Cash flow finance

Business credit cards for UK limited companies

Business credit cards for UK limited companies: interest-free days, limits, liability and real costs, plus the Funding Circle cashback card we arrange.

Get Instant Quotes Discuss Your Requirement

No obligation discussion
Access to 300+ lenders
Free to enquire

Explore funding options Prefer a quick call back? Leave your number

“I highly recommend this company: excellent service all round.”

Credit limit: Up to £250,000Funding Circle cashback card
Interest-free: Up to 42 daysOnly if the balance is paid in full
Carried balance: 34.9% APR representativeVariable; it costs a lot to carry a balance
Suitable businesses: UK limited companies1+ year trading, £30,000+ turnover

In short

What you need to know.

A business credit card gives a limited company a revolving spending limit.

Pay the statement in full by the due date and purchases cost no interest; carry a balance and interest is charged, usually at more than a business loan costs. We arrange the Funding Circle cashback card: limits up to £250,000, 2% cashback for the first 6 months (capped at £2,000) then 1%, and a representative 34.9% APR (variable) on any balance you carry.

What business credit cards are used for

A card works best for spending that is small, frequent and cleared quickly:

Travel and fuel
train tickets, hotels, flights and fuel, with every transaction on one statement.
Software and subscriptions
monthly tools and services that only take card payments.
Supplier and online purchases
stock, materials and equipment from suppliers that accept cards.
Team spending
cards for staff with their own limits, so nobody pays from their own pocket and claims it back.
Spending in other currencies
overseas suppliers and travel, where a card with no foreign exchange fee saves money.

A transaction we arranged

£50,000

£50,000 revolving supplier facility. The first supplier was paid as soon as it went live.

Rather than a fixed lump sum on day one, the business wanted a facility it could use to pay suppliers as required.

Read the transaction

Sector: Technology and engineering business
Structure: Revolving supplier facility
Outcome: Completed

About business credit cards

Specialist knowledge. Better outcomes.

A business credit card gives your company a revolving spending limit for everyday costs.

A business credit card gives your company a revolving spending limit for everyday costs: travel, fuel, software, supplier and online purchases, and staff spending. Pay the statement in full by the due date and purchases cost no interest; carry a balance and interest is charged, usually at a higher rate than a business loan. This page explains how business credit cards work for UK limited companies, what they really cost and when a loan, an overdraft or a revolving credit facility is the better choice.

Smart Funding Solutions is a broker, not a lender or a card issuer. We arrange the Funding Circle cashback business credit card, and when a card is not the right tool we search the market for a credit line or loan from lenders on our panel.

Explore funding options

Access to 300+ lendersWhole-of-market search across our lender panel.
Independent brokerSmart Funding Solutions is an independent broker, not a lender.
Tailored to your caseYour case presented to lenders suited to it.
Support from start to finishOur experts handle the process from start to finish.

How a business credit card works

The provider sets a credit limitIt is based on the company's turnover, trading history and credit checks, which usually look at the directors as well as the company.
You and your team spend on the cardEach purchase reduces the limit available until you repay.
A monthly statement shows the balancePayment is due a set number of days after the statement date.
Pay in full and purchases cost no interestPay less, down to the minimum payment, and interest is charged on what is left.
The limit frees up as you repayIt is a revolving limit, so you can use it again without a new application.

Interest-free days, repayments, liability, limits and cashback

Interest-free days: the time between a purchase and the payment due date. A purchase made early in the statement period gets more interest-free days than one made just before the statement. The interest-free period only applies if you pay the statement balance in full.
Repayment: each statement sets a minimum payment. Paying only the minimum keeps most of the balance on the card, and interest builds on it. A direct debit for the full balance is the simplest way never to pay interest.
Director liability: the card is issued to the company, but many providers ask directors for a personal guarantee or make the cardholder jointly liable. Read the agreement before you sign, because it decides whether an unpaid balance can become your personal debt.
Credit limits: limits on business cards are commonly modest compared with loans and are reviewed over time. The Funding Circle cashback card offers limits of up to £250,000 (Funding Circle, checked October 2026).
Cashback: a percentage of eligible spending paid back to the company. Check the rate, any introductory period, any cap and what is excluded. Cashback is only worth having if the balance is cleared, because interest on a carried balance soon costs more than the cashback earns.

Funding Circle cashback business credit card

We arrange the Funding Circle cashback business credit card for UK limited companies. Every detail below comes from Funding Circle's own cashback card page (Funding Circle, checked October 2026). The page shows no date and Funding Circle can change its terms, so check them before you apply.

