Business credit cards for startups: which UK cards accept a new company

Most business credit cards look like they want a trading history you haven't got yet. In practice, none of the seven UK cards on this page publishes a minimum trading period, so what stops a company in its first few weeks is usually something else: a business current account with the same bank, a turnover figure, or a personal credit file with nothing much on it. Barclaycard will even take a new business plan in place of turnover. With no filed accounts to read, an issuer judges your Companies House record and the director's own credit file, so that is where to put your attention first.

A card opens up credit for the essential purchases, the running costs, and the bills that land before your first invoice is paid. So the questions are which one you can actually get, what it costs, and whether a card is the right thing for the cost you have in mind.

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Business credit cards for startups: how do they work?

Banks and credit providers know that startups need simple access to credit. Many offer credit cards designed for new or early-stage businesses. These cards help you manage your initial expenses and overheads, and start to build up a credit history.

Plenty of companies are in the same position as you. Our Business Hotspots research, published in September 2025, counted 84 new businesses created every hour across Britain in the first half of that year. Almost none of them had filed a set of accounts by the time they needed to buy something, which is why issuers design for that reality rather than against it.

A business credit card works in a similar way to a personal credit card, but it's issued in the company's name and used only by authorised team members. Business credit cards for startups will usually:

• Have smaller credit limits than cards for larger corporate clients.
• Charge interest on anything you don't repay in full.
• Need thorough checks before the card is approved.

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Understanding interest rates: APR vs purchase rate

When you're comparing business credit cards, you'll come across two figures that look interchangeable and aren't: the purchase rate and the representative APR. The difference decides whether a cheap card looks expensive.

The purchase rate is the interest applied to your purchases if you don't pay off the balance in full each month.

The representative APR (annual percentage rate) shows the bigger picture. It bundles the purchase rate together with any compulsory charges, such as an annual fee, and it's the rate at least 51% of successful applicants must receive. That's why a card with a small limit and a fee can show a very high figure.

A charge card has no representative APR at all, because the balance is normally repaid in full every month. One of the seven cards below is a charge card, and it works differently from the rest.

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Seven UK business credit cards, and what each asks of a new company

There's a big choice of cards on the UK market, and four things decide whether one is worth applying for in your first year: whether the issuer will take a company with no trading history, what it charges if you don't clear the balance, the limit you're likely to be offered, and what you earn back.

Of those four, the one most new companies over-weight is the cashback rate, and the one they under-weight is the interest-free window. Our research, published in April 2026, surveyed 1,005 small business owners and found that 28% had two months or less of cash in reserve. A company in its first year is usually at the thin end of that, paying for stock, software, or a deposit before anything has come in. Six weeks between buying something and paying for it is worth more to you than an extra half a per cent back, because it's the gap that lets a customer's payment land first.

Every figure below comes from the issuer's own page, checked on 14 October 2026. The column to read first is the middle one: not one of these issuers publishes a minimum trading period. What they ask for instead is in the third.

Terms change, so read the issuer's page before you apply.

Barclaycard's wording is the most useful line in the table if you haven't started trading: turnover, or a new business plan, of between £10,000 and £6,500,000 a year. A company with no revenue at all can apply on a plan. The three bank cards publish no trading-history bar either, but they each need a current account with the same bank first, and in your first few weeks that is the real barrier.

What changes between the week you incorporate and six months in usually isn't whether you can get a card. It's the limit. NatWest publishes a floor of £500, Lloyds a range of £1,000–£25,000, and both Capital on Tap and the iwoca Credit Card a ceiling of £250,000 – and a ceiling isn't an offer. If you expect to outgrow an opening limit, high limit business credit cards covers how issuers review them later.

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American Express Business Gold

American Express Business Gold is a charge card, not a credit card, so the balance is expected in full every month and there is no representative APR to compare. If you can't pay in full, the Flexible Payment Option lets you carry part of the balance at 29.1% a year (variable); without it, a charge card expects the whole statement. It asks for a director's personal income rather than company turnover, which can suit someone who has been earning well elsewhere and has only just incorporated.

• Credit limit: No set spending limit. American Express says it adjusts to how the business spends and repays.
• Interest: None, as a charge card. The Flexible Payment Option carries 29.1% a year (variable).
• Notable features: Up to 54 days interest-free when you pay in full, one Membership Rewards point per £1 spent (two on American Express Travel), and no annual fee in the first year (£195 after that).

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Barclaycard Select Cashback

The Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card is the one to look at if you haven't started trading, because it will accept a new business plan where other issuers want turnover. Beyond that it asks that you're a business owner or director aged 18 or over, that the business is UK-based, that neither of you is bankrupt, and that you haven't been declined for a Barclaycard commercial card in the last six months.

• Credit limit: Not published. Its representative example is based on a credit limit of £1,200.
• Interest: 25.5% APR representative (variable).
• Notable features: 1% uncapped cashback, but only in statement months where eligible business spend reaches £2,000. Up to 56 days' interest-free credit, no annual fee, plus purchase protection and cardholder misuse insurance.

