The Brex Card for Startups has been around for a while now. Its offer was unique: a corporate credit card, but tailored to newly launched startups and tech companies, without requiring a personal guarantee.
Bottom line up front? You can get up to 110,000 bonus points as a welcome bonus for opening a no-fee business cash management account.
Here’s how.
What is Brex?
Brex is a startup for startups. At its core, it’s a financial technology company that offers corporate credit cards and a modern alternative to a bank account to tech, life sciences, and many other types of businesses.
Many startups have difficulty accessing credit without a corporate credit history. As banks don’t have anything to make lending decisions based on, startups and other growing companies would oftentimes find themselves locked out of credit markets. They might have loads of funding, but no credit.
That’s where Brex stepped in. Instead of approving accounts based on a corporate credit profile, Brex started making lending decisions based on a company’s funding. They would monitor your corporate checking account, and extend a line of credit. The line of credit would fluctuate based on your bank balance.
This worked great for new tech companies. Flush with cash, they could get a line of credit with Brex with a monthly payment cycle that offered a compelling rewards program.
The downside was that some traditional businesses have not been among the industries Brex targeted historically. Lots of companies tried signing up for the product but were unsuccessful due to not having sufficient capital to meet Brex’s underwriting requirements.
That’s all changing. Brex’s new products are now available to businesses in all industries, with a few standard exceptions.
Brex is expanding its offerings to serve more businesses and launching some new products. There’s a Brex Cash account, which is a sleek update to a traditional cash management account, and then a new Brex Daily card complete with rewards. Brex’s lineup now consists of:
- Brex credit card with monthly statements (formerly Brex 30 Card or Brex for Startups)
- Brex credit card with daily statements (previously referred to as Brex Daily or Brex 1)
- Brex Cash (this is the one I’m excited about)
I’ll break down the new products in this post, but the key point to know is that some variant of Brex is now potentially available to most businesses in the U.S., without being limited to tech or life sciences companies (though Sole Proprietorships are not currently eligible), and there are some awesome welcome bonuses exclusively for OMAAT readers.
What is Brex Cash?
Brex Cash is a cash management account that functions much like a business or corporate checking account (although it isn’t a bank account), but is updated for the way businesses work in the modern world. You can use the account to deposit checks, send and receive ACH transfers, wire money internationally, and manage spending for different users.
There are no fees for the account, which is fantastic. International money wires are even free (though there may be a fee for the person sending or receiving the wire depending on their bank).
Brex Cash also includes a Brex credit card that can be used like a debit card that earns rewards. Instead of making a payment every month like a traditional credit card, with the Brex card your charges are paid daily against the balance of your Brex Cash account (or you can alternatively apply for a Brex credit card with monthly statements).
The Brex credit card with daily statements essentially serves like a debit card or a prepaid credit card. You can only spend what you have available in your Brex Cash account, and all charges are accounted for daily.
How does this fit in with the current Brex Card?
As mentioned, Brex is also keeping a version of the card with a monthly payment period. That is like a traditional credit card as you pay your statement every each month.
The Brex credit card with monthly statements will be available to qualified companies in more industries, and the rewards structure will differ a bit. Your credit limit will be determined by either your Brex Cash account or your external corporate checking account.
| Brex Cash + Brex card, paid daily | Brex Cash + Brex card, paid monthly | Brex Card only, paid monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings Rates | • 8x on rideshare • 5x on Brex travel • 4x on restaurants/dining • 3x on Apple products • 3x on recurring software • 1x on everything else | • 7x on rideshare • 4x on Brex travel • 3x on restaurants/dining • 3x on Apple products • 2x on recurring software • 1x on everything else | • 7x on rideshare • 4x on Brex travel • 3x on restaurants/dining • 3x on Apple products • 2x on recurring software • 1x on everything else |
| Sign-up Bonus | 80,000 after spending $1,000 on your new Brex card | 80,000 after spending $1,000 on your new Brex card | 80,000 after spending $1,000 on your new Brex card |
| Other Bonuses | • One-time 20,000 bonus points when you link payroll to your Brex Cash account • 10,000 additional points after spending $3,000 on your Brex Card in the first 3 months | • One-time 20,000 bonus points when you link payroll to your Brex Cash account • 10,000 additional points after spending $3,000 on your Brex Card in the first 3 months | N/A |
| Points Redemption Options | • Cash Back: 1¢/pt • Gift Card: 1¢/pt • Travel Portal: 1¢/pt • Miles Transfer: 1:1 | • Cash Back: 1¢/pt • Gift Card: 1¢/pt • Travel Portal: 1¢/pt • Miles Transfer: 1:1 | • Statement Credit: 0.7¢/pt • Gift Card: 1¢/pt • Travel Portal: 1¢/pt • Miles Transfer: 1:1 |
| Qualification Criteria | For all business types* with no minimum balances or funding requirements | $50,000 minimum balance in any bank account | $50,000 minimum balance in any bank account |
The above earnings rates are for the tech version of the Brex card with monthly statements. There is also a life sciences version of the Brex 30 card with monthly statements, which has different bonus categories. That card earns 7x points on conference tickets in lieu of rideshare, 2x points on lab supplies instead of software charges, and doesn’t have a bonus for dining/restaurant spend.
