It used to be $59/yr 
So youāve never sold anything on ebay or craigslist? Rented out your house (or a room in your house)? Provided consulting services? I think doing this occasionally is usually exempt from business requirements, but itās pretty easy to ābe in businessā. Heck, itās more likely that you are misrepresenting your ānot MSā MS operation as ānot a business.ā
What started out as a question is starting to read like a diary.
As for business credit cards without a businessā¦ the important thing to note is that the credit card companies that accept a social security number in lieu of an EIN do NOT care if you have a business. And most of them that require an EIN still require you to personally guarantee the credit line, so they donāt really care either. You can use your name (Shinobi Enterprises) or even a fictitious name on the application and they will gladly print it on the credit card. You donāt have to register that name with any state or local agency. Using a business credit card for everyday personal purchases does not have any tax or business license implications whatsoever.
Iāve had a business credit card with chase for over 10 years and all the spending Iāve put on it since has been personal. I treat it like any other credit card and nothing has ever come of it. The name on my card is Vandelay Industries.
If you donāt feel comfortable during the application process representing yourself as a business owner, I completely understand and respect that. But I think it is important to note, that beyond your personal feelings during that application, there is absolutely no deceit going on at all when using a business card for your normal everyday spending.
While as a practical matter what you are doing is what countless others do, and likely you are correct that no one ācaresā, the fact of the matter is that when you applied for the card, you accepted the condition that it be used only for business (at least, with Chase business cards it is stated explicitly).
That clause is there most likely to allow the bank to weasel out of providing consumer protections for personal spend on a business card. Linky.
Iāve wondered how (and if) they could distinguish personal from business spend. Any retail purchase could be for resale. Anything home-related could be for a home office or a rental. Even gym membership could be an employee perk. There are very few things I could think of that canāt be a business expense: doctor/hospital visits (unless youāre in health insurance business or your business is liable for it to an employee), alimony/child support (which may look like a payment to a vendor or employee), maybe non-business code violations (like traffic violations, unless youāre in a rental car business), pet supplies (unless youāre in that line of business).
Guys I like and appreciate the personal vs. business credit card discussion. It is good.
But I want to apologize for any possible misunderstanding. When I wrote up thread that I was uncomfortable misrepresenting myself as a business, please rest assured that remark applied solely to me . . to myself. By no means whatsoever was I passing judgement on anyone else. I also was not, on my oath, trying to suggest others should adopt my viewpoint or my way of doing things. Instead, I believe everyone should do whatever their comfort level allows. This will be different for each of us individually.
I wish everyone well and I wish, for each of you, oodles of rewards!
Itās worth noting also that you can apply for a business card as a startup sole proprietor using you SSN with $0 in actual starting revenue, whether that business āgets off the groundā to actually generate revenue or not. Iām not suggesting people create fake businesses or be deceitful on applications for this, but in terms of starting a business, credit issuers may offer a higher initial line if you do apply with actual revenue stated but it is not a requirement to get approved. Many people do everyday activities that they may not think of as a business but any kind of sale or resale can qualify this activity.
Edit: As a side note, a couple weeks ago I legitimized a startup business that I do have with my dad to sell his artwork. I got an EIN because a local bank required it instead of using my SSN. Sole Proprietorship, approved for $5k line, will profit from $500 cash signup bonus. We as a startup have $0 in sales because weāre still working on the details of the business. I have a (reserved but inactive-for-now) website address but it may still be a couple years before we plan to have actual revenue.
This is just a first hand example that itās easy to start a bus with $0 in sales with just the intention of sale. The banker who worked with me actually got really excited when I showed her pictures of my dadās artwork on my phone and called over a couple other bankers to look tooā¦
Not true. They have lots of gift cards to choose from.
Actually, you messed up. If you had let me refer you, then I would have gotten $100. Then you open a checking account and you get $100. Then you can cash out all of your rewards. PROFIT!
U da Man! Latex salesman extraordinaire!
May I suggest a business for @shinobi - Author. In fact I can even suggest a title - āShinobiās MC non-MS Sagaā. 
Worst. Book. Ever.
What delay industries?
Not a fan of gift cards. Run strictly a ācash onlyā hustle.
āShow me the moneyā . . . . and it had better be in cash!
Seriously, are gift cards annoying or what!!
Again, just for the record:
HSBC offers no āfreeā checking accounts. All of their checking accounts have āstringsā, conditions Iām unwilling to fulfill. So unless you are willing to play their games, at HSBC the only practical way to receive rewards is as a statement credit.
I do receive rewards in checking accounts at Citizens Bank and at Bank of America. But in both instances the accounts are free.
I got gift cards because I want to be done with HSBC.
You know we can still see what you deleted, right?
Is it possible to conceal a rhinoceros behind a fig leaf? Failing that, will the fig leaf at least divert attention away from the rhinoceros to some extent?
I honestly have no clue, but that is the matter at hand today beneath the larger issue of (most likely ineffective) efforts to deal with large hustle charges to credit cards, charges I wish not to be noticed (fat chance ).
Anyway, without in the least claiming these measures are helpful, here is what Iām doing:
First, spreading. Trying to spread hustle charges across as many different cards as possible. As between MasterCards and Discover I currently have six cards working. When the HSBC card arrives itāll be seven. I wish it were more.
Second, interspersion of real spending. These are the fig leaves. This is difficult for me because I do not spend much money and because I prefer to spend with no third party (e.g., a checkout person) involvement (as always, just a personal preference; surely not trying to convince others Iām right). Anyway, three approaches:
Self-service gas stations where you can feed in several cards in the process of a single fillup. This works nicely.
PayPal. Ya gotta love how PayPal allows a great many cards in your PayPal wallet. Sadly they do not allow multiple cards to be used for a single purchase.
Self-service supermarket/department store checkout. Similar benefit to #1. You just quietly feed in one card per item . . or whatever.
All a waste of time? Quite possibly. I lack the experience to know for certain, one way or the other. Doing best Iām able and hoping for the a good outcome. Fingers are crossed. So far no cards have been cancelled, but remain in the first inning of (what I hope will be) a long ball game.
shinobi, I donāt understandā¦ Seems to me that using multiple cards to buy gas, each card only has a small amount of charge. So how do you get much in payback? So Double cash back for $5 from each card. I must be missing a stepā¦
Anyway, I know you have a scheme here that is beyond my understanding. It works for you & thatās what is important. The best I can do is pay large bills, like estimated tax, property tax, etc. That works for me!
Hi pattyb53
You are correct that there are few rewards garnered by the small charges. The rewards that matter come from the larger charges, other ones, away from which Iām seeking to divert attention . . . probably fruitlessly but am doing the best Iām able using the methods I listed.