A personal guarantee ties your personal assets to your business debt. We found four business credit cards that don't require one — Ramp, Rho, Emburse, and Lili — covering growth-stage startups, high-revenue companies, and early-stage businesses alike. No fabricated products, no fluff.
Most business credit cards ask you to sign a personal guarantee (PG). That means if your company can't pay, the issuer comes after your house, car, and savings. For small-business owners and startup founders, that defeats the whole point of incorporating in the first place.
Cards that skip the personal guarantee are rare. They fall into two buckets:
Below are the four best options we found, ranked by who they serve best.
Ramp's corporate card doesn't require a credit check or personal guarantee. Approval and credit limits are based entirely on your business's financials.2 It's a charge card (pay in full each month), which keeps you from carrying revolving debt. Ramp also includes built-in spend management software — receipt matching, expense categorization, and policy controls — which is why it's the most popular no-PG card among funded startups.
Best for: Companies with at least $50k in monthly spend or $500k+ in the bank.
Rho offers a corporate charge card with scalable credit limits, also without a personal guarantee. Like Ramp, approval hinges on your business revenue and cash position. Rho's differentiator is its integrated banking platform — you can manage cash, pay bills, and issue cards from one dashboard. It's a strong pick if you're already doing $1M+ in annual revenue and want a single treasury + spend hub.
Best for: Mid-market companies with consistent revenue.
Emburse takes a different approach: it's a prepaid corporate card. You load funds, employees spend, and there's zero credit risk — so no personal guarantee and no credit check at all. It's ideal for businesses that want strict budget controls or don't yet have the revenue to qualify for a charge card. Emburse also offers excellent expense automation and policy enforcement.
Best for: Early-stage startups and teams that want to cap spending per card.
Lili is a banking app for freelancers and sole proprietors that offers a business debit card — no credit check, no personal guarantee. While it's not a credit card, it functions as a full business checking account with built-in tax savings tools, expense tracking, and invoice management. If you're a solo operator who doesn't need revolving credit, Lili is the simplest way to keep business and personal finances separate without jumping through hoops.
Best for: Freelancers, solopreneurs, and very early-stage businesses.
| Feature | Ramp | Rho | Emburse | Lili |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Corporate charge | Corporate charge | Prepaid | Debit/checking |
| Revenue needed | ~$50k/mo spend | ~$1M+ annual | None | None |
| Credit check | No | No | No | No |
| Personal guarantee | No | No | No | No |
| Best for | Growth startups | Mid-market | Early-stage | Freelancers |
Signing a personal guarantee blurs the line between you and your business. If your company takes a hit — a client doesn't pay, a product launch flops — that debt follows you personally. No-PG cards preserve the liability shield you incorporated for. They also help you build business credit separately from your personal credit, which matters when you eventually need a business loan or line of credit.
Even without a personal guarantee, issuers still want to see:
If you're too early for a charge card, start with a prepaid or debit option (Emburse or Lili), build business credit, and graduate to a corporate charge card later.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we've vetted against our criteria.
This page was written by the engine and the engine is still on the line. The conversation below picks up where the article stops.
Yes — the picks above are the engine's current verdicts. Ask a sharper version of this question below and you'll get a custom answer with the latest pricing.