Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card review: A good value for Southwest jetsetters

SOUTHWEST® RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER BUSINESS CREDIT CARD REWARDS

Those who are loyal to Southwest Airlines will find that loyalty reciprocated when they become cardholders of the CardName.

Cardholders enjoy benefits such as three points per $1 on any Southwest Airlines purchase as well as two points per $1 on rideshares and purchases with Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners. You’ll also earn one point for every $1 spent on your other purchases, but, let’s face it: You’re looking at an airline rewards card because your business requires traveling and you’re rightfully interested in earning rewards and enjoying perks for all that travel.

With that in mind, other airline benefits include no baggage fees, no blackout dates, no seat restrictions and no change fees, plus – and this is big – this card provides a nice boost toward earning that all-important Southwest Companion Pass so that a companion of your choice can travel with you free-of-charge (just pay taxes and fees) for the remainder of the year in which you earn the reward as well as for the entire calendar year after that.

Your earning toward the Companion Pass gets started with an impressive welcome bonus. Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months your account is open. You will also receive 6,000 bonus points each year after your card anniversary. Though the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business card carries a AnnualFees annual fee, the small business owner with plenty of Southwest Airlines travel on the agenda will find the rewards and perks should be plenty to offset that fee.

FEATURED CARD

 

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• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
• $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
• Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Travel℠. For example, 60,000 points are worth $900 toward travel.
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
• Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select and up to $100 application fee credit every four years for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck®
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more
• Member FDIC

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Credit Needed:

Excellent

BEST FEATURES OF THE SOUTHWEST® RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER BUSINESS CREDIT CARD

What's not to love about the CardName? Let's go through those highlights with a bit more detail, starting with fact number one: You're a small business owner. Small business owners need to be prudent with spending and should relish any opportunity to put money back toward their business’ bottom line. This card allows for both by offering free employee cards, points earning on employee spending, and easy access to employees' statements so you can track monthly spending habits. These benefits allow you as the business owner to make the right decisions based on company need and not on company financials. If business travel is necessary, reap the rewards via the points you and your employees rack up.

Fact number two: You're a loyal Southwest Airlines customer. As such, you'll not only earn points for future travel, you'll also be on the fast track to that Companion Pass, which, as mentioned above, allows a companion to travel with you for free (taxes and fees excluded). The valuable intro bonus you can earn as a new cardholder will put you on the fast track to earning that pass. You can learn more in our "Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass." These bonus points also stack nicely with your monthly spending, letting you sink them back into your business or use them to enhance your personal time. There are no foreign transaction fees, no change fees, no baggage fees, and best of all no blackout dates or expiration on all the points you earn.

POTENTIAL DOWNSIDES OF THE SOUTHWEST® RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER BUSINESS CREDIT CARD

The CardName isn't for everyone. If you don't travel very often using Southwest Airlines or Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners, many of the perks and bonuses could be out of reach. In that case, you might want to look for a card that doesn't have an annual fee or that offers cash-back rewards instead. You could also look for a more general travel rewards credit card, specifically one with more flexibility and less brand loyalty.

SOUTHWEST® RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER BUSINESS CREDIT CARD APPROVAL ODDS

Do you qualify for the CardName? Since you don't necessarily need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to qualify for a business credit card, your odds may be better than you might think.

The list of people who can apply for a small business credit card includes quite a few professions, such as freelancers/self-employed individuals, entrepreneurs, small business owners/officers, owners/officers of established businesses, and owners/officers of startups. Most credit card companies have a pretty broad definition of a "business" when it comes to deciding who will be granted a small business credit card. To qualify for a business credit card, you need to be an "authorized officer" of a company. In other words, you must have the legal right to enter into borrowing arrangements with financial institutions on behalf of a business. As you've likely guessed, if you are the owner of a sole proprietorship business or the sole owner of a small business, you are already an "authorized officer." It can be more complicated determining who ranks for businesses that have multiple owners, though. That said, most owners, even multiple ones, are also "authorized officers."

