51 Intriguing Business Credit Card Statistics

There are legends in entrepreneurship about founders bootstrapping their businesses using personal credit cards, putting family finances at risk to follow their dreams.

The problem with those stories is that for every success, there are undoubtedly many failures. Entangling personal and company finances can hamstring success strategies and even hinder the next great business idea.

Business credit cards keep company and personal expenses separate. Applying for business credit may require entrepreneurs to offer a personal guarantee of creditworthiness. However, business cards make expense management and accounting more efficient, offer targeted perks such as flexible repayment plans, and help businesses improve their credit scores.

The business credit landscape continually evolves as card companies and other lenders compete for a share in entrepreneurship. Here are some business credit card statistics to describe today’s market and assess its prospects.

1. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) found that 73% of employer firms did not receive approval for at least some of the financing they applied for in the prior year.¹

2. In a small business credit card satisfaction study, 83% of respondents reported feeling optimistic about their future.²

3. American, Canadian, and UK businesses using a popular bookkeeping platform revealed that the U.S. entrepreneurs were most likely to have used a business credit card (50% versus 42% among Canadian businesses and 27% in the UK).³

4. More than three-quarters (83%) of respondents indicated they sometimes used personal credit cards for business purposes.⁴

5. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected business credit card use. Small business monthly credit card payments, including interest charges, increased 26% on average after the pandemic.⁵

6. In contrast to item 4 above, this report indicates that 61% of small businesses used personal credit cards for business expenses.⁶

7. A survey conducted by a global business travel news outlet found that nearly 80% of respondents used a corporate card for some business travel expenses, but more than a quarter also used a personal card, and 12% used personal cash.⁷

8. Average monthly small business credit card balances have increased more than 20% since 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).⁸

9. Credit cards (74%) are the second most preferred form of payment among U.S. small businesses, following checks (80%). Other common card-payment forms include debit cards (58%) and digital/mobile payments (34%).⁹

10. Businesses with annual revenue between $1 million and $5 million had average credit card balances 18% higher in 2023 than in 2019.¹⁰

11. A survey of 500 small to medium-sized firms earning between $150,000 and $10 million in annual revenue reported that 22% used business credit cards to address financial challenges, up from 15% a few months before.¹¹

12. More than three-quarters (80%) of business owners reported they either did not have a business credit score or didn’t know it.¹²

13. The percentage of small businesses reporting credit cards as their top funding source increased slightly year over year to approximately 42%. In contrast, the percentage of small businesses reporting all other forms of financing (including personal savings, personal credit cards, and traditional bank loans) declined.⁸

14. Only 1% of business travelers used virtual credit cards in 2023, with three-quarters of survey respondents indicating they were unfamiliar with virtual card technology.⁷

15. Less than half (41%) of small business financing applicants said they received all the lending support they sought in the previous year, while 36% said they received some, and 24% said they received none.¹

16. Most North American small businesses (approximately 55%) used credit cards to pay for at least a quarter of all expenses (versus approximately 45% that used cards more sparingly).³

17. Among 59% of firms that sought new financing in the previous year, 40% were in the market for less than $50,000.¹

18. Credit card utilization rates surpassed pre-pandemic levels in 2024 survey data.⁸

19. Over a quarter (26%) of small businesses reported being credit-seeking, meaning they relied heavily on credit cards and payment plans. Within this group, 63% carried revolving debt and 24% used buy-now-pay-later plans to finance business expenses.²

20. Only 29% of small business respondents reported having no outstanding debt. In contrast, 39% of respondents reported more than $100,000 in debt.¹

21. Just 20% of small business cardholders who reported being financially unhealthy indicated they would definitely not switch cards in the next year, compared to 37% among healthier businesses.²

22. Almost half (43%) of small business credit applicants reported being denied for credit due to lending requirements that were too strict.¹

23. Slightly more than (51%) of businesses reported being financially unhealthy. Among those, 63% reported using business credit cards to cover operating expenses.²

24. Small businesses with revenue less than $100,000 in 2023 had credit card balances only 4% higher than in 2019.¹⁰

25. Only 12% of small businesses reported having no form of credit.¹

26. Business credit cards have ample security protections, but 17% of business travelers experienced fraud during business trips — most commonly extra charges and stolen card information.⁷

27. The most common reasons for seeking new financing were meeting operating expenses (56%) and pursuing an expansion or new opportunity (46%).¹

28. More than a third (41%) of business travelers said they used personal credit cards or cash to purchase odds and ends or miscellaneous expenses. Respondents also used personal cards for rideshares (36%) and dining (31%).⁷