If you currently have a Brex card with monthly statements (called the Brex Card for Startups), you’ll have the option of switching to the daily payments schedule. If you do that, you’ll earn a 1x multiplier on your spend. This is similar to how the Brex Exclusive rewards worked previously.
Earning points with Brex Cash
The Brex Daily card with daily payments that automatically comes with a Brex Cash account earns up to 8x points in certain bonus categories. Here’s what you’ll earn*:
- 8x on rideshare (Uber, Lyft, taxis, scooters)
- 5x on travel booked through Brex Travel
- 4x on restaurants and dining
- 3x on recurring software charges, like Salesforce
- 3x on eligible Apple products through the Brex portal
- 1x on everything else
Basically, with a Brex Cash account, you earn more rewards when you opt for the daily payment schedule, which makes sense, as Brex isn’t having to float those balances all month. The 1x rewards multiplier boost for rewards on the daily payments cycle is more lucrative, though some businesses may find the monthly payment schedule more attractive at the cost of the extra point per dollar.
I’m also told that the Brex Cash and Brex card with daily statements combo will be easier to get approved for (which again makes sense, as it’s tied to your balance in a feature-rich cash management account).
*Multipliers are subject to change.
Brex Rewards points redemption
Brex is making a few additions to how you can redeem your points, including additional redemption options for those with a Brex Cash account:
- New! 100 points for $1 cash back deposited to your Brex Cash account
- New! 100 points for $1 in gift cards through the Brex dashboard
- 100 points for $1 in travel credits through Brex Travel (this hasn’t changed)
- Transfer points to airline frequent flyer programs (this hasn’t changed)
It’s worth noting that if you don’t have a Brex Cash account and only the traditional Brex credit card with monthly statements, you can no longer redeem points for statement credits at $1 per 100 points. Instead you’ll only get $0.70 per 100 points, which is a significant reduction. While most OMAAT readers won’t want to redeem for cash back, some may — and getting a 8%, 5%, or 3% discount on all of your purchases in those categories is very compelling.
You don’t have to wait for your statement to close in order to convert those points to frequent flyer miles for future travel — instead, you can convert your points to cash to be used immediately. That really makes this account standout.
You can still transfer points to a frequent flyer program like before. Those partners aren’t changing. You can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to the following programs:
| Airlines | Hotels |
|---|---|
| Aeromexico Club Premier | N/A, though various hotels are bookable through the rewards portal. |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | |
| Avianca Lifemiles | |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | |
| Emirates Skywards | |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer |
Brex has added new rewards options that make the card even more appealing for businesses. Being able to redeem points for cash is a nice option to have while still being able to transfer points to frequent flyer programs. The flexibility of Brex points makes this a compelling card, especially considering there’s no annual fee.
Sign up bonus for the new Brex Cash
As a special bonus to OMAAT readers, Brex is offering an 80,000 point sign-up bonus to those who sign up for and are approved for Brex Cash accounts through OMAAT. The account just needs to be funded, and you’ll get the bonus points once you’ve spent $1,000 on your new Brex card.
On top of that, you can earn up to 30,000 additional bonus points:
- You’ll earn 20,000 bonus points when you link payroll to your Brex Cash account
- You’ll earn an additional 10,000 points after spending $3,000 on your Brex Card in the first 3 months
That’s potentially 110,000 points, which can be redeemed as cash back, towards travel, or transferred to airline partners. That’s an incredible offer for a no-fee card in general, and really unheard of for a secured/debit card product.
Transfer Brex points to Asia Miles to redeem for Cathay Pacific first class
If you’re approved, your new account can be available instantly. You can deposit money right away, and are even given a virtual card number to use instantly. It really couldn’t be much simpler. I opened a Brex Cash account a few months ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see that rewards points posted on a daily basis as well.
With Brex Cash and the Brex card with daily payments, you’ll be able to spend as much money as you have available in your account and your credit limit will be 80% of your Brex Cash account balance. If you are approved for the Brex card with the monthly payment cycle, credit limits will be based off of your corporate checking account balance.
With that in mind, if you are eligible for Brex it’s well worth signing up for. Earning 8x points for rideshare and 4x points for restaurants and dining worldwide for an account with no fees is industry-leading.
Other Brex benefits
Brex account holders get a slew of other benefits, on top of earning rewards. Brex advertises up to $150,000 in value with a card (up from $50,000). Most companies won’t take advantage of the full $150,000, but it’s worth pointing a few things out:
If you use Amazon Web Services, it’s definitely worth getting this card as it comes with a $5,000 AWS credit and up to $100,000 in AWS Activate, depending on eligibility.
