Am I eligible for business cards?

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Jamie Travel Tips has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Jamie Travel Tips and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers on the website of Jamie Travel Tips are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on this website. Jamie Travel Tips does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions, reviews, analyses and recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Here’s how to check if you’re eligible:

Do you receive any side income? (no matter how small!)

Lots of side hustles qualify you for business cards. Some examples are: babysitting, Uber/DoorDash, selling old items on Marketplace/OfferUp/Poshmark/etc, tutoring, selling chicken eggs, network marketing, rental income, money earned from making reels on social media…

If you make money from any other source of income than your regular job, or anything other for us SAHMs, you can use that business to apply for business cards as a Sole Proprietor.

Things to know before applying:

  1. Apply with your SSN as a Sole Proprietor (if you WANT to create a free EIN number, that’s an option! You can find the application here to get a number instantly.)

  2. Gross Income: TOTAL Household Income (if you’re a SAHM, you’re writing your spouse’s total income)

  3. Spending: Yes, you CAN put personal expenses on business cards! Just ensure you track business expenses somewhere separately for tax filing purposes. Spreadsheet, Quickbooks, a notepad by your bed..

When I applied for my first business card it was as a reseller on Marketplace, selling used home/baby stuff. I have since created my own EIN for Jamie’s Travel Tips!

My husband is a mechanic who does repairs on the side and has now created his own LLC, but in the beginning he applied as a sole proprietor for this work.

3 REASONS BUSINESS CARDS ARE THE BEE’S KNEES

  1. NO to LOW annual fees! Lots of business cards will have a $0 annual fee, making the points/cash back that much more valuable!

  2. HIGHER offers! These cards often start at 75,000 points and go all the way up to 200,000! That’s a lot of travel and memories!

  3. Great benefits! These cards come with a range of benefits like travel insurance, TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry credits, delayed luggage insurance and much more!

To read more about trips I have taken using these cards, check out these blog posts:

Disneyland Dreams Come True

Sweet Spot for Capital One