29. Among the more than half (59%) of small employer firms that sought new financing in the prior year, 40% requested less than $50,000.¹

30. Compared to white small business owners, African American small business owners are much more likely to lack any type of credit card (31% compared to 12% for whites).¹²

31. Overall satisfaction scores among small business credit card customers who reported their business was better off financially than the previous year were 67 points higher than those whose financial outlook was unchanged and 135 points higher than those reported being worse off.²

32. The monthly average small business credit card interest payment stands at $156 in data from 2024, which is up from less than $100 before the COVID-19 pandemic.³

33. U.S. small businesses were more likely to experience credit card delinquency after the COVID-19 pandemic than before, with the most recent data pegging the rate at 2.5%.¹

34. Among the 20% of U.S. small businesses with a credit card, nearly half (42%) started using it within the previous six months.¹²

35. Only about 20% of small business owners reported holding a business credit card, but about 50% reported using their card weekly.¹²

36. The proportion of U.S. small businesses paying more than $450 in average monthly credit card interest increased from 11% in 2022 to 17% in 2024.³

37. In 2022, 66% of U.S. small businesses reported paying no monthly credit card interest. That figure declined to 62% in 2023.³

38. This credit card debt survey pegged the median balance for business credit card revolvers at $7,000, citing research from JPMorganChase.⁶

39. More than one-third (37%) of small businesses favored loans, lines of credit, and merchant cash advances over credit cards or other financing products when applying for credit.¹

40. Only 8% of business cardholders surveyed in 2023 ever used their personal credit cards to pay for air travel.⁷

41. Among 41% of small business respondents that reported not applying for credit in the previous year, 57% indicated they already had sufficient financing, while 23% reported being debt averse, and smaller percentages indicated discouragement or concern about the cost of credit.¹

42. The biggest travel hassle among business cardholders was expense reimbursements, a pain point for 29% of respondents.⁷

43. Overall satisfaction with lenders declined from 15% to 2% from 2023 to 2024.¹

44. Approximately 34% of small business owners reported problems accessing capital. That figure was approximately 26% for medium-sized business owners.⁸

45. Business credit cards have more spending power than personal cards. Only 30% of respondents reported a business credit limit of less than $5,000.¹²

46. On average, U.S. small businesses reported spending $24,250 per month on business credit cards but repaying only $16,760 per month in outstanding credit card debt.³

47. Common uses for personal credit cards among small business owners were meeting day-to-day operating expenses (63%), expanding the business and pursuing new opportunities (50%), and replacing or repairing large, long-lasting business assets (38%).¹²

48. The rate of business credit card usage in this survey from 2025 is 20%.⁶

49. Nearly half (49%) of small business credit card customers reported appreciating perks like free shipping and priority boarding. But only 36% said those rewards helped their business.²

50. Hispanic-, Black-, and Asian-owned small businesses experienced more significant issues with capital access than the national average in data from 2023-24. But while Asian-owned businesses tallied the highest in 2023 (at approximately 55%), Black-owned businesses reported the highest rate in 2024 (approximately 59%).⁸

51. More than 1 in 10 North American small businesses used credit cards to pay for more than 75% of all expenses (13% among U.S. firms and 12% among Canadian firms).³

Business credit cards perform the same function for entrepreneurs as personal cards do for families, providing businesses with additional liquidity to make purchases on a convenient timeline.

Enough competition exists to provide options for businesses of various sizes, from the smallest to the largest.

This collection of business credit card statistics provides readers with an authoritative description of the current marketplace and emerging industry trends.

¹ https://www.fedsmallbusiness.org/reports/survey/2025/2025-report-on-employer-firms
² https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2024-us-small-business-credit-card-satisfaction-study
³ https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/small-business-data/index-annual-report-2025
⁴ https://wallethub.com/blog/small-business-owner-survey/59759
⁵ https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2023/10/11/small-business-credit-card-spending-up-20-percent-post-pandemic/95755
⁶ https://www.docuclipper.com/blog/credit-card-debt-statistics
⁷ https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Payment-Expense/BCD-Survey-Personal-Card-Use-Common-Among-Corp-Travelers
⁸ https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/small-business-checkpoint-october-2024.html
⁹ https://www.fedsmallbusiness.org/reports/survey/2024/2024-report-on-payments
¹⁰ https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/small-business-checkpoint-november-2023.html
¹¹ https://www.pymnts.com/smbs/2023/business-credit-card-use-hits-year-high-smbs-manage-cash-flow
¹² https://helloalice.com/small-business-credit-stats-2022