It comes with a $150 Google Ads credit, and between 20% and 50% discounts on other software products including Gusto, Slack, Zoom, Carta, QuickBooks, and Dropbox. Of those, I only use Gusto and Slack for my business, but those discounts would still put cash back in my pocket (especially as there isn’t even an annual fee to offset).
Who’s eligible for a Brex Cash account?
Most types of businesses are now eligible for Brex Cash accounts, with the following restrictions:
- Your company must be organized and registered in the United States, and have a valid EIN
- Your company must be a C-corp, S-corp, LLC, or LLP — because of the way Brex handles underwriting, Sole Proprietorships (even if registered in their locality and in possession of a valid EIN) are not eligible at this time
- Your company must not be in an industry where there are additional Federally-imposed financial regulations (gambling, marijuana, guns/ammunition, prostitution, etc.)
Because Brex is for businesses, it was important to apply for the older version of the card using a business email address, so I would recommend doing that this time around as well. Brex doesn’t make mention of it, but I don’t think it’d hurt.
Signing up for Brex accounts is generally fast and straightforward. They don’t underwrite based on your personal credit score, so there’s no inquiry on your personal credit report, and you won’t see a hard inquiry on your personal credit report for opening this account.
Keep in mind that the payment cycle for the Brex card with daily statements works a bit differently than a traditional credit card. Instead of receiving a statement every month and paying once monthly, payments are required daily. If cash flow is an issue, Brex Daily isn’t for you.
Note, if you are currently a Brex for Startups cardholder, you’ll need to open a Brex Cash account through your member portal (and unfortunately aren’t eligible for this 80K welcome bonus). The good news is that with Brex Cash + Card you will be collecting more points than under the Card only program.
Bottom line
I’m excited to see Brex expand its product and offer it to traditional businesses. Their cards have no annual fee and their cash management product comes with a number of benefits for which banks would charge a hefty monthly account maintenance fee. We haven’t seen much innovation with business checking accounts, so I’m interested to see where this cash management account goes.
On top of that, you can earn rewards for your business spend that can be transferred to frequent flyer programs or converted to cash, and getting anywhere from 80,000 to 110,000 bonus points to start off with is incredible.
Can someone interpret the disclosure at the bottom of the blog post into English? Is an individual account insured by the federal government up to $250,000 or not? I wouldn’t trust these people.
@ Gene — Yeah, their disclosures are oof, but I think that’s because they are not technically a bank, and account holders have a variety of options as to what they do with their funds. So it depends a bit on what you choose as to whether the FDIC or SIPC coverage applies, but ultimately the accounts are insured.
From their FAQ’s:
Benefits way too complicated for the average business owner to pay attention to. Most business value services not earning points on rideshare… but that’s just my opinion
I can imagine how for someone running a business with significant payables and a single owner (like Ben!) this mechanism offers a superb way to rack up hundreds of thousands of miles a year at little cost. As a CFO, I’d like to use this too, but I have partners who could potentially see it as self-dealing even if there’s no cost to them, even potential savings and benefits for the corporation. I have to pass, as my love of free travel is limited by insisting that I handle our collective money in a manner above reproach.
It depends a bit on what you choose as to whether the FDIC or SIPC coverage applies, but ultimately the accounts are insured.
Too complicated for a startup to consider and too limited for a fast growing firm. They might be in death valley with their positioning but …. not my jam anyways so I may not be seeing the full picture.
@ Chatter — I tried to be thorough in this post, so maybe I made it seem more complicated than it actually is. But I’m curious, what makes you think it’s complicated? I’ll write a separate post with my experience signing up. It took all of five minutes, online management of my account couldn’t be easier, and the rewards post as expected. The process was significantly easier than some checking accounts I’ve signed up for in the past.
@ Adam3438 — As Tiffany quotes above, your account is insured up to certain limits, so I really don’t view that as a risk.
@ SST — Hah, fair enough, though if you use the rewards for your business, it seems like that would be a win-win for your partners as well?
For what is worth, I applied and was denied. 12 employees and revenue in the 2M. Computer tech startup working for silicon valley startups(Airbnb, Turo, Google).
@ Srinivas Damle — Thanks for the data point, hmmm. If you don’t mind me asking, when did you apply, and were you instantly rejected, or did you get a rejection email after applying?
If you link payroll and pay it through ACH, do you get reward points for that?
@Lucky – I absolutely appreciate the details you provided. My feeling comes from a simpler interpretation of how many details need to be managed to optimize rewards. Unless the goal is to use this card for “most things”, is not worth the additional hassle. Again, just my perspective. Not suggesting others (you) dont see value in it.
Lucky, thanks for the easy 80k points. I have a small side business that has a tax ID. I applied when you first posted about it. 1 year in biz, 10k annual and got approved. Spent just over $1000 on the card and got my 80k bonus within a few days.
Now, which program to transfer to….
Awesome deal. I was approved as an S-Corp with 1-4 employees. Thanks Ben!
After clicking through, I assume we click on Open an account. need to put anything into Referral Code (optional) field?
