UPDATE: 8/5/21: The original 110K offer has been discontinued. MaximizingMoney offers a chance to earn 80,000 Points by opening a Brex account, spending $9,000 in 30 days. You only have 30 days to finish the purchase. Rapid Travel Chai deserves a special thanks for alerting me to this deal.Brex Cash, a business cash management account, comes with a linked card credit card. The credit card functions a little like a debit card. You can only spend what you have in your cash account. However, the Brex card limits your credit to 80% of your cash. The cash account is technically not a checking account but I don't see any difference. This may be a great opportunity for those who own an LLC, LLP or C-corp.This account has a significant advantage over regular business checking accounts in that it is free of fees and offers great rewards. You can earn up to 110,000 points with the current signup bonus (details are here). You can also earn points by spending with the Brex card. Brex points can be converted to one to many airline programs or cashed out at a penny each (80K = $800). This is a better deal than a $800 bonus from a bank. It is possible to book flights for less than 1 cent per points by transferring points or booking award flights instead of paid flights.Sign up and qualify for the offerYou must own a business to open a Brex cash account. Sole proprietorships dont count. A business must be registered in the United States as a Ccorp, Scorp, LLC, LLC, or LLP.Because Frequent Miler is an LLC, it was possible to apply for Brex during their original 110K offer. It was simple, but not easy. The screen would sometimes just keep churning away, but if you refresh the page, click the email confirmation or log in again, it will move forward. Uploading a photo ID to prove my identity was the only difficult part of this application. This part went very smoothly. In total, I was able to get my account up in just 15 minutes.Earn for your spendThese are the benefits of using the Brex card:8x Rideshare (Note: The application splash screen displays 7x, while the Brex rewards page displays 8x. The latter I believe is true.Travel with Brex: 5xRestaurants: 4xSalesforce, Twilio and Zendesk offer 3x discounts on recurring software.Through the Brex portal, get 3x off eligible Apple products such as iPhone and Mac.1x on All OtherEarn 8x on Uber, taxis, scooters, and other services such as Uber Eats. It's quite amazing. It is also amazing to earn uncapped 4X points transferable for dining with a card that doesn't charge a fee.Point Value and Transfer PartnersPoints can either be redeemed at 1 cent per piece or transferred 1-1 to several airline transfer partners.Aeromexico Club PremierAir France/KLM Flying BlueAvianca LifemilesCathay Pacific Asia MilesEmirates SkywardsJetBlue TrueBlueQantas Frequent FlyerSingapore Airlines KrisFlyerAvianca Lifemiles, Cathay Pacific, and Cathay Pacific are my top two transfer partners. Avianca is a great option to book Star Alliance awards as they don't charge fuel surcharges. Cathay Pacific can book flights on Cathay Pacific or OneWorld partners like AA, JAL and Qantas. SkyTeam awards such as Delta, and selected partners (such Virgin Atlantic) can be booked through Air France. However, the best use of this airline is to fly Air France or KLM if they offer Promo Awards (discounted fares). The other partners can also be useful. Emirates, for example, is a great partner to fly Emirates. JetBlue points are most valuable for booking cheap JetBlue flights.Q&AThe Brex card is a debit card. It is not a debit card, but it behaves a little like one. The amount of cash in your BrexCash account determines your credit limit.It doesn't, but it behaves a little like one. The amount of cash in your BrexCash account determines your credit limit. Is the Brex cash account FDIC insured? Yes, Brex cash offers FDIC insurance up until $250,000 through the Brex Cash program banks.Yes, Brex cash offers FDIC insurance upto $250,000 through the Brex Cash program banks. Does my business's revenue and years of experience affect whether or not my application is approved? No. Brex was created to help startups. During the application process, simply provide your business name and address as well as the type of corporation you are applying for.No. Brex was created to help startups. During the application process, simply provide your business name and address as well as the type of corporation you are applying for. The signup bonus will I be subject to tax? Brex will issue a 1099. Although I don't know the answer, my guess is that Brex won't issue 1099s. This bonus is more like a bonus for signing up for a credit card (a rebate on spend) than a bonus for opening a bank account.Bottom lineBrex is a great option for LLCs, LLPs, C-corps, and S-corps. Brex will not issue a hard credit inquiry and there are no fees. The credit card that came with the account won't appear on your credit report and will not impact your ability to apply for Chase cards. The current signup bonus does not allow for large amounts of spending in a short time. It's worth it if you have the time.
