Compare the Features and Benefits of United℠ Business Card and
Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards Credit Card

If you’re a business owner contemplating on getting a personal United credit card, it’s worth taking a closer look at the United Business Card first.

Cardholders earn 2x unlimited miles on a diverse range of bonus categories, including United purchases (which includes United flights, seat upgrades, wifi or onboard purchases), dining including eligible delivery services, gas stations, office supply stores, and local transit and commuting. All other purchases accrue 1x miles. And don’t forget, beyond the initial hard inquiry when applying for a business card, it won’t report to your personal credit as long as you remain in good standing.

The annual fee is $150 (occasionally waived for the first year, based on the bonus offer being offered at the time, although the offers that waive the annual fee the first year also generally offer less miles.)

Fortunately, maximizing the card is effortless thanks to its number of tangible benefits. You can get every first checked bag free on United flights and even earn an annual $125 United credit after purchasing five United flight purchases. Coupled with the opportunity to enter the United Club twice per year ($59 value each time), that’s roughly a $200+ value off the bat toward travel.

Then you have the rideshare benefits ($8 back as a statement credit each month from January through November and up to $12 back for the month of December. Yearly opt-in is required.) for up to $100 a year back and then perhaps less commonly used perks like the credits for FareLock, United Hotels, JSX, and Instacart.

Other non-tangible, yet equally useful, benefits that the United Business Card provides include priority boarding, a 25% discount on inflight purchases, and the ability to earn Premier Qualifying Points every year from spend (see the next paragraph for details). Depending on how often you’re flying United every year, these perks offer elite-like benefits just by holding this card.

And don’t forget the ability to earn PQPs towards elite status from spend. You’ll earn 1 PQP for every $20 you spend on purchases with your Business Card – up to 4,000 PQPs per year.

If you were purely looking to earn United miles, however, you might well do better with the Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card which would earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the first $150,000 spent on all travel purchases, has similar trip protections, and its points transfer 1:1 to United – but also to more than a dozen other airline and hotel partners.

We have a detailed comparison of the United Business Card vs. the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card.

Chase is the issuer of this business card and is quite generous when it comes to providing travel and purchase coverages with high limits. Plus, Chase tends to offer partner benefits exclusively for cardholders.

With over 3,800 branches, Bank of America is a retail banking giant. It offers its Unlimited Cash Rewards Credit Card to customers who are looking to earn strong rates of cash back on all purchases, but don’t want to pay an annual fee.

Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases

This card offers 1.5% cash back per dollar spent on all purchases, with no limits. This is very competitive for a card with no annual fee. This high rate of return comes at the expense of bonus categories, as this card doesn’t have any, like other cards do for things like travel and dining purchases.

Cash back rewards can be deposited into a Bank of America savings account, redeemed as a statement credit, or applied to an eligible Merrill account.

And unlike a Bank of America Travel Rewards card, you don’t get any statement credits towards baggage fees, or the purchase of vacation packages, just cash rewards.

However, Bank of America Preferred Rewards members can earn a 25%, 50% or 75% bonus on their rewards, depending on which tier they are in. And these are simple cash rewards, so you don’t have to redeem points to be rewarded.

Many cardholders will find this simple formula better than earning bonuses on some purchases, but a mere 1% on other purchases.

And your cash back rewards never expire so long as your account remains open and in good standing.

But what makes this card exceptional is the ability for Bank of America Preferred Rewards customers to earn as much as 2.625% cash back. That’s what you’ll get if you’re in one of the higher tiers of their program and earn a 75% bonus on your rewards earned. Others will earn a 25% or 50% bonus, which is still enough to take this card from competitive to remarkable.

Otherwise, this simple card is also one that’s light on benefits. There’s very little to no travel insurance or purchase protection policies, but you do get a free credit score, which most cards offer these days. One notable benefit is Bank of America’s Museums on Us program, which offers free access to hundreds of museums on the first full weekend of the month. This unique benefit can offer significant value to families, parents and other museum lovers.

There’s no annual fee for this card, but there is a 3% foreign transaction fee imposed on purchases processed outside of the United States. That leaves this card as a solid choice for those looking for a competitive, but basic cash back card rather than a travel rewards credit card.

However, if you also happen to be a Bank of America Premier Rewards member, then using this could be the most rewarding card that you could ever use.