Business Travel USA: Complete Guide for the UK
If you are travelling from the UK to the United States for business you may check our complete guide with all you need to know to manage your travel smoothly.
If you’re a UK business owner, freelancer or sole proprietor looking for ways to manage your business expenses, you may be considering getting a credit card to spread the costs of purchases and earn cashback at the same time.
We’ll run through the best cashback business credit cards in the UK, and also introduce Wise Business as an alternative for managing business spending and expenses with low fees and 0,5% cashback on your purchases.
Learn more about
Wise Business cashback
Yes. If you pick a cashback credit card for your business you’ll be able to earn cashback on eligible spending. Some providers also offer the option to have extra cards added to the account to allow you to issue team members with their own expense cards.
Cashback credit cards will usually have certain exemptions or spending categories which are not eligible for rewards. Purchases of vouchers and gift cards are usually excluded for example, as well as cash withdrawals, or any spending which goes above the account credit limit.
Read your card’s terms and conditions carefully to make sure you’re clear on the rules for your specific card.
Popular business credit cards with cashback are available for UK business owners and sole proprietors from companies including:
- Capital on Tap
- Barclays
- Santander
- RBS
We’ll walk through each of these providers in more detail in just a moment to help you decide if one is right for you.
Some major banks and card issuers offer credit cards which give cashback on business purchases to cardholders. The options available do vary by provider, with some offering a fixed cashback percentage on all eligible spend, and others providing a variable cashback percentage depending on the type of purchase.
You’ll be able to spend using your card to the agreed credit limit, and will usually find that any cashback is then offered as a credit against your bill, or to be deposited to your linked business bank account.
Using a credit card for business spending can be handy - but you may find you run into high interest rates, costly annual fees, and steep penalties if you don’t repay your bill in time.
As an alternative, check out cashback debit cards like the Wise Business Debit Card, which offers 0,5% cashback on spending - plus no annual fees, mid-market exchange rate, and employee expense cards with limits and spending controls.
You’ll still benefit from cashback which can help you save monay - without the worry of the fees and penalties that come with a credit card.
Open an account with Wise Business online, to hold 50+ currencies, get paid like a local from 30+ countries, and get linked debit and expense cards for spending in 170+ countries.
Start earning cashback
with Wise Business
Before we dive into the details of some popular UK business cashback cards, let’s take a look at some of the things to consider when picking the right card for your needs.
Each cashback credit card is slightly different, which means you’ll need to understand and weigh up factors like:
The right cashback card for your needs will depend on your business type, your personal preferences, and the sort of transactions you make regularly. Let’s walk through some of the best cashback business credit cards in the UK to help you pick one which suits your needs.
Capital on Tap offers business credit cards and working capital facilities to UK business owners. To be eligible for the Capital on Tap credit card you’ll need to be the director or a majority shareholder of a UK registered business with an annual turnover of 24,000 GBP or more².
Choose a Free Rewards card or pay a 99 GBP annual fee for the Business Rewards card. Both Capital on Tap cards offer 1% cashback on spending - but the Business Rewards card offers a broader variety of ways to spend your cashback, including converting to Avios points.
Capital on Tap has a 4.6/5 star Excellent rating on Trustpilot³.
Services | Capital on Tap |
---|---|
Cashback percentage | 1% |
General cost | No annual fee for the Free Rewards card; £99 annual fee for Business Rewards card |
Currency exchange rates | Visa exchange rate with no Capital on Tap fee |
Interest rates | Variable, from 13.6% |
Additional or employee cards | Available |
If you’d prefer a business cashback card from an established highstreet bank, check out the Barclaycard Select Cashback card. You’ll be able to earn 1% cashback, with an opening offer of 3% cashback for 3 months active at the time of writing. There’s no annual fee for the card, and additional cardholders can also be added, so you may be able to issue linked cards to team members⁵.