@ Nathan — Only for the “linking payroll” activity bonus. Broadly, you otherwise get points for using the Brex Card, not the ACH/banking functionality.
@ z o — Nope, it’s tracked via the link.
I have 2 LLC’s where I am the managing member. I wonder if I can apply for both…
I have an engineering business and signed up today and used a gmail account that I use with my business and was approved. Moved some money into the account. Not sure how to work the payroll angle since I am the only person in my business.
I’m also unclear how the linking payroll would work too. My husband does have employees but he processes the payroll himself (he’s a CPA) not through a service. More information on how to work the payroll part of it would be appreciated!
denied “Your application did not pass our internal screening process” Legit LLC started in 2016 with 4 employees. Also denied recently for cap one checking account. Opened about 5 bank and/or savings accounts last year. Only opened 2 credit cards in the last year.
@ John @ Kari — I believe you’d need to link through one of their payroll providers to get the bonus, which may not be worth the hassle in your situations.
However, the same bonus is available if you have business income deposited into the account from a payment processor. We linked our Stripe account, for example, but PayPal, Amazon, Square (they list several) should work if you use any of those for processing invoices or payments.
What is the time limit to spend $1000 for the 80k bonus?
Applied this morning and received this email 4 hours later. Don’t ever remember putting in my spending or gross receipts.
Thank you for your interest in Brex. We’ve reviewed your application, and unfortunately, we’re unable to approve XXXXXXXXX, PLLC for an account at this time for the following reason:
Your company does not meet the minimum cash requirement
We’re working hard to build more solutions to support all businesses.
@ Garrett — It sounds like you may have applied for Brex Card rather than Brex Cash, since the former has a $50K minimum in the linked account. Many have reported being approved with smaller balances. If that’s the case, I’d recommend applying again for Brex Cash.
Signed up and approved, but on the rewards tab it says “Track your progress towards 30,000 bonus points”. That’s not 80,000!
@ jpayne731 — That is expected! The 30k points are available to everyone, and are in addition to the 80k points from being an OMAAT reader. As long as you applied through our links, the 80k offer will be attached to your account once you’ve met the minimum spend.
@jpayne731 I just contacted support about this. It doesn’t show up anywhere but they said they can see it on their end and the bonus is applied.
Hi! I signed up using your link and was approved, thanks! I see there’s a 50% off Gusto link for the first 12 months, but that’s only if you’re a new user and signup through their link. I already use Gusto — could you revise the post to clarify that the discounts on those services are only if you’re a new user and signup through the Brex links? Thanks!
Thanks for the heads up. Got approved and will be funding over next few days. I linked my paypal to my cash account, is that enough to get the 20k bonus? In the description it says paypal is one of the accepted platforms. Thanks!
Can anyone confirm if the $5K AWS credit is valid for existing AWS accounts or new accounts only?
Anyone have a recommendation on where to get “certificate of good standing” for my “S corp” 😉
It’s requiring this now
@ scott — It should be, if you have business income hit PayPal and then get deposited to your Brex account. We did the same thing but with Stripe.
@ Jonathan — We’ve been told existing accounts qualify! It looks like you register/link accounts, and then statement credits are applied to your account when you pay with your Brex account. A bit like Amex offers.
@ dizzy — Depending on what state you are in, you may be able to easily get one from your Secretary of State / Corporations Commission website. In Florida it was like $8 or something when we had to do it last.
Lucky – I have an EIN (sole proprietorship) but recently applied for an LLC (application pending, not yet accepted) Do you think I could still apply for the Brex deal? I’m worried the offer will be gone by the time my LLC is approved.
Applied through the link and I’m at $2800 in spend now but the 80K has not posted. Any suggestions what to do?
Applied through link and was accepted. But when in the dashboard in the rewards section it says:
Bonus points
Track your progress towards 30,000 bonus points
Not showing an 80,000 point option.
@ InForDaPoints — That’s normal/expected, since the extra 80K points is an exclusive OMAAT promo, in addition to the standard bonus. The points will post as expected if you followed the OMAAT link, worry not.
I was wondering whether the brex Cash card that comes with the account processes as a debit card with Plastiq or as a credit card. It seems to be a “prepaid” card more than a debit card, so not sure…
Thanks!
How long do you have to spend the $1,000?
@ Maumau — The Brex Card that comes with the account is a Mastercard, and would count as a credit card. It is not a debit card, but more a charge card where you pay your statements daily via the linked Cash account.
This is the response I received to my denial. LLC in business for 7 years.
I do see that the reason was due to minimum requirements not being met. To qualify for the monthly statements card, our team requires the following:
1. A US Employee Identification Number (EIN)
2. $50,000 minimum in a US-based bank account during the time of application ($100,000, if self-funded)
3. Professional Investors, like venture capital or private equity
Please remember these are the general requirements but not an exhaustive list of what our onboarding team considers when reviewing applications.
What kind of information does Brex collect for the Cash account: first, to approve the application and then later on? If their services are free and they don’t check credit history then I’m the product. So they obviously want to go through some kind of verifiable data.
