The Best Business Credit Cards for Small Business

21. February 2012  by Lindsey Cram
Comments (0)

There is a lot more to a business credit card than simply providing available cash. It is very important to have credit cards in your business name in order to protect personal credit ratings. However, depending on your needs there are other things to consider when it comes to what makes the best business credit card for your business. 

There are things like frequent flier miles and hotel savings that the right business credit card can provide for those that have to travel often on business. These are just a couple of the incentives that business credit cards offer. If your business doesn’t require you to travel, however, those may not be the right business credit cards for you, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others that will give you the bonuses you can use.

Types of Incentives Available

• Cash Back: Many business credit cards give you a cash back bonus simply for using the card. These bonuses may be general cash back on all purchases, or they may stipulate certain types of purchases. In other cases there may be several types of cash back bonuses on a single business credit card. For instance, the bonus from “SimplyCash®” business card from American Express OPEN that offers 5% cash back on office supply purchases as well as on wireless services. It also gives 3% on gasoline purchases and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

• Bonus Miles: If you travel heavily for business, or just want to take a much needed vacation you can choose a card like Capitol One® Spark Miles for Business that gives you thousands of frequent flier miles with no limits. There are no blackout dates for traveling, or any airline restrictions and you can even use the miles for cash back or gift cards if you decide you aren’t going to travel. Capitol One® also has a Spark card for cash if you prefer bonuses rather than miles.

• Bonus Points: Another form of bonuses are given as “points” toward special purchases. InkBold with Ultimate Rewards gives you 50,000 bonus points if you spend $5,000 in 3 months. If you have a lot of large expenses, or use your credit card for regularly recurring expenses this can be a very beneficial type of bonus.

• Hotel Bonuses: If you travel on business or for pleasure this type of bonus can save you a lot of money. Marriott Rewards Business Card is one of these types of cards. It gives you 1 point for every $1.00 spent, plus 2 free nights at certain locations throughout the year, no limits on the amounts you can earn, plus if you use your card to pay for hotel accommodations at a Marriott you will get triple points for each dollar spent.

What You Should Consider when Choosing a Business Credit Card

Remember that along with helping you protect personal credit, your business credit card will help you build your company. However, it’s important to determine what you need your card for in order to pick a card properly. If you need a business credit card to finance big, long-term purchases look for a card with a lower interest rate rather than big bonuses. In the long-run, you will pay a lot less for the overall purchases even after you take bonuses into consideration.

If you are using your business credit card to finance monthly expenses and make accounting easier, you will be paying off the entire amount every month, so interest is not a concern. In those cases, get the most for your dollars by choosing a business credit card with the most useful bonuses for your needs.

business credit, business credit builder, business credit cards, business financing, business loans, corporate credit builder, credit score, line of credit, merchant card, merchantcard, money, new business, small business credit

Open A Good Business With Bad Credit

24. August 2011  by Ashlee Gordon
Comments (0)

We all have dreams and aspirations, and sometimes circumstances can stand in the way of our achieving those goals. For instance, a small business owner wants to finance their business but can't because they have bad credit. So how can they hurdle themselves over this significant financial wall?

The truth of the matter is that there are a variety of factors that can contribute to a credit application being approved or denied. Poor credit isn't grounds for an outright dismissal when you submit a business loan application. Of the 80% of applications that are received, only 50% are declined because of bad credit. It's suggested that you shouldn't even think about submitting an application if your FICO credit score is below 660. A few things you can do to build up your credit are: get your monthly expenses under control, buy a monitoring service and keep an eye on your credit report and score, begin to construct your business credit scores and profile with business credit bureaus as this can be a great help your business and FICO score in the long haul.

Other options available to you are to loan money from family, friends, founders and fools. Family members are usually supportive of you if you have a sound business plan. They want you to succeed. Fools are people you know but aren't intelligent investors, they simply want you to repay them. Crowd funding is another viable option for those who are tech savvy and know how to work a social media room. Crowd funding is where a network of individuals combine money and resources to support the efforts of other people and organizations. One of the wonderful things about crowd funding is that your credit doesn't matter and you don't have to pay back any of the money that you receive.

Alternative financing options to look into are: Equipment Financing, Merchant Account Cash Advance, Checking Account Cash Advance and Factoring. While some of them may check your personal credit, they don't depend on the score so much as a small business loan or standard bank line of credit. Another option is to build corporate credit. Corporate credit affords business owners the chance to receive large sums of money in trade credit with vendors who might not have been so forthcoming had they approached them personally.

You don't have to let bad credit stand in the way of opening your own business. With a little ingenuity and careful searching and time investment, you'll be well on your way to financing your business.

bad credit, business credit, business credit builder, business financing, business loans, credit score, line of credit, new business, small business credit , , , , , , ,

A Business Line of Credit Efficiently Puts Funds At Your Fingertips

4. August 2011  by Ashlee Gordon
Comments (0)

The world of business and financing is overflowing with choices. How should we pursue this goal? How should we pay for that upgrade? How are we going to get through our slow season? A line of credit for your small business answers all of these questions in addition to providing you with some great benefits that a loan does not provide.

Many financial institutions use unsecured funds to finance a small business line of credit. That means you do not need to put physical collateral up against the money. A traditional loan will require collateral of some sort that can be seized to recoup the loss if you are not able to pay on time. Paying or not paying the dues and associated costs with a line of credit does function much the same as a traditional loan in how it affects your credit. Keeping up with the dues payment is a great way to build your credit rating.

