Citibank says its business credit card is designed by business, for business and delivers a range of features for managing cashflow, rewarding purchases with points as well as a suite of applications for business travellers. Andrew Boyd of Credit Card Compare looks at the pros and cons of using this credit card in your business.
Balance Transfers
The balance transfer may be commonplace among credit cards for consumers, but it’s an entirely different story for business credit cards. Out of all the credit cards for businesses on CreditCardCompare.com.au, only one, the Citibank Business card, has a balance transfer option available. And at 0% for 4 months, it rivals some of the best balance transfer deals on the market.
Purchases
As a business you’ll probably use a credit card to help keep things liquid from month to month, so getting the lowest rate you can is important. It doesn’t come much lower than 0% for 4 months, the current promotional offer for new applicants. Of course, you’re likely to keep the card for longer than that and so the standard rate on purchases of 20.74% p.a. will come into play. How does that compare? Well many business cards are issued by Amex and are technically charge cards, meaning they have no purchase rate because you have to pay off the balance each month. The Citibank Business card’s purchase rate is in line with other business cards, although it’s purchase rate is slightly higher than the average across all the cards on CreditCardCompare.com.au. Cash advances are also charged the intro rate of 0% for 4 months.
Rewards
First of all, Citibank are currently offering new approved applicants 40,000 bonus points – a great way to kick things off. Purchases are rewarded at the rate of 1.25 points per dollar spent and can be redeemed through the Citibank Rewards program. Points can be redeemed for hundreds of different items, including flights. For the sake of illustrating their worth, the 40,000 bonus points is enough for 4 one-way flights from Sydney to the Gold Coast in Virgin Australia’s economy class.
Insurance
Like many other credit card offers, the Citibank Business credit card comes with a complimentary travel insurance policy underwritten by Zurich. This policy covers you for medical and unexpected travel expenses, trip cancellation, personal liability and loss or damage to personal items on trips where you’ve purchased tickets using your card. There is a debate about how effective credit card travel insurance is, especially when compared with that of a dedicated travel insurance policy. Therefore, it would probably be best to carefully examine what you would be covered for before relying on the policy alone.
Apart from travel insurance, cardholders also get purchase protection whereby purchases made with your card and subsequently lost, damaged or stolen can be repaired or replaced within a limited period of time from the date of purchase.
Concierge
Citibank Business cardholders will get access to their own concierge who can take care of time consuming tasks such as booking flights and hotels, sending gifts to clients and reserving restaurant tables, etc. What’s more, your concierge is available at any time 24/7.
Overall
There’s no doubt that the Citibank Business credit card is an opportunity for your business to save money. In fact, with its 0% offer on balance transfers and purchases, it’ll give you some much appreciated breathing space. The insurance and concierge are an added bonus, but it’s the low interest rates and rewards that are this card’s biggest selling points.
