The Sam’s Club Business Credit Card Review

The Sam’s Club business credit card offers cash back rewards to business owners who are Sam’s Club members—or willing to become Sam’s Club members. The Sam’s Club business card will reward you elevated cash back rates on purchases that you make outside of Sam’s Club, which is extremely rare for a store card.

The Sam’s Club business card delivers a welcome bonus ASAP. You just have to spend $30 during your first day with your card, and you’ll earn a $30 statement credit. Keep in mind that this welcome bonus is a limited time offer, so be sure to double check the latest offer info from the issuer.

True, this is a pretty sparse welcome bonus compared to other business credit cards—the Chase Ink Business Preferred card delivers $1,000 worth of travel, for instance—but the Sam’s Club business card has one of the lowest welcome bonus thresholds on the market.

Put simply, this credit card doesn’t force you to spend big, only to spend quick, if you’re looking to cash in.

With your Sam’s business credit card, you’ll earn cash back for every dollar you spend, but how much you earn depends on what you spend on.

You’ll earn 5% cash back on every dollar you spend at gas stations for up to $6,000 worth of purchases each year. After that cap, you’ll earn 1% cash back on gas. To give you a picture of whether that’ll be a boon for you, here’s some quick math—with gas at an average of $2.44 right now, you could be earning 5% for 2,459 miles, meaning you’ll pocket just less than $123.

On top of gas, you’ll earn 3% cash back on travel and dining purchases and 1% cash back on everything else.

Here’s the catch (since nothing’s ever that simple…).

You’ll only be able to earn up to $5,000 in cash back every year with your Sam’s business credit card.

The good news is the Sam’s business credit card doesn’t come with an annual fee, but you will have to be a Sam’s Club member.

If you’re already a member, though, you’re probably already budgeting for the Sam’s Club annual membership fee of $45 to $100—so you don’t have to think about accounting for in an extra cost.

If you’re not already a Sam’s Club member, you’ll have to join and pay the annual membership fee if you want to apply for the Sam’s business credit card. But it’s worth considering joining not only for the card, but also because buying in bulk might end up saving you a bunch of cash as a small business owner, anyway—to the point where the membership (and, ultimately, card) pays for itself.

Keep in mind: Although it’s not quite accurate to call the membership fee an annual fee for the card itself, it is an expense that you’ll need to factor in as you consider this card.

• You do most of your business spending at Sam’s Club.
• You’re already a Sam’s Club member.

• You don’t want to be tied down by branded rewards.

Now that we’ve got all of the logistics on the Sam’s business credit card laid out in front of us, it’s time to take a beat to consider what these logistics mean for you. How do the details on the Sam’s business credit card affect your business credit card search?

First, let’s focus on the positives and cover the main draws of the Sam’s business credit card.

Here are the most notable upsides to choosing the Sam’s business credit card for your business spending:

As you spend with the Sam’s cash back business credit card, you’ll be able to earn cash back at a pretty remarkable rate.

Granted, your cash back returns will be capped at $5,000 every year, but if you’re the right kind of spender, you’ll still be able to earn that much, which is a pretty remarkable amount of cash back.

Overall, even though your cash back rewards will be capped with the Sam’s business credit, the cap is a pretty lofty one, and the cash back rates to take you there are pretty stellar.

All you’ll have to do is spend $30 in order to access Sam’s business credit card welcome.

That’s pretty rare for a business credit card—many others require dropping $3,000 to $5,000 before you earn a welcome bonus. Comparatively, spending $30 in one day will feel like a walk in the park.

Admittedly, the Sam’s business credit card’s welcome offer is low cost for low reward—$30 is one of the most modest welcome offer values on the market. That said, it’s more than nothing—which is what you’ll get if you’re unable to reach the higher spending threshold for other, larger welcome offers.

For all its upsides, the Sam’s business credit card—just like any business credit card out there—comes with a healthy dose of downsides.

What are the most notable imperfections that the Sam’s business credit card comes with?

Though there are more than a few, let’s take a look at three in particular:

You won’t be able to transfer existing debt from another account onto your new Sam’s business card. This will make it impossible for you to consolidate your business debt onto your new Sam’s business credit card. Ultimately, this will spread out any business debt you have and make it more complicated to keep track of your payments and the interest you’re accumulating on various accounts.

Put simply, the Sam’s business credit card’s welcome offer pales in comparison to those that top competitors offer.

The Sam’s business credit card of a $30 statement credit, though accessible right away, could seem disappointing for business owners who are used to card companies that essentially roll out the red carpet and pop the champagne on signing.

Though this card is technically a no-fee card, you’ll still have to budget between $45 to $100 for a Sam’s Club membership.

Don’t get us wrong—if you shop at Sam’s Club enough, then this membership fee could very easily pay for itself through the bulk deals you’ll be able to access for your business. That said, if you’re not planning on doing a lot of shopping at Sam’s Club, then this membership fee could be a useless annual cost for your business.

Plus, as you’ll soon see, many business credit cards offer similar—if not superior—cash back rewards to the Sam’s business credit card, and they don’t charge an annual fee of any kind.