What Your Mama Never Told You About Business Credit Cards

What Your Mama Never Told You About Business Credit Cards
by Bidhi mathur
You may have watched your mama use a credit card many times at the grocery store, at the mall, or paying for gas at the local convenient store. But, did she ever explain to you the difference between a personal credit card and a business credit card or anything at all about a business credit card?

To begin with, you can use your business credit for any business purchase that accepts credit cards just like a personal credit card. So, they are the same in the way that you can purchase items. But, a business credit card is issued based on the company’s credit rating instead of your own personal credit rating. Business credit cards also have different spending controls such as restricting the usage for different types of trade categories or even cash withdraws from an ATM machine.

A business credit card also comes with management information and reporting services to help you run your business effectively and also know where the money is being spent.

Many business credit cards also have some other great features that personal credit cards holders do not get the benefit of which includes insurance and discounts that are relevant to your business.

There are also more benefits when using a business credit card that a personal credit card does not give to their bearers. They not only benefit the company itself, but also the card holder. These benefits include, a business credit card is safer to carry than cash, are cheaper than making bank transfers or sending checks, allows the company to control the spending of each cardholder, and can also consolidate payments. When you think of these benefits, you will realize that a business credit card can save your company money and give your employees that need the money to function better in their roles as partners, sales persons or just spokes persons for your company.

For management, a business credit card will give you more information so you can analyze the way your company spends money, help with budgeting, help identify savings opportunities, and even negotiate better rates with your suppliers, while helping you enforce your business outgoing funds and your preferred supplier policies.

There are many ways in which a business credit card holder can use their credit card. For traveling, a business credit card can be used at hotels, restaurants, car rental agencies, train stations, airlines, travel agency charges, foreign currency and travelers checks. For driving, a business credit card can be used for fuel, servicing, repairs, congestion charges and fines. For telephony a business credit card can be used for mobile phones, and business telephone bills and calling cards. Around the office a business credit card can be used to purchase stationary and office supplies, including office or business equipment. Retail business purchases can also be made with a business credit including not only local retail stores, but also mail order, telephone and internet purchases. You can even receive cash withdraws through your bank or ATM machine if authorized by the company.
About the Author
Nidhi mathur writes for What Your Mama Never Told You About Business Credit Cards

Small Business Credit Cards

Small Business Credit Cards

By: Rob Mellor

So what do you look for when applying for a credit card for your small business? One thing is for sure, wasting money isn’t an option because it can make or break your business. Things to look for are low interest rates and good customer service.

Ask around for companies with good customer friendly service. Some will let you off late payments time after time while others will come down like a ton of bricks. You need them to be flexible as you never know when you may run into problems.

Make sure you don’t go with one because of a low introductory offer. You want a long term one as you may not have time every six months to be jumping from one to another. Before signing up for one read the small print, remember it could save your business.

Look out for special bonuses companies offer. Some times companies such as Visa or American Express join with other companies to save you money on anything from shipping or office supplies.

Here are two small business credit card options but look around for more and weigh up the benefits for each one.

American Express Business Gold Card

* No annual fee for the first year,
* No pre-set spending limit
* Save at known brands, such as Staples, FedEx and Hertz
* When you enroll in the Membership Rewards program, you earn points virtually every time you use your eligible, enrolled Business Card.
* Online Account Management
* Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

CitiBusiness® Platinum Select® Card

The CitiBusiness® Platinum Select® Card is the card built for small businesses and includes:

* A generous credit line
* Low rate on purchases
* Additional cards for employees
* Free quarterly and annual account summaries
* Free 'Ask the Experts' service
* Free 24/7 Concierge Service

A great place to find out more about credit cards is the internet, One useful site is: http://www.credit-card-index.com http://www.credit-card-index.com/visa-small-business-credit-card.html

About the Author

Rob Mellor is the webmaster of http://www.credit-card-index.com where you can find other articles and info on credit cards.

Source: www.isnare.com

Credit Cards - Why Prepay?

