Advanta Platinum Business Card with Unlimited Rewards Review

Summary - The Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Unlimited Rewards is a business credit card that gives you a choice between a cash rebate program and a business reward program. The best feature about this card is that is has a very low apr and probably the best balance transfer deal in the market today. Find out more about this card.

Cash Rebate Formula - Cardholders can earn cash back, travel, merchandise and more, 1 point for every dollar spent on purchases, and no blackout dates on air travel.

Reward Program - If you choose to earn rewards, you earn one point for every dollar spent on purchases. Points can be redeemed for travel and shopping rewards. Unlike the cash rebate program, you can earn unlimited points. Points are valid for 36 months (3 years).

The Advanta rewards program consist of both travel rewards, a few shopping merchandise and gift certificates. For airline tickets, you need 25,000 points to get a free roundtrip ticket within the continental US. This is the standard rate among reward programs. In terms of shopping merchandise, Advanta has only one partner, Trek Recreational Hybrid bicycles. Below is a list of partners where you can exchange points for gift certificates.

Fees and Rates - The Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Unlimited Rewards has no annual fee for both the main card and additional employee cards. The apr is is prime rate plus 2.99%. You also get a 0% apr on balance transfers for 15 billing cycles. This is possibly the lowest apr for any business credit card and the balance transfer deal is also the longest of any business credit card available.

Online Account Management - Advanta cardholders get benefits like free online account management, and detailed expense reports. Statements can be downloaded to Microsoft Money, QuickBooks or Quicken. Limits on employees cards can be set individually. You can get a credit line of up to $50,000.

Verdict - Is this card right for you? Well, it depends how you look at it. As a business cash rebate card, the rebate formula is typical of most reward cards as it allows you to earn one point for every dollar that you spend on the card. Having said that, there are better cash back business credit cards in the market today. Two examples bring to my spring. They are the Simply Cash Business Card from Amex and the Chase Ink Cash, which offer 3% to 5% cash back on certain expenditure items.
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rn If you choose to earn reward points, you get a better deal in the sense that you can earn unlimited reward points. While there are travel rewards, the number of merchants for merchandize and gift certificate rewards is low compared to other reward programs, which are much more comprehensive than Advanta's program. And if a no annual fee reward card for your business is what you are looking for, the Chase Ink Classic is probably the card that you want to check out.
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rn However, the area where this card really shines is the balance transfer deal and the interest rate. There is no business credit card today that offers a 0% apr for 15 months on balance transfers. The apr is also very low at prime rate plus 2.99%. Hence, if you have very good credit, and are looking for a business credit card to transfer your balance and have a low on-going rate thereafter, the Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Unlimited Rewards is the card to get. At this moment though, consumer cards like the Citi Platinum Select MasterCard and the Citi Diamond Preferred Card both offer 0% Intro APR* for 21 months on both balance transfer and purchases. These might be slightly better alternatives if you are looking for a great balance transfer deal

Update - Advanta closed their business at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. They did not even sell their credit card portfolio and hence left their cardholders to hang out dry.

Positives

• Low apr
• Great balance transfer deal
• Choice of cash rebate program or travel reward program
• No annual fee
• No additional card fee