@ Michael — You can go through the entire application process without actually submitting an application. Brex asks for your SSN, EIN, type of business, address, etc. Once your account is approved you’ll just have to link your business checking account to fund your Brex account, there’s no further info that I know of that’s being requested.
No doubt with most services nowadays we are the product, but I also think it’s important to understand that when you pay with your Brex Card, that’s processed as a credit card, so there are some merchant fees in it for Brex. Since the money is debited from your Brex account directly, there’s limited risk to Brex on those transactions, unlike with traditional banks (though Brex also won’t make any money with interest charges).
“You’ll earn 20,000 bonus points when you link payroll to your Brex Cash account”
I’m trying to find out how I can link business income from a payment processor like Paypal and Stripe, but support isn’t helping much.
Any advice from anyone who has successfully deposited money from their payment processors?
Hi Ben,
I understand you say it’s “Normal” to have the lower bonus shown…but I did apply through your link, I have spent over $3,000 on my Brex card connected to my Brex cash account, and I have only the 10,000 reward bonus plus my 3250 from spend. Any idea how long the OMAAT bonus takes to post. I’ve sat in a line to chat with a rep three times, and I’m never answered.
Incidentally, and maybe I need to go read again, but the whole process seems more like a debit card program, with excellent bonus points awarded, than credit. My Brex card only allows me to spend an amount less than the cash I have moved into the Brex cash account. Is that correct? No credit line? No biggie, just wondering.
@ Seth Goldman — The 80,000 points generally posts on the Tuesday following when you complete the minimum spending. What day did you complete the spending requirement?
And you’re right about how the Brex Card works — it essentially operates like a debit card in the sense that the amount is debited from your Brex Cash account (your “credit line” is 80% of your Brex Cash balance), but when the card is processed with merchants, it acts as a credit card (based on rewards for consumers and fees for merchants).
A bit disappointed that Uber Eats gets only 1x on Brex (counted as “Everything Else”) — doesn’t necessarily have to get 8x like Uber (since it’s not rideshare) but I was counting on at least 4x for dining/restaurants.
Just for a change of pace in the comments thank you! What an awesome offer. Signed up, went through additional verification, got approved, and have gotten all 110K points posted in ~ 10 days.
Definitely the front runner and hard to imagine a better sign up deal in 2021
Hi Ben,
I haven’t sign up yet. I do have a question, any idea when we can cancel the account ad if there’s any “charge backs” for doing so. Thank you in advance for your answer.
@ Juan — I’m sorry, but unfortunately I don’t have an answer to that. To be honest, it’s a no-fee account with no minimum funding amount, so there’s virtually no downside to keeping the account open, as I see it. There are all kinds of money saving options, so there’s only upside (and personally I think there’s a lot of value to a Brex account beyond that).
I was wondering, since the card limit is 80% of the cash you deposit is if you need to deposit $1250 so you can spend $1000 on the card to get the bonus? or if you can deposit $1000 use $800 on the card and then use $200 directly from the account using it as a checking account?Thanks
@ Al — Correct, you need to spend money with Brex Card, and the limit is 80% of the amount deposited. So if you deposited $1,250 you could spend $1,000. If you wanted to spend $2,000 more to earn the additional points, you’d need to deposit a further $2,500.
Hi,
I got rejected initially because I didn’t have my business set up as an LLC. I used the Brex offer to incorporate and set up an LLC, and as far as I can tell I am approved. But when I click “rewards”, I see a completely different offer than the 110,000 total you describe here.
It says I can get 20,000 points for linking payroll and 10,000 points for spending $3000 on my Brex card. Is the 80,000 point offer listed elsewhere?
@ Christopher R DeSantis — No worries, that’s normal. See here in our Brex FAQs for an explanation of why.
Can I qualify for more than one business ?
@ chris pilafas — You can indeed, if you have multiple eligible businesses.
So, I applied around 14 days ago… any idea what is going on? At least they could update that it’s taking longer than 5 business days.
Signed up my LLC using my company email and was instantly approved.
20K points posted 1 day after depositing some sales revenue from PayPal.
80K points posted 3 days after spending 1K on the Brex debit Mastercard.
A nice surprise was earning 1.5x points on advertising.
One of the easiest 100K points I ever earned, and without a credit pull.
These are the bonus points showing on my account:
You’re in the Small business rewards program:
8x on Rideshare
5x on Brex travel
4x on Restaurants
1.5x on Advertising
1x on Everything else
Your application was submitted on Feb 01 and can take up to 7 business days to review. While you wait, visit our
for answers on frequently asked questions.
🙁
Still no approval after a few weeks. I reached out to the chat support in my Brex account and got a copy/paste reply saying taking longer than expected etc. The chat support button disappeared as well – I guess I got flagged as being naughty for inquiring on the status from the almighty Fintech Flavor of the Month/Wizard of Oz. Hilarious! Not someone I’ll be trusting with my money – and these guys got a few hundred million to not be a bank? I’m in the wrong business!