Credit limit: up to £250,000.
Cashback: 2% for the first 6 months, capped at £2,000, then 1% with no cap.
Interest-free period: up to 42 days if you pay the balance in full.
Interest: representative 34.9% APR (variable). Interest rates start from 14.9% a year and are linked to the Bank of England Base Rate.
Fees: no annual or monthly fee, and no foreign exchange fees.
Repayments: a minimum repayment of 10% or £100, with payment due 12 days after the statement, collected by direct debit.
The card: a Visa card. Cash withdrawals and gambling are not supported, and Section 75 does not apply.
Team cards: extra cards for your team at no cost.
Accounting: integration with Xero, Sage and FreeAgent.

This is not cheap borrowing. The cashback and the interest-free days only work in your favour if you clear the balance in full every month. A balance carried at a representative 34.9% APR costs far more than the cashback pays back, as the worked example shows. If you expect to need several months to repay, a credit line or a loan is likely to cost less.

At 2%, the £2,000 cap is reached after £100,000 of spending in the first 6 months (our calculation). Funding Circle also offers FlexiPay, a credit line where each use is repaid in fixed instalments for a flat fee; our guide to Funding Circle FlexiPay explains how it differs, and our Funding Circle lender guide covers its loans.

Underwriting

Funding Circle cashback card eligibility

Funding Circle lists these requirements for the cashback card (checked October 2026):

Business type

a UK limited company.

Trading history

at least 1 year of trading.

Turnover

£30,000 or more a year.

Existing Funding Circle customers

companies that already use FlexiPay or have a Funding Circle loan are not yet eligible.

Funding Circle runs its own checks, sets the limit and makes the decision. If your company does not meet these requirements, we can look at credit lines and loans from other lenders on our panel instead.

Before you apply

How to choose a business credit card: a checklist

The best business credit card is the one whose costs fit how your company actually uses it. High street banks usually offer business cards to their own current account customers, and some online lenders and card providers offer cashback cards. Compare them on:

The cost of a carried balance: the representative APR and the rate you are actually offered, even if you plan to pay in full.
Fees: annual or monthly card fees, foreign exchange fees, cash withdrawal fees and late payment fees.
Interest-free days and the due date: how long you have to pay, and whether a direct debit can clear the full balance.
Rewards: the cashback rate, how long any introductory rate lasts and any cap.
Liability: whether the company, the cardholder or the directors through a personal guarantee are liable.
Limit and team cards: enough headroom for your monthly spending, and whether extra cards cost anything.
Accounting: whether transactions feed into your accounting software.
Eligibility: the trading history, turnover and business type the provider asks for.

Side by side

Compare your options

How the main business finance structures work. Lenders set their own terms, so treat this as a guide to the questions to ask.

Option	How you repay	Security	Often used for
Unsecured business loan	Fixed instalments, usually monthly	No charge over assets; a personal guarantee is usually required	Growth, stock, tax bills and cash flow
Secured business loan	Fixed instalments, often over a longer term	A charge over property or other assets	Larger sums, property and refinancing
Revolving credit facility	Interest on what you draw; repay and redraw	Varies by lender and case	Recurring or uneven cash flow gaps
Merchant cash advance	A share of future card takings	No charge over assets	Card-taking businesses with uneven months
Asset finance	Regular payments over the life of the asset	The asset being financed	Equipment, vehicles and machinery
Invoice finance	Settled as customers pay their invoices	Your unpaid invoices	Businesses waiting on customer payment

General information only. Every lender has its own criteria, and all finance is subject to status.

What a business credit card costs: a worked example

A business credit card has two very different prices. Cleared in full by the due date, it costs nothing in interest and can pay you cashback. Carried from month to month, it is one of the more expensive ways for a business to borrow.

This example uses the Funding Circle cashback card's published terms (representative 34.9% APR variable; 2% cashback for the first 6 months, then 1%) for a company that puts £10,000 a month on the card. It is an illustration, not a quote, and your own rate may differ.

How the company repays	Interest	Cashback	Net result
Pays the full balance every month, months 1 to 6	£0	£200 a month (2%), £1,200 over 6 months	£1,200 back
Pays the full balance every month, months 7 to 12	£0	£100 a month (1%), £600 over 6 months	£600 back
Carries an average balance of £10,000 from month to month, after month 6	About £253 a month, around £3,030 a year	£100 a month (1%)	A net cost of about £153 a month

The interest figure is our calculation: a 34.9% APR works out at about 2.53% a month, charged on the £10,000 left unpaid. Paid in full every month, the card costs no interest and pays £1,800 back over the year; carried, the interest is about two and a half times the cashback. Compare a card's rate with the indicative ranges for loans and credit lines in our business finance rate index, built from lenders on our panel.

