No Interest, No Fees, and Cash Back Rewards: Stripe Introduces a New Corporate Card

At the beginning of September, Stripe, a San Francisco, CA technology company developing software to make and receive payments over the Internet, announced the launch of their new card for businesses. Now the Stripe Corporate Card is open to US-based companies.

The Stripe Corporate Card is a Visa card issued by Celtic Bank. According to the Stripe official website, the credit product is to become the easiest way to deal with the company’s spending in real-time and to activate payouts to 45 countries. But the most enticing thing about it is the absence of interest and fees in combination with cash back rewards. Let’s see how it really works and whether everything is really so rosy.

Application

First of all, Stripe promises to provide you with a virtual card just in minutes after approval. Moreover, you don’t obligatory need to have a Stripe account. To apply, it is enough to request an invitation online by filling out your personal and business’ information. The decision on your approval and credit limit will be taken based on your payment processing and bank history. With the lapse of time, your credit line can increase.

It is also nice to find out that applying for the Stripe card cannot impact your personal credit, even in case of denial. The same concerns the liability for purchases made with the card. Your business, not you, is responsible for those.

Interest and Fees

The enticing banners say: “No fees of any kind.” And indeed, there are no annual fees, no foreign transaction fees, no late fees, or other kinds of fees. However, it is a little more complicated about interest. No deception here either. But you will be charged no APR on purchases just because you must pay off your debt in full each month. Thus, you simply can’t carry a balance on the Stripe Corporate Card at all. Not really convenient if you plan to make big purchases. After all, this is a business card.

Rewards Program

As for rewards, every month you will earn 2% cash back on two categories where you spend most and 1% back on all other purchases. Still, note that the expectations about choosing these categories on your own and rolling in money then have nothing to do with the matter. In fact, the system will automatically set two categories for you each month. So, don’t be too enthusiastic.

In addition to the main rewards program, Stripe offers extra benefits from their partners. For example, you can get $150 in credit for Google Ads or 3 free months of Gusto subscription.

Other Perks

First, there is also a possibility to personalize your card by putting your company’s logo on the card cover. Second, once you first spend $5,000, you will receive $50,000 in free payment processing. Next, you can totally control expenses by setting specific spending rules and getting real-time expense reporting. And, finally, the Stripe Corporate Card has integrations with finance software like Expensify and QuickBooks.