Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card

Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card Review

Running a business can be a daunting prospect and, as business owners know well, it involves spending a lot of money. The Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card puts your money to work for you by pairing a lucrative travel-centric rewards program with great Visa® perks and benefits. Designed to reward business-related travel spending (and to make traveling for work more rewarding), this business credit card gives business owners the power to decide how they earn their rewards and makes spending, saving, and earning rewards easy.

How to Earn Rewards with the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card

Owning and operating a business has never been so rewarding, as many business credit cards now offer fruitful rewards programs. The Business Travel Rewards Visa from Synovus is no different. Rewards points can be earned at one of three different rates, broken down below:

5X on Travel: Travel can be a big part of the cost of operating a business, depending on your field. Making travel purchases to meet with investors, present at a conference or attend a trade show can be a rewarding experience – and with this card will earn 5X points per dollar spent. Points are earned for booking airfare, overnight hotel stays, car rentals – and even vacation packages – by using the Synovus business credit card. Points are accrued at the 5X rate on up to $5,000 in net spend each year. If you spend more than $5,000, you’ll earn points at the base rate until the beginning of the next fiscal year.

3X on a Category of Your Choice: Business owners can select a spending category that best suits their needs, for which they’ll earn 3X points for every dollar spent. Points can be earned at this rate on up to $3,000 in net spending each quarter on a Dynamic Earn category chosen by the cardholder. If you find that you cater meals to the office regularly, you can elect to earn extra points in the dining category; select retail if you make a lot of office-related purchases at stores like Office Depot® or make a lot of shipments through FedEx®. The flexibility to choose which category earns bonus points is a rarity among business credit cards, so be sure to take full advantage of this and plan ahead to maximize your business-related rewards.

1X on All Other Eligible Purchases: Cardholders earn 1 point for each dollar spent on all eligible business purchases made with their card, with no cap or limit to how many points can be earned. Additionally, cardholders who have spent more than $5,000 on travel each year, or $3,000 on a category they choose each month, will still earn points on purchases made in either category. Those purchases will continue to earn points at a rate of 1 point per dollar.

How to Redeem Rewards Points

Points earned with the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card are redeemable both online and by phone. Cardholders can either log into their My Purchase Perks account or call the bank at 1-888-SYNOVUS (1-888-796-6887) to redeem their points balance towards a variety of great rewards, including:

• Travel – Cardholder points can be redeemed for travel in the form of airline tickets, hotel stays, and car rentals, or exchanged for the equivalent amount in the form of a travel gift card.
• Merchandise – Points can be converted into merchandise from top retailers. Choose from jewelry, handbags and luggage, electronics, baby and kids’ toys, and much more. Grab an espresso machine or microwave for the office lounge, or splurge on new monitors for your desk.
• Gift Cards – Gift cards to many of popular brands and retailers are available through the My Purchase Perks program. Choose from hundreds of retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Best Buy, Panera, Lowe’s and everything in between. Travel gift cards are available from brands like Best Western, Budget, Choice Hotels, and even Carnival “Fun Ship” Cruise Dollars.
• Cash Back – Points can also be redeemed towards cash-back rewards. Rewards points can be applied towards purchases on your statement in part or in full; if you’d prefer to apply the point total to help pay down your balance, you can opt to receive a statement credit in exchange for your points. Alternatively, a direct deposit can be made into your Synovus bank account as a cash equivalent. Points can even be used towards the card’s annual fee.

Rewards points can also be used as a statement credit to pay for specific transactions that you select, thanks to the Pay Me Back option. This flexibility can prove useful when creating your business’s budget for the quarter, since the transactions you target will already be taken care of, freeing you to use your money towards growing your business in other ways.

An added incentive for business owners who want to maximize their rewards as they prepare for a business trip or general travel: Points earned with the Business Travel Rewards Visa from Synovus are worth 20% more when they are used towards travel-related redemptions.

Save Money with the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card

Although the Synovus Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card does have an annual fee of $50 per year, new cardholders will save thanks to an introductory bonus that waives the annual fee for the first year.

Additional savings can be found with Synovus’s generous introductory APR. Cardholders can save money thanks to an interest rate of 0% for all purchases for six months. This introductory APR also applies to balance transfers, and fees incurred due to overdraft protection charges and are effective for the first six months that the credit card account is open, so plan accordingly. With proper planning, a big-ticket purchase or a balance transfer to the Travel Rewards Visa from Synovus can save you beaucoup bucks.

