As a business owner or financial decision-maker, you want access to tools that save time and money. The Ramp Business Card aims to provide just that – a corporate card tailored to consolidate accounting, streamline spending, earn cash back, and more. But with so many options on the market, is Ramp’s offering right for your situation?
In this post, we will cover Ramp’s key features to see how they measure up for core business needs. By the end, you’ll understand who should (and maybe shouldn’t) apply for the Ramp Business Card.
An Overview of Ramp
Founded in 2019, Ramp is a relative newcomer seeking to disrupt the corporate card industry. They market themselves as an “all-in-one” finance platform bringing together:
- Corporate cards (both physical and virtual)
- Expense management software
- Bill pay options
- Accounting integrations
- Spending analytics/insights
The goal is to consolidate key financial tools into Ramp’s dashboard for simplified tracking and analysis. Users can connect bank accounts, import transactions, create budgets, review cash flow, leverage forecasts, and more with bundled software partnerships.
The Ramp Business Card itself focuses on:
- 1.5% unlimited cashback on purchases
- No personal guarantee requirement for company owners
- No annual, foreign transaction, or late fees
So in exchange for using their platform, Ramp offers a straightforward cashback card to displace old-school corporate cards. Now let’s analyze the pros and cons of their overall offering.
The Pros of the Ramp Business Card
Ramp certainly touts some compelling benefits as they try to entice customers away from incumbent competitors. Here are some of the top advantages:
- Easy Cashback with No Limits
The Ramp Business Card earns an unlimited 1.5% cashback on all purchases. There are no rotating categories, quarterly caps, or tiers to track. At the end of your billing cycles, 1.5% automatically shows up for reimbursement. This keeps your rewards potential simple.
- No Personal Guarantee Required
Established small businesses often struggle with requiring a founder’s personal guarantee to qualify for credit cards. Ramp does away with that barrier, allowing your company to get approved based on its own financial credentials.
- Dashboard Centralizes All Finance Functions
Instead of toggling between various products, Ramp consolidates expense tracking, bill pay, accounting, analyze and budgeting into a single easy-to-use dashboard tailored to businesses. This saves you from workflows that jump across disconnected apps.
- Automated Accounting Integrations
Connecting directly to accounting software like QuickBooks and NetSuite, Ramp automatically syncs expense details to appropriate categories. This eliminates manual data entry and reconciliation at the end of each period.
- Potential to Save 5% or More Annually
By leveraging predictive analytics on past spend, Ramp claims the average customer saves around 5% compared to prior solutions thanks to optimized recommendations for redundant subscriptions, overspend departments, and budget shortfalls.
The Cons of the Ramp Business Card
Despite some nice perks, Ramp still has shortcomings to consider before applying. Here are a few of the biggest downsides:
- High Eligibility Requirements
Although Ramp doesn’t require a personal guarantee, approval standards are still quite stringent. You’ll likely need:
- 2+ years operating with 7 figures revenue
- Over $100k cash in the bank
- Strong business credit score
Without an established high-revenue track record, most startups won’t qualify.
- Low Credit Limits to Start
Initial credit limits reportedly tend to cap around $100k for new customers. So for big enterprises with millions in annual expenses, Ramp may not provide enough flexibility even despite high eligibility requirements.
- No Signup, Travel, or Lifestyle Perks
Unlike some competitors, Ramp currently does not offer any signup bonuses, travel protections like rental coverage or hotel discounts, concierge service, or other premium cardholder lifestyle perks. It’s a pretty basic cashback offering.
- Can’t Carry a Balance
The Ramp Business Card is a charge card, not a credit card. That means you must pay the full statement balance each billing cycle. There’s no option to carry debt on the card via a revolving credit line or flexible payment options.
What Businesses Should Apply for the Ramp Card?
With the targeted benefits and limitations given above, the Ramp Business Card seems ideally suited for:
- Medium-Sized Companies
The sweet spot is businesses that spend just enough to leverage Ramp’s analytics and earn solid cashback, but not so much volume that low initial limits are restrictive. Companies with a several million in revenue likely fit best.
- Service-Based Businesses
Since Ramp offers no travel protections, manufacturers or retailers may prefer a card that includes rental car coverage, hotel points, airport lounge access and other benefits suited to material goods businesses. Information and service companies get maximum utility focused purely on cashback.
- Businesses with Lean Accounting Needs
The integrated accounting features central to Ramp only sync with popular platforms like QuickBooks and NetSuite. Companies relying on proprietary or obscure systems may face integration challenges.
- Companies Seeking to Consolidate Finances
For startups juggling disconnected financial products, Ramp brings everything together under a single pane of glass. The convenience factor here is substantial if adopting across siloed tools.
What Competitor Cards Give Ramp a Run for Its Money?
While the Ramp Business Card does have appealing qualities in its niche, small business owners considering an application should also evaluate some key alternatives like:
- Brex Corporate Card for Credit
Brex also provides a consolidated finance platform and up to 2% cashback depending on monthly spend tiers. They similarly have no annual, foreign transaction, or employee fees. But unlike Ramp they offer varying credit limits up to $5 million and the ability to pay a portion of the monthly bill over time rather than requiring full balance payments.
- BlueVine Business Credit Card
BlueVine is designed for small business with customizable 1.5% or 2% cashback rates on select category purchases. They also offer a unique “credit builder” program for young companies trying to establish financial credibility. Customers can get monitored access to credit lines up to $100k subject to on-time payments over 6 months to demonstrate positive risk factors.
- Spark® Miles from Capital One
For companies more focused on travel, Capital One Spark Miles offers up to 2X miles per dollar spent on any purchase, with 5X potential on hotels and rental cars. Miles can then be redeemed on future travel transactions whether directly related to business or for employee rewards/gifts instead of just getting 1.5% cash back from Ramp. There are also welcome bonuses up front.
Conclusion
The new Ramp Business Card aims to provide an attractive combo of financial automation features plus simple cashback rewards for commercial customers.
Larger service-based companies who meet eligibility requirements can likely benefit the most from consolidated spend analytics, automated accounting, and unlimited 1.5% reimbursement on purchases. Just keep an eye on still-evolving credit limits.
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