A loan that is paid out is done in one lump sum. Interest is then calculated off of that lump sum to be paid as per the contract. A line of credit for your small business can save you a lot of money in the long run. Your line of credit will have an upper cap limit, but you do not pay interest on that maximum amount. You only pay interest on how much you have used. The regular dues payments to the financial institution are still more cost effective than dealing with a large chunk of interest.

The benefit of a line of credit over a traditional loan is also apparent when it comes to payment scheduling. Your small business line of credit will generally have a much longer life than a loan would. The funds will be available without you needing to reapply later on. The length may depend on your financing institution, so be certain to inquire about that detail.

A line of credit for a business provides a valuable safety net that is hard to duplicate. A credit card that sits unused in a safe negatively impacts your credit. The traditional loan taken out will require heavy duty interest payments for its duration. A line of credit can sit latently and wait for when you need it most. Perhaps you will never need it, but it will still be there. Even the best laid plans can be derailed by the rough economic climate or unexpected circumstances. A small business line of credit can be there, when you need it, to carry your business through to the other side.

The world of business and financing is overflowing with choices. How should we pursue this goal? How should we pay for that upgrade? How are we going to get through our slow season? A line of credit for your small business answers all of these questions in addition to providing you with some great benefits that a loan does not provide.

Many financial institutions use unsecured funds to finance a small business line of credit. That means you do not need to put physical

credit score, line of credit ,

Invoice Factoring: Past, Present and Future

16. March 2011  by James Penny
Comments (0)

Invoice Factoring Past Present and FutureI know it’s surprising, but invoice factoring is actually a very old activity; some experts date it as early as the 13th century. It all started with trade financing, which was financed by factors, but the entire process was refined during the following centuries. In the early stages of factoring, the factor would simply buy (and often resell) goods, giving the producer a cash advance in exchange for them.

Factoring has grown fast in the U.S.A. during the last century, mostly due to the fact that the textile industry has developed extremely fast and the American banks were reluctant to lend their money to the business owners (not that this has changed since then). In fact, the textile industry continues to play a very important role when it comes to invoice factoring, but other industries such as trucking, manufacturing, etc have become more and more important during the last decades.

Today’s ideal candidates for factoring are the small companies who need quick funds because they are growing fast and / or have contracts with big corporations or the government, but lack the needed working capital.

The invoice factoring companies act as an interface between the small business owners and their customers most of the time. The factor will offer financing only if the customers have a good credit history; this will ensure the factor that it will be able to get its money back. On the other hand, the small business owner doesn’t need to have perfect credit records; the factor doesn’t take that into account.

In addition to its intrinsic value, invoice factoring helps the small business owners minimize the overall risk, because the factor will check the creditworthiness of their customers, and thus will practically eliminate the small business owners’ risk. And as an added bonus, many factoring companies will offer their clients free advice on how to repair their credit, cut their losses and maximize their profits.

So how do you prepare for the future? Make sure to choose an invoice factoring company that really cares about its customers, doesn’t make use of hidden fees and has highly trained personnel that is familiar with your industry. Compound Profit has a great team of Profit Advisors who offer customized factoring solutions for each customer. Contact us today for your complimentary consultation and you will discover why we set the standards when it comes to invoice factoring.

credit score, factor, factoring, invoice factoring , , ,

Business Credit Score Secrets

25. February 2011  by James Penny
Comments (0)

Business Credit Score SecretsJeremy B. wanted to start his own business since he was a kid. In fact, he has tried to do that about a year ago but the bank has rejected his loan request because his personal finances weren’t in good order, and this is a key factor when you are just starting up. Don’t let anyone tell you something else: in the early stages you’ll have to use your personal credit, and if you don’t have stellar credit records you can’t impress the lender. It is clear that the lenders (especially the traditional ones) have become more and more cautious these days, so if you plan to apply for a business loan you will have to fix your credit card debt problems before doing that.

But what happens if you already have a company, but your business credit history isn’t looking that good? In this case, the lenders will definitely want to check your personal credit and if they decide to give you the money, you can bet that won’t be able to get a loan with a low interest rate.

So what can you do in order to fix your credit score? First of all, pay your credit card debt as fast as possible; it might sound like (and actually is!) a painful process, but think of it as being an injection that hurts a bit, but restores your health. Start by making large payments on the balances that have the biggest interest rates, while keeping the rest of the payments to their minimum monthly due values. This simple operation will help you save a lot of money that would otherwise be paid as interest, and allows you to get rid of the high interest rate payments one by one, starting with the one that has the highest interest rate and going down to the one with the lowest rate.

Do this and you’ll thank me when you’ll have your first zero credit card debt day. Meanwhile, make sure to check your credit report, observing any potential errors that would have a negative effect on your credit records. Make sure to solve any errors that you find through a credit reporting agency.

Then, make a firm decision to increase your credit score on a regular basis by making all the payments in full and on time, be them utilities, rent, and so on. In fact, since most bills can be paid over the internet these days, setting up automatic payments is a surefire way to solve this problem for good.

Jeremy B. has learned all these things the hard way, but we can all learn from his mistakes and avoid doing them. A good credit score will help you get great business loans with low interest rates and long payment terms, and this will help you grow your company to its full potential. If you are interested in improving your business credit score and getting loans under good terms contact us for a 100% free consultation.

business credit, business credit builder, credit score , ,