Synovus Bank Perks

It’s not uncommon for business credit cards to be accompanied by extra fees – some of which may be hidden, at first; There are no hidden costs with the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa. Many business travel cards have annual fees that exceed $100; thanks to a reasonable $50 fee each year (Synovus even waives the annual fee for the first year the account is open as a sign-up bonus), cardholders can avoid the costly charges associated with many travel cards.

The Synovus Business Travel Rewards Card is also free of foreign transaction fees, which is particularly useful for the business owner on the go. If you find yourself abroad for business (or pleasure), you’ll save money when using your card to make purchases wherever you are.

Additional savings come in the form of a special introductory APR rate for purchases, balance transfers, and overdraft protection. Ideal for anyone who is planning to transfer a balance from another business credit card, or who is going to use their new credit card to make a large purchase, the introductory APR is 0% for the first six months of the account being open. Cardholders who plan to take advantage of this limited-time APR will be best served to budget so they can pay their big-ticket balance in full before the standard APR rate kicks in; once the introductory period is over, interest charges can start to add up. If you’re planning to buy office furniture, new computers, or purchase new servers, using this card can give you a leg up on savings.

Synovus Bank Perks

Synovus Bank has included several useful perks and benefits to make life easier for business owners. Enroll in Cardview® to get quick and easy access to your credit card account. Manage account activity, review the date and amount of each recent transaction, or make your monthly payment – it’s simple, and intuitive. Cardholders can also set up automatic payments, as well as reminders that notify you when you’ve spent a certain amount of money, or to let you know that a payment is due soon.

Synovus Bank also allows business account holders to issue up to 19 credit cards for employees. Employers can set an individual spending limit for each card issued, which can help prevent employees from overspending on the company dime (and is a useful tool for budgeting, too).

Visa Benefits

The Synovus Business Travel Rewards Credit Card is accompanied by a suite of sweet travel-related protections from Visa. These Visa benefits are meant to make traveling for business easier; rest assured that you’ll be covered even if the unexpected happens, thanks to:

• Travel Accident Insurance (Up to $500,000)
• Travel & Emergency Assistance Services
• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
• $1,500 Hotel Theft Protection
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement (Up to $5,000)
• Purchase Security
• Extended Protection
• Emergency Evacuation and Transportation Coverage

Should You Apply for the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card from Synovus Bank?

If you’re looking for a travel rewards card that suits your business needs while simultaneously helping you save money and earn great rewards, the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® could be a good fit. There are many competitive (and comparable) business cards on the market, however, so this may boil down to personal preference when it comes to things like:

• How high of an annual fee you are willing to pay
• Whether or not you plan to carry a monthly balance (this will affect how you choose a card based on interest rates)
• Whether there is an introductory bonus
• Whether there is an introductory APR
• Flexibility when it comes to earning and redeeming points

The Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa does not have an introductory bonus, but the PNC Travel Rewards Visa Business Credit Card does. It features comparable interest rates to the card from Synovus, but earns rewards at a rate of only 1 mile per $1 spent in net purchases, and while there is no intro APR to help pay down existing debt or a big-ticket purchase, PNC Travel Rewards Visa cardholders can take advantage of a different introductory bonus: Earning double miles on first $2,500 in net purchases.

The Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard is another solid business travel card option with comparable interest rates to the Synovus Business Travel Rewards card. It features a slightly longer introductory APR – 0% on purchases for 9 months – as well as 3X points for every $1 spent on travel booked through the Bank of America Travel Center and 1.5X points for all other purchases. While the rate at which rewards can be earned isn’t quite as high as its counterpart from Synovus and lacks the flexibility to choose a spending category in which to earn a higher rewards rate, it does feature a special introductory bonus of 25,000 points after $1,000 in purchases.

All in all, the Synovus Business Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card is a solid option for business owners who travel often. Thanks to a rate of 5X points per dollar spent on travel purchases, as well as an additional 20% for rewards points that are redeemed towards travel, this credit card is a no-brainer for business owners who will use it for business travel. Between its lucrative rewards program and the potential savings thanks to pared-down fees and its introductory APR period, this credit card will be a strong candidate for any small business boss looking for a travel rewards card for business spending.