Ramp Credit Card Review | Does Ramp live up to the hype?

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Ramp Credit Card Review | Our First Impressions of Ramp

Ramp is a new credit card that came onto the scene in February of 2020. It comes with a lot of hype and buzz after raising $25 million from some big name investors.

Does the world really need another credit card? Had I not had my own small business I would have said no. But I think Ramp is solving some real pain points here for high-growth companies that aren’t well served by the incumbent players.

This post will be a quick review on the Ramp credit card. Let’s dive into our Ramp credit card review and see what makes Ramp different.

Ramp Credit Card Overview | There’s A Lot To Like Here✔️

💵 1.5% cash back on everything: Ramp credit cards eliminate the confusing point systems and instead offer a simple 1.5% cash back program. If a credit card has various rewards tiers (3% of gas, 2% on groceries, etc) or confusing point structures I immediately run the other direction. I don’t want to devote my limited head-space to thinking about the nuances of my credit card. What I love about Ramp is that it’s 1.5% cash back across the board. Simple, straightforward, and real money.
📈 Higher limits & no founder liability: When I was running my business it was a nightmare to get my credit limit increased. Getting a small business loan was even worse. Further, as a founder you have to share your own tax returns, jump through countless other hoops, and are personally liable for your business card. Ramp credit cards eliminate all that non-sense so you can quickly and easily get sufficient credit which enables you to focus on running your business.
💰 Continuous savings insights: Is your company paying for multiple subscriptions of Dropbox when you could save money if you had a single Dropbox for Business account? Are you in the wrong pricing tier for your SaaS subscriptions? Ramp provides insights around your spending which translates into greater savings and increased profitability. The 1.5% cash back is awesome but what’s even cooler is the fact that Ramp can help eliminate extraneous expenses. That’s value beyond just rewards or cash.
🧾 Receipts made easy: Ramp has receipt matching and automatic receipt reminders making the painful process of chasing and uploading receipts a thing of the pass. You and your team should do what adds value instead of annoying admin work chasing receipts.
💸 $175,000 in exclusive partner rewards: Ramp has money-saving partnerships with all the major players and platforms that growing companies are likely already using… AWS, Plaid, Google Ads, Notion, Twilio, and more.
🧮 Accounting integrations: I ran my business with Xero and loved it. Ramp integrates seamlessly with Xero as well as Quickbooks and NetSuite.
🚫 No fees: With Ramp, companies will pay no monthly/annual fees and no foreign transaction fees. I once had an Amex with an annual fee of something like $495… never again. Ramp is everything one could want when it comes to fees (i.e. none!).
💳 Accepted (almost) everywhere: Ramp credit cards have partnered with Visa and are accepted anywhere Visa is accepted.
💡 Top-notch user interface: Ramp credit cards has an awesome dashboard which provides a real-time look at spend by user, category, and department.

Ramp vs Brex | Which credit card is better?

Brex is the other big name when it comes to modern, company friendly credit cards. Both have generated a lot of PR buzz and are highly regarded. Let’s dig in to see the differences.

The differences between Ramp and Brex:

Ramp helps companies reduce overspend: Ramp has algorithms analyze card usage to identify the situations where you’re in the wrong SaaS tier or have multiple subscriptions to the same service. These insights highlight overspend that when reduced, falls directly to the bottom line. Ramp claims they’ve already cut cash burn for some of customers by $250,000+ per year. Brex doesn’t have any such feature… this is a potentially huge value-add users get with Ramp.
Confusing points vs straightforward cash back: Brex has a points-reward program. Points based reward programs are popular with credit card companies as they incent greater spending and can be gamed by issuers (i.e. customers often perceive them to be more valuable than they are). Cashback is simple and transparent. Brex has multiple reward categories (e.g. 7x on Ridesharing, 4x on travel booked through Brex, 3x on Restaurants, 2x on Recurring SaaS, 1x on everything else). In general, most users would be better with a flat 1.5% than 1.0% on most purchases with higher multiples on a select few categories.
Ramp has richer partner offers: Ramp claims $175,000 in partner offers while Brex claims that its partner offers are worth over $50,000 in value. Ramp wins here.

American Express is the other big player in the start-up or small business space. I love AMEX… they have great customer service and a lot to like. Again though, the higher cash-back plus analysis of spending is what helps give Ramp an edge.

Ramp Credit Card Review | Summary

Overall there is a lot to like with Ramp. If you’re a founder or part of a high-growth startup or small business Ramp could be a great fit compared to Brex or Amex. Early user reviews about Ramp have been overwhelmingly positive.

If I had to highlight the three big reasons to give Ramp a look here is what I’d say:

Simplicity: No confusing points or fees. Cash back on everything and no fees. What you see is what you get.
Competitive Cash Back: 1.5% across the board on purchases is a highly competitve cash back structure.
Helps Reduce Spend: A credit card company that actually helps you spend less (and they in turn generate lower fees)?!? The SaaS and subscription overload is real and no fun to manage so we welcome a card that helps.

We hope this Ramp credit card review is helpful and give you a potentially stronger solution than Amex or Brex. If you’re interested in signing up for a Ramp Credit Card you can click the button below to visit Ramp’s site.