I just wanted to thank you both for negotiating this deal and making it more reachable for regular folks! This is an awesome deal- I signed up!
I had read about Brex in the past year, but even though it sounded like a neat business, I couldn’t really fit into it’s requirements.
Even long term, 5x on travel, 4x on restaurants, a free account, and not using up a 5/24 slot, that is a keeper card and account for me! I have no problem paying daily and saving them the risk. Thank you!
I should say, I was approved immediately. 25 yr old licensed LLC that I haven’t applied for any bank accounts or cc for in a long while, perhaps a year. Currently in non-reporting status, for fed taxes. Genuinely about to revive it this upcoming year. I quickly made a new e-mail account to match the legal biz name, for the application.
Thanks for the help / instructions. Signed up, transferred 3k and spent 1500 on one purchase (waiting for tuesday to see if bonus reflects, per comments)… the only purchase I have put on the card.
With that said, someone (either Brex or the merchant where I used the card) starting using my card fraudulently. Saw several erroneous charges reflect on my card. Reached out to the merchant to notify them – but also cancelled the card with brex and disputed the charges. They have no customer service on the weekends, and take quite a while to get back on disputed charges.
IMO this is pretty outrageous for a [insert what we are calling brex] – cash management system or whatever. Someone spent USD 330 on my card, and attempted to spend another USD 1200, which didn’t reflect because it was above my limit so I got a text notifying me – all fraud. Then my original purchase disappeared and was replaced by one on the same date that was wrong.
Not sure what’s going on or if anyone has had similar experiences.
I applied on February 2nd. As of today February 22nd, there is a “Processing information
You’ll have full access to your dashboard as soon as we finish processing your information” at the top of my Cash Dashboard page. I am able to transfer funds into the account by pushing from my bank account but am blocked when trying to use the credit card.
I received the following email after a chat session,
“We are currently experiencing a higher volume of applications. While we, unfortunately, do not have an exact timeline for how long the application will take to process, we are aiming to address all applications within 7-10 business days. However, please bear in mind that this is an estimate. We understand that this can cause frustration, but please be assured that we are working hard to get everything addressed.”
The portal does seem glitchy at times. The whole screen goes blank sometimes. I just start over and log in again and it normally works.
I received an email this afternoon titled, “Your Brex account is ready to go!”
I already spent 1500 on the card last week. No points showing up today (tuesday)?. Anyone receive 80K points?.
@ NBG — It’s a manual process that happens on Tuesdays, so you’ll want to wait until the end of the day.
@Ben. Thanks for the info.
I spent 3k last week. the 30k bonus posted Friday, but Tuesday came and went with no 80k bonus
I signed up about a week and a half ago through the link. I spent over a 1000, with the charge that put me over on Friday of last week. I waited for this Tuesday but there was no 80000 points in the account. What should so I do? I’m starting to doubt I will get the bonus based on all the comments here recently.
@ Chris @ T1G3R — They’re aiming to post the bonuses the Tuesday after they’re earned. It’s a manual process that’s done in batches, so I’d recommend just being patient — there’s nothing you have to do. Hopefully it’ll post by next Tuesday. Keep in mind most similar bonuses from other companies take many weeks to post.
Keep in mind we share what we know about the process based on data points, etc. That’s no guarantee that something will happen with a certain timeline, but rather sharing what others have reported, and what Brex is aiming to do.
Data point: Received the 20,000 payroll bonus earlier last week. I spent $3,000+ last week using the Brex card and received the 10,000 point bonus for spending over $3,000 on Saturday (2/20). Then this morning Wednesday, 2/24, received the 80,000 OMAAT bonus. Received a total of 110,000 points. Be patient. It should work.
Any idea if the the promotion is still good?
@ tom — Yep, it sure is!
I applied on February 16. The website says applying will take less than 10 minutes (it did) and you will get your account number, etc. immediately. Well that’s a lie, as many have discovered. Logging in I was first told processing could take up to 5 business days. Then that changed to 7 business days. Now it says 15 business days. The support group is worthless, and there is no ability to speed up the process as far as I can tell. Seems like a great account (even without the great bonus points), but if they can’t even manage to open accounts in a timely fashion I am a little concerned with holding large amounts of cash with them.
There are two links to brex on your website, one for the omaat bonus and the other for the normal bonus. why are both links on your website?
@ bobb jones — The link here is for the Brex Cash product, but we have written in the past about some of Brex’s other products. Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of?
I think i got approved but when logged in, i still saw this message “You’ll have full access to your dashboard as soon as we finish processing your information.”
Anyone know how long this will take?
thanks.
I’ve had partial account access for over a week, and received card in mail. Today I got “denied”
WTF
re 20,000 associated with payroll… the bonus detail on brex notes
”
20,000 points
Deposit sales revenue or run payroll with Brex Cash to earn 20,000 points.
