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Mercury IO Mastercard® is a business charge card that offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases. To qualify, you must open a Mercury checking or savings account and maintain at least a $25,000 balance—your Mercury account balance will determine your credit limit. Note that this is not a security deposit and doesn’t act as collateral. Mercury will automatically deduct from your account balance to pay off your bill on your chosen date.
Mercury IO Mastercard®
- 1.5% cash back on all settled transactions
Pros
- No personal guarantee required
- Unlimited rewards on paid transactions
- Helps build business credit
Cons
- No introductory rewards/welcome offer
- $25,000 is required in a Mercury account
- Doesn’t support cash deposits
- No personal credit check needed
- 1.5% cashback for all settled transactions
- Free employee cards
- 1.5% cash back on all settled transactions
Pros
- No personal guarantee required
- Unlimited rewards on paid transactions
- Helps build business credit
Cons
- No introductory rewards/welcome offer
- $25,000 is required in a Mercury account
- Doesn’t support cash deposits
- No personal credit check needed
- 1.5% cashback for all settled transactions
- Free employee cards
Who the Mercury IO Mastercard® Is Best For
- Business owners with sufficient cash on hand: You’ll need at least $25,000 in a qualified Mercury checking or savings account to be eligible for this card.
Read our review of Mercury Business Checking to learn more.>/div>
- Businesses that don’t deal with cash frequently: Mercury is an online-only bank, so if your business doesn’t need in-person services, such as for depositing cash, then this card is a good fit.
For more information, read “What Is an Online-only Bank?”
- Business owners who don’t want to provide personal guarantees: Most business credit cards require a personal guarantee, but if you don’t want to be personally liable for your business’s obligations, this card is a good fit as it doesn’t require personal guarantees.
If you need more options, check out our best business credit cards with no personal guarantee.
- Business owners with low credit scores: Mercury IO Mastercard® doesn’t check your personal credit as part of the application process, making it ideal for those with credit scores that can’t qualify for traditional business credit cards.
See our tips to improve your credit score if you have a low score.
Mercury IO Mastercard® Rewards
- Unlimited 1.5% cash back on all settled transactions, regardless of the spending categories
Mercury IO Mastercard® Rewards Calculator
Use our calculator below to find out how much you can earn in a year from Mercury IO Mastercard®. All you need to do is enter your expected monthly expenses, and our calculator will do the rest.
How to Redeem Mercury IO Mastercard® Rewards
Mercury will deposit your earned cash back instantly into your nominated payment account.
Mercury IO Mastercard® Features
Expense Management System
- Accounting software integration: Mercury is fully integrated with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and NetSuite and can automatically sync your transactions between both tools.
- Robust controls: You can easily set custom spending limits and issue cards for different purposes.
Mercury also offers four layers of access to its expense management system.
- Admin access: Can receive a debit card, move money, add team members, and change their permissions.
- Bookkeeper access: Won’t receive a debit card and can’t move money and add or edit users.
- Custom access: Can either move money around unrestricted, not at all, or with admin approval; while users with this access can be issued with a debit card, they cannot access security settings or manage the team.
- Card-only access: Can be issued a debit card and view only their own transactions—not the account information and transactions outside of their debit card.
Security Features
- Zero liability protection: Mercury offers 24/7 Mastercard Global Emergency Assistance on unauthorized purchases.
- MasterRental: This covers physical damage and theft of a rental vehicle if it’s paid with your Mercury IO Mastercard® and certain conditions are met.
- Card security: The physical cards—which have a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip for contactless payment—don’t have any card number, card verification value (CVV) security code, expiration date, or signature. This makes them more secure than any other physical credit card.
User Features
- Monthly statements: You can download your statements found in the “Documents” tab of your Mercury dashboard.
- Payroll provider integration: You can authorize wire drawdowns with payroll providers, such as Gusto, Sequoia One, ADP, and TriNet.
Other Features
- Employee cards: You can issue unlimited virtual cards for your employees and one physical card to each team member.
- Add funds to your account: You can deposit checks through your Mercury dashboard by heading over to “Add Funds,” but Mercury doesn’t support cash deposits into your account.
Mercury IO Mastercard® Fees
- Account balance requirement: $25,000
- Monthly fees: $0
- Overdraft fees: $0
- Domestic and international wires: $0
- Currency exchange: 1% flat fee
You won’t pay fees when using the card for business purchases and creating multiple physical and virtual cards for your employees. Also, Mercury charges $0 for sending and receiving ACH, checks, domestic wires, and international wires.
However, the card does charge for certain advanced features, such as making mass payments on its application programming interface (API), accessing Treasury account management, exchanging money in non-United States dollar (USD) currencies, and sending USD internationally.
