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Can You Credit Miles & Points Earned From Business Cards to Personal Accounts?

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    Folks who qualify for small business credit cards know that earning miles & points for your business expenses is a lucrative way to get Big Travel with Small Money.  Because in lots of situations, your business expenses will be much greater than your personal ones.

    But when you’re earning miles & points for your business activities, who gets to benefit from the rewards?

    When You’re Earning Miles & Points From Your Business Cards, Where Do They All Go?

    Million Mile Secret Agent G. Fong asked:

    If I apply for a Chase United MileagePlus® Explorer Business Card or a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard® in the name of my limited liability company (I am the sole owner), can I credit the miles to my personal United Airlines or American Airlines account?  Or must the miles be credited to an account in the name of the company?

    Thanks for the question, G. Fong!  When you’re applying for a small business rewards card, you will link it to your own personal account.

    Here is what you need to know about where your miles & points will end up and what you can do with them.

    The information for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    What Account Will My Business Rewards Be Credited To?

    Small business (and personal) card applications will ask you to link an appropriate loyalty account number to your card.  All miles & points earned from spending on the account (employees, authorized users, etc.) will be credited to the linked account.

    You can only link one rewards account to each credit card account.

    If You Don’t Enter Your Loyalty Account Information, an Account Will Be Created for You

    If you don’t have a loyalty account, you can leave the box requesting your reward account information empty and one will be created for you.

    And if you forget to add an existing rewards account number to your application, you’ll have 2 accounts.  So you’ll want to call the airline, hotel, or other rewards program to merge them.  Million Mile Secrets team member Jason helped a friend combine 2 loyalty accounts after they made this mistake.

    Who Can Use the Miles & Points?

    Just because your miles & points are being credited to a single account does NOT mean only one person can benefit from them.

    The simplest way to use your miles & points for family, friends, or employees, is to book the travel for them from your account.  Most airlines (but not all) make it easy to use your miles to book awards for others.

    This is generally the cheapest option, because transferring airline miles between accounts can cost the same as buying miles!  And for most hotels, it’s just as easy to make reservations for others from your account.

    Most Miles & Points Programs Make It Easy to Share Big Travel With Others

    And most transferable points make it simple to share your rewards.  Chase lets you move Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the account of “one member of your household or your joint business owner.”  But if you want to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points directly into someone else’s loyalty account, they will need to be an authorized user and either a member of your household or a joint business owner.

    And you can transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points directly to the frequent flyer account of an authorized user.  Adding an authorized user to your account is easy.  But make sure it’s worth it first.

    Bottom Line

    When you have a small business rewards credit card, the miles & points will be credited to your personal loyalty account.  But that doesn’t mean other folks can’t benefit.

    In most situations, it’s easy to book airfare for friends, family, or employees with your airline miles.  And it’s typically just as simple to book hotels for others!

    Certain transferable points, like AMEX Membership Rewards points, will let you make transfers directly to the rewards account of an authorized user.  And you can easily move Chase Ultimate Rewards points  to the account of a household member or joint business owner.  But if you want to make a Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer directly into someone else’s loyalty account, they must be an authorized user and either a joint business owner or household member. 

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)