Small Business Owners Most Like AmEx, Closely Followed by Chase and BofA

A new report from J.D. Power finds that small-business owners, struggling to offset inflation’s impact and supply-chain issues, continue to rely on their credit cards. American Express Co. cards for small businesses scored highest in the 2022 U.S. Small Business Credit Card Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power. This is the second consecutive year AmEx cards have landed in the top spot on J.D. Power’s list. Cards from Chase and Bank of America were second and third, respectively.

In its card study, J.D. Power assigns points to various attributes. It includes responses from 3,164 credit card customers whose organizations have approximate annual revenue between $10,000 and $10 million.

Because of inflation and supply-chain issues, many small businesses are looking to their credit cards for assistance. “Accordingly, the small-business outlook for 2023 is down significantly and many businesses are looking to their credit card issuers for help,” John Cabell, J.D. Power managing director of payments intelligence, says in a statement. Card companies should look at this as an opportunity to position themselves as a valued resource for small businesses, he says.

Some of the study’s findings show that overall satisfaction among small business credit card customers is strong, with a score of 851 on a 1,000-point scale. That is down one point from 2021. But these SMB customers were not as happy with the rewards programs, which got tagged with a score of 836, down from 862 last year.

As for spending with these cards, only 25% of respondents expect to increase their business-related spending on these cards in the next 12 months, down from 29% a year ago. Just 46% expect to spend more than $5,000 per month, down from 50% last year.

The study evaluated SMB card programs on benefits and services, channel activities, credit card management, credit card terms, key moments, and rewards.