To apply for the Barclaycard Select Cashback card you’ll need a UK registered business which has a turnover - or projected turnover - of 10,000 GBP/year or more.
Services | Barclaycard Select Cashback card |
---|---|
Cashback percentage | 3% for 3 months, 1% after that |
General cost | No annual fee |
Currency exchange rates | 2.99% foreign transaction fee |
Interest rates | 21.9% representative variable fee |
Additional or employee cards | Available |
If you have an eligible Santander business current account, you can also apply for the Santander Business Cashback Credit Card for you and your team. This card is aimed at smaller businesses and sole traders based in the UK, and offers 1% cashback on business card spending, with no extra charge to access additional cards for team members.
The Santander Business Cashback Credit Card doesn’t have any foreign transaction fee for spending overseas in a foreign currency, which means your pounds will be converted using the exchange rate offered by the network (Mastercard).
Services | Santander Business Cashback Credit Card |
---|---|
Cashback percentage | 1% |
General cost | £30 annual fee, plus any costs associated with the linked Santander business bank account |
Currency exchange rates | No foreign transaction fee |
Interest rates | 23.7% representative variable fee |
Additional or employee cards | Up to 3 available |
RBS business customers can apply for a RBS Business Plus credit card to use alongside their business bank account, with cashback of up to 2% available based on spending category. There’s a fairly high 70 GBP/year annual fee, but if you expect to spend a lot with your card, you may be able to earn more than this in cashback - capped to 400 GBP/year.
There’s a handy calculator on the RBS desktop site which lets you enter the amount you spend on a card to estimate the value of cashback you could receive. It’s also good to know that RBS doesn’t add a foreign transaction fee to overseas spending with this card.
Services | RBS Business Plus credit card |
---|---|
Cashback percentage | 1% on eligible fuel and accommodation, 2% on eligible business supplies, 0.5% on everything else - capped at £400 per year |
General cost | £70 per year, per cardholder |
Currency exchange rates | No foreign transaction fee |
Interest rates | 29% representative variable fee |
Additional or employee cards | Available |
If you want a low cost, convenient way to manage business card spending - and you don’t want to risk high interest rates or penalty fees - check out the Wise Business Debit Card as an alternative.
Open a Wise Business account online or in the Wise app, and apply for a linked card for yourself and your team members, for easy spending and withdrawals at home and abroad.
Wise Accounts can hold and exchange 50+ currencies, and come with local bank details to get paid from 30+ countries - perfect for any business transacting internationally frequently.
Use your linked Wise Business Debit Card to spend in 170+ countries, and get the mid-market exchange rate every time, with no hidden costs and no hassle.
Wise serves over 13 million individual and business customers around the world - and has a solid 4.5/5 Excellent rating, from over 184,000 reviews on Trustpilot.⁸
Services | Wise Business |
---|---|
Cashback percentage | 0,5% |
General cost | One off fee of £3 per card |
Currency exchange rates | Mid-market exchange rate - no foreign transaction fee |
Interest rates | Not applicable |
Additional or employee cards | Available |
Pricing/fees: Please seeTerms of Use for your region or visit WiseFees & Pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information
Get Wise Expense Cards for you and your team, to earn 0,5% cashback on all eligible spending. You’ll be able to set spending limits for team members as necessary, and view and manage transactions from the Wise app whenever you need to.
Save time with business friendly functions like batch payments and cloud accounting reconciliation - and save money when you send, spend or receive in foreign currencies, with the real exchange rate every time.
Grow your business internationally
with Wise 🚀
Earning cashback on your business spending can boost your profits and make it easier to manage your company cashflow. If you’re looking for ways to earn cashback while cutting the costs of transacting internationally, check out Wise Business for convenient account and card options which suit freelancers, sole proprietors and business owners in the UK.
Sources:
Sources last checked January 17, 2023
This publication is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to cover every aspect of the topics with which it deals. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content in this publication. The information in this publication does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from TransferWise Limited or its affiliates. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
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