- Linked external bank account: Log in to your Mercury dashboard. In the upper right corner of your dashboard, click “Move Money” and select “Transfer between accounts.” Input a dollar amount and choose the accounts you want to transfer to and from. Should you need to link a new external bank account, scroll to the bottom and click “Link a bank account.” Check the details included, and if everything is accurate, click “Transfer.” Note that it will take up to three business days to complete the transfer.
- Wire transfer: Log in to your Mercury dashboard, click “Move Money,” and then select “Add or Receive Funds.” Click “Wire” when you see the “How do you want to add funds?” screen.
Mercury will automatically deduct your monthly balance from your chosen Mercury deposit account at your chosen payment date, which you can change at any time. Another option is to pay off your card early and/or adjust your payment date.
Mercury IO Mastercard® Alternatives
Emburse Spend Card
 Emburse Spend CardBEST FOR: Earning unlimited cash back rewards | |
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Emburse Spend is a prepaid card that offers unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases. It requires you to load funds into your account; your transactions are automatically deducted from your balance. Using the card cannot help you build credit. As our top business prepaid card, it comes with a seamless platform and robust controls that allow you to streamline your company expenses.
Ramp Credit Card
Ramp Credit Card
BEST FOR:
Those who are using Ramp as their main financial management tool
- Up to 1.5% cash back on purchases, regardless of spending categories
Pros
- Offers rewards for cardholders
- Does not charge additional fees
- Integrates with accounting software, such as QuickBooks and Xero
Cons
- Requires paying balances in full each month
- Is unavailable to sole proprietors and unincorporated businesses
- Travel and emergency assistance services: Call the Benefit Administrator at (800) 397-9010 if you are in the United States or (303) 967-1093 if you are outside of the US if you need emergency assistance.
- Purchase security: Receive a maximum of $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder in cases of theft or damage to purchases made with your card.
- Auto rental collision damage waiver: When using this card for renting a car, you can be reimbursed for damages caused by theft or collision up to the Actual Cash Value of most rented cars. Note that rental periods of 31 consecutive days are covered.
- Extended warranty protection: Extend warranties for eligible purchases made with your covered account and/or rewards programs associated with your account.
- Up to 1.5% cash back on purchases, regardless of spending categories
Pros
- Offers rewards for cardholders
- Does not charge additional fees
- Integrates with accounting software, such as QuickBooks and Xero
Cons
- Requires paying balances in full each month
- Is unavailable to sole proprietors and unincorporated businesses
- Travel and emergency assistance services: Call the Benefit Administrator at (800) 397-9010 if you are in the United States or (303) 967-1093 if you are outside of the US if you need emergency assistance.
- Purchase security: Receive a maximum of $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder in cases of theft or damage to purchases made with your card.
- Auto rental collision damage waiver: When using this card for renting a car, you can be reimbursed for damages caused by theft or collision up to the Actual Cash Value of most rented cars. Note that rental periods of 31 consecutive days are covered.
- Extended warranty protection: Extend warranties for eligible purchases made with your covered account and/or rewards programs associated with your account.
Ramp is chosen as the best overall corporate card because it offers 10 to 20 times higher credit limits compared to regular business credit cards. On top of that, you can earn 1.5% cash back on purchases, and it charges $0 annual setup and replacement fees. Plus, it lets you access a convenient financial management platform to help streamline your expenses.
Rho Card
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With Rho Card, you can access a seamless platform to help you manage your expenses and cash flow. You have the option to either pay it daily (which will be automatically debited from your Rho checking account) or monthly. You can also receive cash rewards on eligible purchases in the form of a statement credit, as well as more than $600,000 in exclusive partner perks, including Stripe, Slack, Gusto, and Amazon.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
In addition to securing $25,000 in your Mercury checking or savings account, you also need the following documents to apply for a Mercury account:
- US company with a federal employer identification number (EIN)
- Official formation documents
- A picture of your government ID, such as a passport or US driver’s license
Business prepaid cards require you to load them with money before making a purchase. Corporate charge cards, also known as purchasing cards (p-cards), are linked to an organization’s account, where the business owner controls where they can be used. Lastly, secured business credit cards are funded by your security deposit and are ideal if you are unqualified for an unsecured card due to low or bad credit.
No, a Mercury checking or savings account is required to be qualified for the Mercury IO Mastercard®. Note that you also need to have at least $25,000 in your account to be eligible for the card. The good news is that you can open a Mercury deposit account for free.
Bottom Line
Mercury IO Mastercard® is a viable business charge card for those who can maintain $25,000 or more in their Mercury accounts. Not only will you earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases, but you’ll also be protected from unauthorized transactions through Mastercard’s Zero Liability Protection. The card offers discounts from notable software such as QuickBooks, Salesforce, and TurboTax. However, it doesn’t support cash deposits, and earned cash back will be deposited only after the card balance is paid.
Fit Small Business has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Fit Small Business and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
