NEW: Get a 20,000 Avios sign-up bonus with Capital on Tap’s new small business Mastercard

EDIT:  This article is now out of date.  Capital On Tap has relaunched with just one Avios card, Business Rewards, which is better than both of the cards described below.  Click here to read our review of Capital On Tap Business Rewards.  We still have a higher sign-up bonus for our readers!

Capital on Tap has launched a second small business Mastercard, the On Tap Club card, which earns Avios – and we have negotiated a higher sign up bonus for our readers.

This card offers a generous 20,000 Avios when you take it out, with an extra 500 Avios for you as a Head for Points reader.

Back in February we looked at the new Capital Club small business Mastercard.  This was the answer for all of the people who have emailed me in search of a good travel rewards card for their business purchases.

You can find out more about Capital Club here.  The card has a £99 annual fee (tax deductible as a business expense) and earns 0.5 Avios per £1 spent.  There is a sign-up bonus of 5,000 Avios if you spend £5,000 within three months.  As this Capital Club article explains, you also get 250 extra Avios as a HfP reader.

Capital on Tap has launched the ‘On Tap Club’ card for bigger spenders

There is now a 2nd way to earn Avios with a small business Mastercard via Capital on Tap.

And, as with the cheaper Capital Club card, we negotiated a special extra sign-up bonus for Head for Points readers if you use our promo code when you apply.

This is the card:

It’s called the On Tap Club card.

Interest rate information:  Your interest rate is based on your business profile and can be as low as 9.9% APR.  The standard interest rate for marketing purposes is 39.9% APR.

You can find full details on their website here.  Read on first, however, because there is a special higher sign up bonus for HfP readers.

What does the On Tap Club card offer?

The On Tap Club card is aimed at small businesses and sole traders.  Whilst you may not have heard of Capital on Tap, it already has 50,000 customers for its existing ‘no rewards’ payment card.  The Avios cards are their first move into the rewards market.

This is what the new On Tap Club Card offers your business:

20,000 Capital on Tap points (converts to 20,000 Avios) for signing up and spending £5,000 within 3 months

1 Capital on Tap point for every £1 you spend (converts to 1 Avios)

No foreign exchange fees when spending overseas

No ATM fees if withdrawing cash on the card

Up to 56 days interest free credit on purchases (minimum monthly repayment is the greater of 10% of balance or £250)

Up to 20 free supplementary cards for your staff

The card has an annual fee of £249.  This is obviously tax deductible as a business expense.

The maximum credit limit on offer is £50,000.

And an extra bonus for Head for Points readers!

If you use promo code headforpoints when signing up for the On Tap Club card, you will receive an additional 500 Capital on Tap points.  This is worth an additional 500 Avios.

The site will still show 20,000 Capital on Tap points as your bonus but the extra 500 will be added separately.  If there are any problems, let me know and I can quickly chase it up.

Who can apply?

The On Tap Club card is aimed at sole traders as well as small businesses.  The company appears to be flexible in who they accept:

if you are a UK limited company or limited partnership with turnover of £24,000+ then you should be eligible

if you are a VAT registered sole trader then you should be eligible. 

if you are a sole trader under the VAT threshold but above the £24,000 turnover threshold then applications are looked at on a case by case basis – if you have a functioning website and are clearly in business then I am told you should be eligible

Applicants must not have a CCJ against themselves or their business in the past 12 months.

Whilst it doesn’t make any day to day difference in how you use the card, On Tap Club is not a credit card.  It is structured as a prepaid Mastercard which is funded by Capital on Tap.  As far as I can see this doesn’t make any difference to your legal rights, as Section 75 protection does not apply to business credit cards.  In the event of any disputes over purchases, you request a Mastercard chargeback.

How do the two Capital on Tap cards compare?

Here is a quick summary of the two Capital on Tap products.  It is slightly confusing because they do not have the same points conversion rate.

The £99 per year Capital Club card offers:

10,000 Capital on Tap points for signing up and spending £5,000 within three months

1 Capital on Tap point per £1 spent

A 2:1 conversion rate into Avios so the sign-up bonus is worth 5,000 Avios and the on-going earning rate is 0.5 Avios per £1

15 free supplementary cards for your staff

No FX fees and no ATM fees 

500 bonus points (250 Avios) if you use code headforpoints when applying

The new £249 On Tap Club card offers:

20,000 Capital on Tap points for signing up and spending £5,000 within three months

1 Capital on Tap point per £1 spent

A 1:1 conversion rate into Avios so the sign-up bonus is worth 20,000 Avios and the on-going earning rate is 1 Avios per £1

20 free supplementary cards for your staff

No FX fees and no ATM fees 

500 bonus points (500 Avios) if you use code headforpoints when applying

Some sole traders, including myself, use a personal credit card for their business expenses.  A lot of self employed people – or their accountants – are not happy doing this, however, and it is clearly not sensible to give personal credit cards to your staff.  You need a dedicated business payment card in these circumstances.

Until now, if you wanted to earn rewards from a small business payment card you were reliant on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business.  These are good products but obviously have issues over Amex acceptance, especially with small suppliers.

The Capital on Tap Mastercards are small business cards that can be used everywhere that Mastercard is accepted.

You need to look at the maths based on what you spend, including how much you spend in foreign currencies (the card has no FX fees).  The £99 or £249 annual fee is a deductible expense so the net cost to you will be lower.  In Year 1 you are getting a sign-up bonus which converts into 5,000 Avios or 20,000 Avios respectively.

(Use the special headforpoints promo code and that increases to 5,250 Avios or 20,500 Avios respectively.)

Day to day you are collecting 0.5 Avios per £1 spent (£99 card) or 1 Avios per £1 spent (£249 card).  If you and your staff have a high level of business expenditure then this could work out very nicely for you.  Remember that you can have 15-20 free supplementary cards.

HMRC accepts Capital on Tap

Here is one good reason to get the card.  HMRC accepts Capital on Tap cards to make tax payments with no fees.  This is because HMRC treats it as a personal debit card.

This means that you can earn Avios on all of your PAYE, VAT, corporation tax and indeed personal tax payments.  At 1 Avios per £1 on the new On Tap Club card this is a valuable extra benefit.

But don’t forget …..

Capital on Tap points can be converted into cashback as well as Avios.  You can choose to take 1p of cash instead of 1 Avios.

If you don’t value Avios at more than 1p (and in most scenarios you can get more than 1p for them as this article shows) then take your Capital on Tap points as cashback instead.

Remember to use our Capital on Tap promo code when you apply

If the Capital on Tap Capital Club or On Tap Club cards sound interesting for your business, you can find out more and apply on their website here.

Remember to add promo code headforpoints to receive the extra 500 points as a sign-up bonus.

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.