Credit card issuers consider each application on its own merits, so let them make the decision on whether you qualify - rather than assume you aren't a good fit simply because your business doesn't appear to fit a standard business model. And some hopefully helpful FYI: your personal credit history will likely be what is used to determine your eligibility and/or credit limit on a business card before you've built up a credit history for your business.

If your business doesn't have a tax ID number (EIN), you can enter your personal social security number instead, but in general, you'll want to try and have the following information available when you apply:

• Business name
• Business name as you want it to appear on the card
• Business address
• Type of business Tax ID number (or your social security number)
• Number of employees
• Annual revenue/sales
• Monthly expenses
• Number of years in business
• Ownership type (publicly traded, privately owned, etc.)
• Business structure (LLC, corporation, non-profit, etc.)

To learn more about who can qualify for a small business credit card, and how to apply for one, be sure to check out our "Small Business Credit Cards 101" guide.

HOW THE SOUTHWEST® RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER BUSINESS CREDIT CARD COMPARES TO OTHER SMALL BUSINESS CARDS

Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card vs. Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business

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The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card and the CardName credit card both offer double rewards, but Chase's Southwest card only offers it on brand-loyal purchases, including the airline as well as those with hotel and car rental partners. Capital One offers the double rewards on every purchase, plus offers five miles on hotel and rental car bookings through Capital One Travel™.

If you're in search of bonus rewards, the Capital One credit card has a nice welcome offer: Earn 50,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,500 in the first three months of your account opening. Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business earns 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months your account is open. The Southwest points are worth differing amounts depending on when and where you travel.

One other thing worth noting, the CardName offers up to a $100 reimbursement for one Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee.

Neither card has expiration dates on rewards and both charge an annual fee. The Capital One card, however, does waive that fee for the first year (AnnualFees). If you're loyal to Southwest Airlines, go with Chase; if you're just looking for the better deal and don't care about brands, the Capital One option may be a better fit.

Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card vs. American Express® Business Gold Card

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Both the Southwest card and the CardName offer higher point earnings for travel purchases, but the American Express card definitely kicks it up a notch. American Express is a CardRatings advertiser.

To start, the CardName offers new cardholders the opportunity to earn 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of opening an account. It also offers 4x Membership Rewards points on the two categories where your business spends the most (each billing cycle) from six eligible categories. While your top two categories may change, you will earn 4x points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year (then 1x thereafter). Only the top two categories each billing cycle will count towards the $150,000 cap. Additionally, earn 3x Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com using your Business Gold card. You also get 25% points back after you use points for all or part of an eligible flight booked with Amex Travel, up to 250,000 points back per calendar year.

There is also access expense management tools: Connect to Quickbooks, access the American Express® Business App, receive a Year-End Summary, and more.

This all sounds great, and it is, but you also need to consider where your needs actually are. If you know you prefer to fly Southwest Airlines, you’ll benefit a great deal from the Southwest card and you’ll be paying a much lower annual fee to do it. The annual fee is AnnualFees for the CardName.

If, however, you're a big spender business owner who will max out those bonus categories each year, the American Express card could be the way to go.

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card vs. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

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Though it's not specifically a business credit card, the CardName is another way to earn points for free airfare on Southwest Airlines, at a slightly lower cost with an annual fee of AnnualFees.

As a welcome offer, new cardholders can earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Furthermore, this card provides two points per $1 spent on Southwest flights and with hotel and car rental partners as well as on local transit and commuting (including rideshares) and on internet, cable, phone services and select streaming. All other purchases earn one point per $1 spent. Additionally, you'll receive an additional 3,000 points each account anniversary.

Among the other differences between the cards, the Southwest Rapid Reward® Plus card charges a foreign transaction fee while the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business card does not.

IS THE SOUTHWEST® RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER BUSINESS CREDIT CARD A GOOD CARD?

The best applicant for the CardName is a person who travels using Southwest Airlines often and knows they will spend enough to earn that coveted Southwest Companion Pass. If you are a frequent business traveler, or require employee business travel, you are also well-suited for this card. It won't take long to achieve the thresholds needed for some very attractive perks. Internationally or domestically, there are few fees and plenty of miles to earn.

See Rates and Fees of the CardName.