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Capital on Tap

Capital on Tap's published criteria contain no minimum turnover and no minimum trading period, which makes it one of the few true credit cards a company can apply for on day one. It wants an active UK director or majority shareholder, the business registered and active at Companies House, no unsatisfied county court judgments in the last 12 months, and an industry it doesn't class as high risk. It doesn't publish a representative APR, so its 'rates as low as 13.86%' can't be compared directly with the cards that do.

• Credit limit: Up to £250,000, subject to status.
• Interest: No representative APR published. Rates as low as 13.86% APR (variable).
• Notable features: 1% uncapped cashback or points convertible to Avios, up to 42 days interest-free, no annual fee on the Free plan (£299 a year on Pro), no foreign exchange or cash machine fees, and six months of Xero free for first-time subscribers.

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iwoca Credit Card

The iwoca Credit Card was built for small and medium-sized UK businesses, and we'll take an application from a company that incorporated this week. There's no trading history to show us and no turnover to reach first: we ask that you're based in the UK, that you're the director of a limited company, and that you have basic details about the business to hand.

Three things change what you can do in your first year. Applying doesn't touch your personal credit score, because we run a soft search on your personal credit file and the application won't appear on your personal credit report, which matters when your own file is doing the work your company's can't do yet. The 1% cashback has no spending threshold, so it's credited on the first pound as well as the thousandth, and it comes off your balance rather than sitting in a rewards scheme. And up to 42 days interest-free, a 30-day billing cycle plus 12 days to pay, means something bought early in a cycle has nearly six weeks before it has to be paid for.

• Credit limit: Up to £250,000, subject to status.
• Interest: Rates start at 14.99% a year, with a representative 35.40% APR (variable). You pay no interest at all if you clear the statement balance in full and on time.
• Repayments: At least 10% of the balance or £100, whichever is higher, by direct debit. You can pay more, or clear the whole balance.
• Notable features: 1% cashback on all spending with no threshold, up to 42 days interest-free, and no annual, foreign exchange, or late payment fees.

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Lloyds Bank Business Credit Card

The Lloyds Bank Business Credit Card carries the lowest representative APR of any card here, at 15.95%, on a credit limit of £1,000–£25,000. The catch for a brand-new company is the account: you need a Lloyds Business Current Account first, and if you've only just opened one you can apply online for up to £5,000 across a business overdraft or a card, assessed as a separate application.

• Credit limit: £1,000–£25,000, subject to status.
• Interest: 15.95% APR representative (variable), based on borrowing £1,200.
• Notable features: Up to 56 days interest-free on purchases, 1% cashback on fuel and electric vehicle charging and 0.5% on other purchases, but only in billing cycles where the account spends £2,000 or more. Up to £500 a day in cash, and no annual fee for 12 months (then £32 per cardholder, unless the account spends £6,000 or more a year across all cards).

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Metro Bank Business Credit Card

The Metro Bank Business Credit Card charges 18.9% APR representative on all its cards and no annual fee, and it's unusually cheap to use in Europe: card purchases and cash withdrawals in the countries covered by the Single Euro Payments Area are free. Metro Bank publishes no trading-history requirement and no credit limit figures, and you apply in store through a local business manager rather than online.

• Credit limit: Not published.
• Interest: 18.9% APR representative (variable), the same rate across its cards.
• Notable features: Up to 56 days interest-free on purchases, no annual fee, and free card purchases and cash withdrawals in the Single Euro Payments Area, then 2.99% elsewhere and 2.99% plus £1.50 on cash.

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NatWest Business Credit Card

The NatWest Business Credit Card is aimed at businesses with an annual turnover of £2m or less, which covers a new company comfortably. It publishes the clearest floor in this list, a minimum credit limit of £500, and it runs a soft credit check at application that other lenders won't see. Beyond the business account, it asks for a UK-resident director aged 18 or over, a UK registered business address, and no bankruptcy or county court judgment.

• Credit limit: A minimum of £500, with the maximum based on status.
• Interest: 24.3% APR representative (variable), for an assumed credit limit of £1,200.
• Notable features: Up to 56 days interest-free when you pay your balance in full, 1% uncapped cashback at eligible fuel and electric vehicle charging stations, the ClearSpend app for managing employee spending, and no annual fee in year one (then £30 per cardholder, waived if that card spends £6,000 or more a year).

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What an issuer looks at when your company has no accounts

With no filed accounts to read, an issuer reads you. In practice that means your company's status at Companies House, your own credit file as a director, whether there's an unsatisfied county court judgment anywhere, a current account with the issuer where one is required, and whatever turnover you're able to declare.

The exclusions issuers publish are mostly about personal history rather than the business. Capital on Tap rules out applicants with an unsatisfied county court judgment from the last 12 months, and NatWest asks that you haven't had one or been declared bankrupt. Both are published criteria, so they're worth checking against your own file before you apply rather than after.