By: Gunnar Berglund

With prepaid credit cards, you get the practicality of plastic while choosing exactly how much debt to charge. By taking charge of your personal financing, you determine your own limits, to the penny, and change them any time you need to.

There are many prepaid credit cards on the market these days, sometimes also labeled pre-funded. They're all reloadable, functioning like a prepaid card for the telephone, and they offer the gigantic benefits of no credit check and no annual interest fees.

Easy to get online or in a store near you, these prepaid credit cards are the wave of the future cashless society. You simply use your own money to buy stuff. That way you're not borrowing from anyone; you're just using plastic instead of cash. And there's no way to get into debt with them...when you run the limit you set, they run out, so you can't overspend even if you want to.

Use your prepaid credit cards almost any place where MasterCard or Visa cards are accepted, without racking up any interest charges whatsoever.

Got kids? A prepaid credit card makes a great instructional tool and present. Buy them one for an initial setup fee (usually from $5-50), and let them pay the smaller fee to renew it when it runs out. Explain that if they let it lapse they have to start all over again with a much larger fee than if they simply renewed in a timely manner. Suddenly, your kids become financially responsible!

Pre-funded cards are not a bad way to keep your own finances in line either. Just come up with the initial scratch and you're on your way to enjoying the ease and flexibility of plastic again!

© Gunnar Berglund

About the Author

Gunnar Berglund has been working on the Internet for about five years and runs http://www.global-prepaid-cards.com since September 2003

Source: www.isnare.com

How To Get A Low Interest Credit Card

By: Tom Coleman

Consumers often have the first credit card that they ever applied for, never really analizing how the interest rate affects their payments, but many other options exist and can help consumers decrease their payments and achieve financial stability.

With interest rates on some credit cards rising to over 23%, even low balance credit card debt can be crippling. One of the first research elements a prospective borrower should look at is the interest rate on transferred debt. This interest rate is often lower than the usual interest rate for the credit card, and can be an especially good deal for borrowers who have debt already. Another element to consider is the interest rate on new purchases – this rate will be the main concern in the years to come, as this new credit card will probably become the most heavily used. Borrowers often worry about annual fees, but these are often temporary. Getting a credit card with low interest rates will save a borrower significant sums, usually much more than the annual fee. Plus, once good credit is established, the annual fee may later be waived.

Another interest rate will usually apply, as well – the rate for cash advances. Cash advances are usually limited to a couple hundred dollars, but credit card companies often insist that when paying back the balance, the credit portion must be paid back first, then the portion that the cash advance applies to. So if you are going to keep a balance on your credit card, be aware that cash advance interest rates are higher than the regular interest rates. Cash advances can be incredibly helpful in emergencies, though, when a credit card cannot be used.

Visa and MasterCard are by far the most commonly accepted credit cards, so less commonly used cards such as American Express and Discover often offer special rates for new customers. These rates are worth attention, even if you think that you may not be able to use the card as easily as your previous credit cards, because transferring the balance to these new cards to obtain the lower interest rate may significantly lower your payments. While your AmEx or Discover Card may not be accepted as often, they can be a good tool to achieving your financial goals.

Even less commonly used are credit cards that are store specific, such as gas cards or department store cards, but these cards can offer incredible deals on interest rates. They rely on the fact that consumers will often switch their spending patterns to the new gas station or store, and this increased revenue makes up for the lower interest rates. A slight change in your habits, such as consistently using the new credit card at the new gas station, can lower payments and improve credit scores.

Researching new credit cards can seem daunting, but by comparing the four main factors, which are the regular interest rate, the rate on transferred balance, the rate on cash advances, and the annual fee, you can reduce your credit card payments significantly.

About the Author

The author runs the finance website http://www.pawninfo.com about short-term loans and payday loans, and any or all of this article may be reproduced in any form as long as there is a link to the website. The HTML is Pawn Shops and Short Term Loans

Source: www.isnare.com