Payroll providers: ADP, Deel, Extensis, Gusto, Insperity, Intuit Payroll, Justworks, Paychex, Paylocity, Rippling, Sure Payroll, TriNet, WageWorks, Workday, Your People.
Ecommerce platforms or payment gateways: Amazon, BigCommerce, Braintree, PayPal, Shopify, Square, Stripe, Venmo, Wix, Xoom.
Brex reserves the right to modify the list of eligible platforms at any time.
”
I use paychex would be very link it into brex per the instructions but to not see a link option (like you do with gusto which appears to be native)
Does running payroll count (ie the ach transaction) or does it actually need to be linked? If linked, any idea where?
The guidance in the help center makes it seem like one just needs to run payroll via brex cash as the insturctions for “other providers” (ie not gusto which is a native integration) seem to just point the user to the payroll processor bank settings to change the routing and account info
“How do I connect my payroll to Brex Cash?
Receive a 20K rewards bonus for linking your payroll to Brex within 3 months of signing up for Brex Cash.
You can connect Brex Cash to your payroll service using your account and routing numbers found on the Cash Transactions page under View details.
Deep in the weeds but any help from others appreciated.
Thanks,
EGS
Can the Brex Card be used solely for purchases from companies that accept credit cards, or are there other ways to “spend $1k” on the Brex Card (eg, wire transfers, etc)?
@ John — The spending requirement needs to be achieved through the Brex Card, which is a World Elite Mastercard (so that would have to be similar to credit card spending).
Received the Brex card last week following the successful opening of my account. Is there a time limit for when the $1k spend is needed to get the 80k bonus?
Ben,
How do we connect the paypal/stripe accounts for it to hit. Do we just Hit Add Funds and link bank or what?
Is the 80K offer still valid. When I click on the link it is saying offer has expired. So?
@Ben/@Tiffany: As of 3/2/21 Brex is not honoring the OMAAT 80K bonus – they say it is “paused”.
When Brex realizes the majority of people that signed up for this did it purely for the miles they will regret it.
@Ben/@Tiffany: used your link and opened the account on 2/18. Completed the $1000 purchase using the card on Friday 2/26. Regular points from the purchase have been posted, but still no sign of 80k bonus points as of today which is Wednesday. Do you know when they post the 80k referral points?
@RobertW You may be right that Brex will have concluded that the 80K promotion for OMAAT referrals was not a good idea for Brex, but that doesn’t entitle them not to honor the promotion offer to those who acted on it.
@carolz Brex told me they will not be posting the bonus 80K points – they have “paused” it – it appears they are not honoring the promotion offer. I’m hoping @Ben is investigating but so far I haven’t seen comment from him.
no bonus posted.. its more than a week after the 1000 spend. guess was too good to be true. brex got to collect data for free while they decided to no honor the offer. will wait for sometime and see if points show up.
I applied through your link on Feb 1st, took some time before approval but have now spent over $2,000 on the card but no 80,000 bonus. I did get the 20,000 for payroll link and ongoing spending so I have received about 22,000+ points – all posted VERY PROMPTLY, so why not the 80,000?
Above I see you are saying one should be patient, but others seem to be in the same position as I.
Ok, I was starting to get skeptical as the process is a little opaque and takes a while between steps, but the 80k bonus points magically hit my account today (Friday), so I’m a believer.
This was the timeline for anyone feeling anxious…
• Feb 22 — Applied as an S-Corp. Was “approved” instantly and given a virtual card number, but Brex still needed to time “process” my paperwork before I could actually use the account. The only thing they requested was a copy of my EIN acceptance letter.
• Feb 25 — Received email that processing was complete and my account was ready to use. I wired money from BofA to Brex that day.
• Feb 27 — Funds posted and I made my first purchase using the virtual card to hit the $1k spend. No signup bonus yet.
• Mar 3 — Hit the $3k spend threshold and received 10k bonus points that night.
• Mar 4 — Physical card arrived in the mail and was insanely easy to activate by text message. Other banks should take note.
• Mar 5 — 80k bonus points received!
It’s a little scary since you have no confirmation that the referral link worked or that they’ll honor the 80k bonus points, but I guess the moral of the story is just to stay patient. This was an insane value for very little effort, plus I’m really liking the other perks of Brex so far.
Thanks so much to Ben + the OMAAT team! 🙂
So far my account has worked flawlessly.
One question: The Brex BIN for their online card comes up as a cc from Chase Manhattan Bank. Any idea why? Did Brex contract with Chase for the cc?
Jut got the 80K bonus. Took about 2 weeks after I made the initial min spend. If the deal is still on I will do it on one of my other companies.
Used Brex successfuly abroad today, via apple pay at a small restaurant in Costa Rica. Charge was only 2 cents more than my currency conversion app suggested.
Also ran a test transfer to Lifemiles. Went instantly.
Glad to see their product seems to be working smoothly, in functionality!
I am pleased to say I have now seen the 80K bonus posted to two accounts in which I hit the qualifying spend. I am now working up the qualifying spend in a third account. If that is honored properly I will move to the fourth account.
