U.S. Bank Business Leverage^® Visa Signature^® Card Review [2024]: Is It Your Best Option?

The U.S. Bank Business Leverage^® Visa Signature^® Card makes it easy for business owners to earn rewards by providing 2% back on the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically. Eligible categories include wholesale clubs, gas stations, hotels, and more.

But you have to pay a $95 (waived first year) annual fee, and the simple rewards rate tends to be lower than what you can find on many other business credit cards.

Let’s jump into the details of our U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature Card review to see whether this card makes sense for your small business.

Key takeaways

• The U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature can be a good choice for small business owners who don't want to worry about using different cards for various spending categories.
• With this card, you can earn 5% cash back on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Rewards Center; 2% cash back in top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically; 1% cash back on all other eligible purchases.
• This card has an annual fee of $95 (waived first year).
• The U.S. Bank Business Leverage card offers benefits such as free employee cards, no foreign transaction fees, and Visa Signature benefits.
• You can redeem your rewards as statement credits, bank deposits into eligible U.S. Bank accounts, travel, gift cards, or merchandise. The redemption values are generally fixed at one cent per point.

Who should get the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card?

The U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature Card makes sense if you don’t want to worry about using the right card for different spending categories. With the U.S. Bank Business Leverage, you can earn 2% back on the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically.

That means you can spend on all your everyday business expenses, and your top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically will earn 2% back as long as they’re eligible. Fortunately, there are nearly 50 eligible categories, including loads of common business expenses such as office supply stores and utility companies.

But keep in mind that this card doesn’t offer many additional benefits and has a $95 (waived first year) annual fee. You can find other business credit cards with more benefits, lower annual fees, and better rewards rates.

Card basics

Why we like the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card: benefits and perks

• Generous welcome bonus offer: Earn $750 in rewards when you spend $7,500 in eligible purchases on the account owner's card within the first 120 days of opening your account.
• Simple earning rate: You can earn 2% back on the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically. This type of rewards rate makes it easy to boost your earning potential without having to worry about choosing different categories.
• Plenty of bonus spending categories: There are nearly 50 bonus categories available for the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically earning rate, including apparel and accessory stores, auto rental and transport providers, automotive dealers, computer stores, construction material supplies, drug stores and pharmacies, and more.
• Free employee cards: Add employee cards for free with the U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature. Keep in mind that authorized employees added as cardholders don’t incur an additional annual fee. You would only have to pay another annual fee if you add another account owner to your card account. Account owners typically have more account privileges.
• No foreign transaction fees: Avoid foreign transaction fees on your travels if you use this card.
• Visa Signature benefits: The U.S. Bank Business Leverage is a Visa Signature credit card, which means it provides certain Visa Signature benefits. This includes travel accident insurance, purchase security, extended warranty protection, and more.
• U.S. Bank ExtendPay: You can divide large purchases into smaller payments through the U.S. Bank ExtendPay program. You have to pay a fixed monthly fee, but you don’t have to worry about interest rates on these payments.

What we don't like about the U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card: drawbacks

• Annual fee: You have to pay a $95 (waived first year) annual fee.
• Low rewards: Many of the best business credit cards offer better rewards rates. And some of those rewards credit cards don’t come with annual fees.
• No introductory APR offers: This card doesn’t provide an introductory APR offer for balance transfers or purchases.
• Rewards expire: Your rewards expire five years from the end of the quarter in which you earn them. That’s a lot of time to use your rewards, but it’s unusual that there’s an expiration date at all. Many credit card rewards programs attached to large card issuers — including American Express, Capital One, and Chase — don’t have expiration dates on their points or miles.

Earning & redeeming U.S. Bank rewards

Best ways to earn

The main way to earn rewards with the U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature is likely by earning 2% back on the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically. There’s little to no thinking involved with this earning rate because it applies automatically on the two eligible categories where you spend the most each month.

Here’s the full list of eligible spending categories for the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically earning rate:

If you want to earn the most rewards possible with this card, consider your U.S Bank Business Leverage for all of your expenses. But keep in mind that it typically takes using multiple credit cards with rewards rates for different categories to maximize your earning potential.

For example, you might use the U.S. Bank Business Leverage to earn 2% back each month on gas and groceries. But if you also have expenses for restaurants and office supplies, you might want another credit card that offers more than 1% back on all other eligible purchases.

Maximizing your redemptions

The U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature provides these redemption options:

• Statement credits
• Bank deposits (into an eligible U.S. Bank checking or savings account)
• Travel
• Gift cards
• Merchandise

The rewards you earn with the U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature are typically worth one cent per point. That means 10,000 points would be worth $100. There’s generally no way to maximize your redemptions since the redemption values don’t tend to vary.

Note that the available redemptions on the U.S. Bank Business Leverage give you a variety of options for your rewards. Depending on your preferences, your business expenses could help you earn cashback rewards, bonus points for travel, gift cards, and more.

U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card FAQ

Other cards to consider

If the U.S. Bank Business Leverage Visa Signature doesn’t make sense for you, compare credit cards and credit card offers to find a card that’s a better fit. Here are two of our recommendations:

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business has a $95 (waived first year) annual fee and offers 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars and booked through Capital One Travel, and 2X miles on every purchase, every day. This reward rate handily beats the U.S. Bank Business Leverage card because you aren’t limited to earning elevated rewards on only your top two earning categories each month.

Learn more in our Capital One Spark Miles for Business review.

The Ink Business Cash^® Credit Card has a $0 annual fee and earns 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year; 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year; and 1% cash back on all other purchases. You could potentially earn a lot more rewards with the Ink Business Cash card over the U.S. Bank Business Leverage card if your expenses align with the earning categories.

Check out our Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card review.

U.S. Bank Business Leverage® Visa Signature®: Bottom line

The U.S. Bank Business Leverage^® Visa Signature^® Card offers a simple rewards structure for business owners. You can earn 2% back on the top two categories where you spend the most each month automatically. Some of the rotating categories you might have on this card are wholesale clubs, gas stations, hotels, and more.

This card comes with an annual fee of $95 (waived first year) and has lower reward rates than some other business credit cards. However, it can be a convenient option for those who prefer a hassle-free approach to earning rewards based on their spending habits.

If you’d like to explore more options, check out our lists of the best business credit cards for side hustles and the best startup business credit cards.