you can track who made which purchases), and they don't report the balances on your personal credit report (so it won't count against your DTI ratio for future lending purposes). The cash back you accumulate for your purchases is a nice bonus too. :)

    3Reply
  • Evan Polaski
    Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth, I agree with Kyle.  I use Chase Ink as well.  I prefer cash back, which is has decent cash back options, but I also bank at Chase, so it makes things even easier as I have one login for my bank and credit card.

    Just remember you will likely need a very high limit...

    1Reply
  • Justin Phillips
    Lender · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 440 posts · 256 votes
    5y

    I think the Chase Ink card is your best bet. No annual fee, and 1.5% cash back. The Capital One Spark card gives 2% cash back, but it has an annual fee starting in year 2, and a higher APR.

    1Reply
  • Steven Foster Wilson
    Rental Property Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth Chase Business Ink, you get mega bonus points on travel, and that the whole point of a card right? to pay for your trip to thailand? I got this card a year ago and used it to pay for my ski trip to France!

    1Reply
  • Ben Hollingsworth
    OP
    Lincoln, NE · Member since 2017 · 24 posts · 12 votes
    5y

    We use a Chase Ink Business card for a different business already (and older variety that's no longer offered). It works well for that business. However, all the perks are geared toward office supplies, technology, and travel, none of which would benefit a local house rehabbing business. It would, effectively, just be a 1% cash back card for this rehab business. I wonder how hard it is for our reward points to cross the fuzzy line between our LLC and our personal life.

    Our personal card is also through Chase, branded as an IHG (holiday inn hotel group) Mastercard.  I wonder whether adding a third card through the same bank would be a good idea or not.  It would be easier to manage everything through one portal, certainly.

    Thanks for reminding me about needing a high limit.  That wasn't on my radar.

    0Reply
  • Aaron McGinnis
    Contractor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2008 · 978 posts · 985 votes
    5y

    Another vote for Chase ink. We have a corporate card and rack up buku points, which I then transfer to my personal chase sapphire preferred card and use to book airfare on skyteam airlines (United, Singapore Air, All Nippon, Lufthansa, Southwest

    1Reply
  • Ben Hollingsworth
    OP
    Lincoln, NE · Member since 2017 · 24 posts · 12 votes
    5y

    OK, you all convinced me to go with a Chase Ink Unlimited card.  It's been a very long time since I applied for a credit card, so I've got a question:

    While signing up, it's asking me about annual revenue/sales, which is a gross income number, right?  For house flipping, that's the sale price of all the houses, right?  Which gets big in a hurry.

    Are they going to ask me for documentation to prove the number I give?  Since we're just now closing on our first property, do you think I'm safe in entering the expected sale price for our first flip?  I don't have any past history to provide as documentation.  That's what I was about to enter, but my wife wasn't sure that was the right number to use, so I'm asking.

    0Reply
  • Todd Rasmussen
    Rental Property Investor · Clarksville, TN · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth

    Always use gross numbers and I'd normalize your income for an annual accounting period as well.

    0Reply
  • Zander Kempf
    Developer · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2018 · 111 posts · 93 votes
    5y

    I use a home depot commercial revolving card. They gave me a high limit and 60 day payment terms. That helps float a lot of the costs. Also with the pro account you get discounts when your purchases are above $1500.

    I also use a commercial credit account with Sherwin Williams. They offer big discounts, free delivery, and an account manager who will coordinate directly with my contractors. 

    1Reply
  • Shawn M.
    Investor · New Haven, CT · Member since 2012 · 285 posts · 175 votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth

    Go with the projected sales and of your houses for the year if you think you will do 2 or 3 homes put it down. If you have a couple hundred thousand in revenue you should be able to get a credit line between 20-30k.

    Keep in mind you only want to use 1/2 of the credit limit so you don’t ding your credit score.

    Chase ink, capital one spark and Amex have good terms.

    No cc company has ever followed up with the data I’ve entered. Just write it down somewhere so if they ask you can remember what you said ;)

    1Reply
  • Ben Hollingsworth
    OP
    Lincoln, NE · Member since 2017 · 24 posts · 12 votes
    5y

    @Shawn M. Yeah, $20-30K is what I was hoping for.  We have excellent credit, and our personal cards (both Chase) are $10-20K.  Alas, all Chase would give us on this new Ink card is $4500, and that's AFTER calling them to raise it from the default $3000 limit.  $4500 is pretty useless when we're expecting to spend $80K in the next few months on this house.  We'll have trouble getting the sign-up bonus because none of our bills will be small enough to put on that card.  I wonder if it would have helped if I'd rounded WAY up on the revenue number.

    I'm considering cancelling the card and trying again with a different bank, but now we already have two credit rating pulls today from Chase, and I fear that any more in the near future will have a negative impact on our credit score.

    0Reply
  • Gregory Ng
    Flipper/Rehabber · Bay Area · Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth Hey Ben I had the same exact situation happen to me. Ran my credit twice as well. And then told me my limit was $4500. At the moment I was pretty upset. But anyways I ended up using the card anyways. Every time I got close to maxing it out I would just pay it off right away. And then use it again. I literally did that for my length of my flip. Over the course of 3 months I’ve prob spent 170k on that card. But now I have $800+ in cash back, food, gift cards or travel. I’m hoping this next time around chase will be able to raise my limit since I showed them that I can pay off 170k.

    1Reply
  • Scott TitusPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Lake Ozark, MO · Member since 2017 · 102 posts · 86 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Ben Hollingsworth:

    @Shawn M. Yeah, $20-30K is what I was hoping for.  We have excellent credit, and our personal cards (both Chase) are $10-20K.  Alas, all Chase would give us on this new Ink card is $4500, and that's AFTER calling them to raise it from the default $3000 limit.  $4500 is pretty useless when we're expecting to spend $80K in the next few months on this house.  We'll have trouble getting the sign-up bonus because none of our bills will be small enough to put on that card.  I wonder if it would have helped if I'd rounded WAY up on the revenue number.

    I'm considering cancelling the card and trying again with a different bank, but now we already have two credit rating pulls today from Chase, and I fear that any more in the near future will have a negative impact on our credit score.

    They did this to me on my second card, I have multiple LLC's and decided to open a card for each. The second one I opened, they hit me with a $4500 limit, I dropped $4,000 on it the first month and paid it back in full as soon as it was due. I did this for about 3 months and called them and told them it was getting silly for me to use the card with such a small limit. After some back and forth they went to $10k and another 6 months later I called them again and now it's $20k. Just be proactive, once they see you're responsible they'll raise it.

    1Reply
  • Lyndon Timbang
    Bergenfield, NJ · Member since 2018 · 38 posts · 8 votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth

    Hi, try Amex Amazon, Amex Lowe’s and Amex Blue Cash. I tried other Credit Card companies but those 3, we got lucky and gave us even a higher credit limit.

    Good luck.

    1Reply
  • Alex Shelton
    Real Estate Agent · Weston, FL · Member since 2020 · 10 posts · 2 votes
    5y

    @Ben Hollingsworth

    The Lowe’s Amex business credit is what I use. You get 5-10% (upwards of 10% if you sign up for contractor pricing) off purchases at Lowe’s plus points. You can also use It anywhere Amex is accepted.

    0Reply
  • Christopher CharlesPro Member
    Member since 2023 · 21 posts · 6 votes
    3y

    I know this is an old thread but I am too now looking to get business line of credit, business credit cards, etc. I heard Chase is hard to get approval for credit if LLC is new, I have been doing rentals as a sole proprietor for 3 years, I would think it would help on the approval process. what you guys think?

    1Reply
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