Zero trading history can still be a hard sell. Many traditional card issuers will place significant limitations on your credit use, or may decline your application altogether, and building a relationship with a business bank account first is often the quickest way in. Credit cards for limited companies goes further into what changes when the applicant is a company rather than a person.

A personal guarantee is part of the deal almost everywhere. Most business card issuers, including us, ask a director to give one: if the business can't afford its repayments, the guarantor becomes personally responsible for repaying any outstanding balance, and falling behind may affect their personal credit score. Read that wording properly before you sign, not after.

To make your company as easy to say yes to as possible:

• Get incorporated, register with Companies House, and keep the record up to date.
• Set up a business bank account, ideally with a bank whose card you might want later.
• Improve your personal credit and avoid county court judgments.
• Prepare the basics: identification, business details, your address, and an estimate of turnover.
• Show evidence that you can repay, such as investment or savings sitting in the business account, signed contracts, or your first invoices.
• Have a clear plan for what the card is for and how the balance gets cleared each month.
• Start with a lower-limit card and build from there.

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The risks of business credit cards and how to manage them

By using a business credit card you're entering into a credit agreement with your bank or card provider. In principle that's no different from taking out a business loan, and it carries the same kinds of risk.

• High interest: if you don't pay the balance in full, you'll pay interest on the credit you've used. It adds up, and it makes a card an expensive way to borrow for any length of time.
• A worse credit rating if you miss repayments: missed payments and defaults have a significant, negative effect on your business credit score, and a poor score makes further credit harder to get.
• Overspending: once the card is there, unplanned costs find their way onto it. That uses up the limit and pushes the repayments, with interest, higher.
• Credit utilisation: lenders look at how much of the limit you're using, not only whether you pay on time, so a card sitting near its ceiling can read badly even when every payment lands.

There are risks in any credit agreement, but you can get ahead of these ones. Set a budget for card spending and hold to it. Automate the repayment by direct debit, ideally for the full statement balance rather than the minimum. And treat the limit as a buffer rather than a budget, because early costs arrive in a lump and a card that's close to its ceiling leaves you nothing for the thing you didn't plan for.

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How to use a business credit card to build your company's credit

A business credit card builds your company's credit record if you pay on time and keep the balance low against the limit, and that record is what earns you a higher limit, a better rate, or a loan later. Building your credit profile is a critical part of making your startup more financially stable: it shows you can manage regular repayments and stay inside your limit, and it gives a lender something real to read.

To build business credit with your card:

• Pay the bill on time, every time.
• Keep balances low and don't overspend.
• Use the card regularly, but responsibly.
• Avoid exceeding 30–40% of your credit limit where you can.
• Keep your Companies House record up to date, because issuers read it.
• Check your business credit score regularly, and act on whatever is dragging it down.

iwoca Credit Compass is free, and shows your Equifax business credit score alongside four more scores, the key factors affecting them, and areas to improve. Checking it before an issuer does means you find out about a problem while you can still do something about it.

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Business credit cards vs business loans: which is better for startups?

A card is usually cheapest for anything you can clear inside the interest-free window. For a cost you'd be repaying over a year or more, a business loan gives you a fixed term and a set schedule instead, and it doesn't eat into the limit you keep for day-to-day spending.

• Credit cards are a short-term option. They come with lower borrowing limits and suit smaller day-to-day expenses.
• Business loans like iwoca's Flexi-Loan generally give you access to larger amounts, more control, and better rates on your repayments.

The dividing line is usually the size of the thing and how long it takes to pay for itself. Software subscriptions, travel, supplier invoices, and marketing all suit a card you clear monthly. A first van, a round of equipment, or a hire you're making before the revenue arrives doesn't, because the cost lands in one month and earns its way back over many.

Flexi-Loan in action: CQD Cleaning Services Mark Natthan needed to hire ahead of revenue and bridge the gaps between jobs. Having someone who understood his business gave him the confidence to do it, and he still speaks to his account manager regularly. Read Mark's story

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Business credit cards for startups: your questions answered

Can you get a business credit card with no credit check?

No UK business card issuer skips the credit check. What some do is run a soft search first, which lets them assess you without leaving a mark on your personal credit file: we do, and so does NatWest, which says other lenders won't see its check.

With no accounts to read, that check falls largely on the director. Not every issuer runs a soft search, so read the wording on the card page before you apply.

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Which business credit cards give instant approval for a startup?

None of the cards here guarantees instant approval, and the published timings vary a lot.

Capital on Tap publishes a decision in two minutes and a physical card in two to five business days. NatWest says a successful application means your card and PIN arrive within 10 to 12 business days. Metro Bank asks you to apply in store through a local business manager, so the timing depends on the appointment.

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Does Section 75 protect a business credit card purchase?

No. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 protects personal borrowers, so business cards fall outside it and you don't get joint liability with the card issuer if a supplier doesn't deliver.

Check the merchant's refund policy instead, or whether your card network offers chargeback rights on the transaction. It's worth knowing before you put a large one-off purchase on the card.