When a card beats a loan, an overdraft or a revolving credit facility

Situation	Usually the better fit	Why
Everyday spending you clear each month	Business credit card	No interest if paid in full, cashback on some cards and one statement for every card
Staff travel and expenses	Business credit card with team cards	Spending limits per card and no expense claims to reimburse
A one-off cost repaid over one to five years, such as equipment or a fit-out	Business loan or asset finance	Fixed repayments and usually a lower rate than a carried card balance
Cash for wages, rent or other payments made by bank transfer	Revolving credit facility or overdraft	Money drawn into your bank account; the Funding Circle card does not support cash withdrawals
A gap of several weeks or months that comes back each year	Revolving credit facility	Interest on what you draw, with limits from £10,000 to £20 million across our panel
Waiting for customers to pay invoices	Invoice finance	Cash released against the invoices themselves

A card is the wrong choice when you already know you will carry the balance for months, when the cost is large and should be spread over years, or when you could only afford the minimum payment. Bank overdrafts are often repayable on demand and many SMEs cannot get one; our guide to business overdraft alternatives covers the options. For a fuller side-by-side, read business credit card vs business loan.

How we arrange a business credit card

Tell us what you spend and how you repayThe monthly amount, what it is for and whether you clear it every month decide whether a card is the right tool.
We check the fitWe check your company against Funding Circle's published requirements and set the card's costs beside a credit line, an overdraft alternative or a loan.
We arrange the applicationFunding Circle runs its own checks, sets your limit and makes the decision.
If a card is not the answer,we search the market and approach suitable lenders on our panel for a facility from £10,000 to £20 million.

Any broker fee depends on the lender, with nothing to pay upfront. To see which credit lines and loans could suit your business, use Instant Quotes. There is no credit check.

FAQs

Questions clients ask

What is a business credit card?

A credit card issued to a business, usually a limited company, for business spending. It has a revolving limit: you spend, get a monthly statement and repay, and the limit is free to use again. Paid in full by the due date, purchases cost no interest; a balance you carry is charged interest.

Is a director personally liable for a business credit card?

It depends on the agreement. The card is issued to the company, but many providers ask directors for a personal guarantee or make the cardholder jointly liable, so an unpaid balance can become a personal debt. Read the liability terms before you sign, and see our guide to personal guarantees.

How many interest-free days do business credit cards give?

It varies by card and by when in the statement period you spend. The Funding Circle cashback card gives up to 42 days interest-free if the balance is paid in full, with payment due 12 days after the statement (Funding Circle, checked October 2026). If you do not pay in full, interest is charged.

How much cashback does the Funding Circle business credit card pay?

2% for the first 6 months, capped at £2,000, then 1% with no cap (Funding Circle, checked October 2026). Cashback only works in your favour if you clear the balance every month: at a representative 34.9% APR (variable), interest on a carried balance soon costs more than the cashback pays.

Who can get the Funding Circle cashback card?

Funding Circle lists a UK limited company with at least 1 year of trading and £30,000 or more in annual turnover. Companies that already use FlexiPay or have a Funding Circle loan are not yet eligible. Funding Circle makes the decision and sets the limit, which can be up to £250,000.

Can I withdraw cash with the Funding Circle card?

No. Funding Circle says cash withdrawals and gambling are not supported on the card, and that Section 75 does not apply (Funding Circle, checked October 2026). If you need cash in your bank account, look at a revolving credit facility instead.

Is a business credit card cheaper than a business loan?

Only if you clear it quickly. A card paid in full each month costs no interest, which no loan can match. Carried for months, a card is usually more expensive than a business loan for the same amount, so a larger cost that will take a year or more to repay generally belongs on a loan. Our guide to business credit card vs business loan compares the two in detail.

Can a sole trader get the Funding Circle cashback card?

No. Funding Circle says the card is for UK limited companies. Sole traders can ask their own bank about a business card, or look at credit lines and loans from lenders on our panel that accept sole traders.

Keep exploring

Related funding options

All guides

Cash flow finance

DiscussTell us what the funding is for.
Explore the marketWe search 300+ lenders and compare offers.
Compare offersWe explain the options clearly.
Move forwardChoose the right facility for your business.

Get Instant Quotes 01244 267694

What our clients say

“Simon was fast, kept us updated at all stages and was a real pleasure to work with on our asset finance. I highly recommend this company: excellent service all round.”

Why businesses choose Smart Funding Solutions

Access to 300+ lenders
Personal broker support
No obligation discussion
Free to enquire

Speak To A Broker