This was a rocky start to the promotion and not well handled by Brex, but it seems now to be on track and working as promised.
My 80k was clawed back…anyone else?
Ouch that is bad!
Do you have multiple accounts?
Was your spend on gc?
Any ideas what might have triggered the claw back?
@Tak I just got my 80k clawed back as well. And no, I don’t have multiple accounts. I did spend $85 on a gift card with this account, but that’s out of ~$1700 total spend thus far, so it shouldn’t make any difference regarding the bonus. I’ll reach out to Brex and see what they say.
@Tak, @Rose: I wonder if the Brex staff are just overwhelmed. You both report having your 80K bonuses clawed back and some have still not even been credited at all. In one of my accounts I found 160K deposited and then two days later 80K had been clawed back. I can’t complain because I was only entitled to 80K, not 160K, but it did make me wish I had acted sooner to redeem the 160K by transferring them to Singapore Airlines.
Because of the ongoing problems that people are having, and particularly because of stories of the 80K bonus being clawed back, I decided I’d better redeem/transfer points as quickly as possible so they can’t be taken away. This morning I redeemed 81,000+ Brex points by transferring to Singapore Air. By this evening those points already showed up in SIA KrisFlyer account – that’s even faster than transfers from AmEx platinum. I just initiated another 81,000+ redemption for transfer to SIA and hope to see that one successfully completed by tomorrow morning.
@Lela: there doesn’t seem to be any problem with multiple accounts – I have already been credited with the 80K in two Brex accounts. I am building the qualifying spend now in a third account. If that all goes smoothly I will do the same in a fourth account.
I have noticed several people posted the same question which has yet to be answered” Is there a time frame as to when the $1,000 spend has to me be meet to get the 80k points”???
Update: without my doing anything, the 80k disappeared points have reappeared!
@Rose Relief! Your DP was concerning. Thanks for posting the update!
Followed the link for Brex account and have spent over $1,000 a week ago and still no bonus points 🙁
Is this deal still live? Does anyone know?
Anything? I have another company that I could register?
@robertw I’ve been told from a reliable source that the deal is closed/done.
The next best thing I see is the referral bonus offers, in my, & I presume your, accounts. $250 to the referrer and $250 to the referee, in pts, after $1K spend.
Lela..Thanks for the help
@robertw: the 80K deal for OMAAT referrals is closed. It was too good a deal to last.
Brex is still being slow to post the 80K bonus after the qualifying $1,000 spend, but it worked on two accounts for me and I now awaiting the third one. They say they will honor all the OMAAT referrals so I going to make the qualifying spend on a fourth account. Assuming the third and fourth accounts get their bonuses, I would regard 320,000 miles for Singapore Airlines as a terrific reward for $4,000 spend.
Of course it won’t become real till we can easily travel to Singapore/Asia again, and preferably in first class (which is currently unavailable through February 2022).
@ robertw — We could probably make the font on this a bit bigger, but as it notes in the box at the top of the post, the offer for the Brex Cash has expired.
@ Tiffany – for those of us approved last month when the deal was still live but only recently met the $1000 min spend, are you able to verify that our 80k bonus will post?
I followed all the steps and it worked for me. I now have 115K Brex points (80K for OMAAT bonus, 20K for depositing revenue from payment processor, and 10K for spending $3K+). Brex is definitely not intuitive/user friendly. I feel bad that they screened out people with legitimate businesses. But for those who did get through, it worked.
How many days after $1000 purchase did the 80k points show up? Thanks.
My 80k points finally showed up, took about 2 weeks after meeting spend
Hi. How long do you have to spend the initial $1000 to get the 80K bonus? Thanks.
Will this deal be returning? I missed it before it expired. Thanks.
Hi could someone kindly reply and let me know how long does the initial $1000 need to be spent in to get the 80K bonus? Thanks.
@Sam I spent my qualifying amounts quickly but I don’t recall any time limit applying to the $1,000 minimum spend to get the 80K bonus. That said, it hasn’t been plain sailing with Brex so it may be best to handle this quickly and get the bonus ASAP and then transfer or use it so it can’t be clawed back.
@Sam, I believe you have 60 days to do the spend for the $3,000 so I would think the same for the OMAAT offer. Although I plan to spend it within 30 days to be safe.
Point of note for all who plan to do the AWS credits, your business must be founded less than 10 years ago, I found out the hard way 🙁
@Sho’nuff What are the AWS credits? My biz is older than 10 years, as well.
Scratch the above comment. Got it.
So I applied January 27 with this offer and I *just* got approved in April. Is it 3 months from the app to meet spending or 3 months from approval? I do see the $3k spend tracker at login.
@Dizzy There is a $3K expense tracker somewhere in their desktop website. It shows if you’ve qualified for the “payroll” or “income deposit” (aka PayPal deposit) SUB too. Sorry, I would direct you better, I’ve just been using my phone only lately. But it is there. Probably under the rewards section.