Business Credit Cards for Businesses With Good Credit

You will find that the various business credit cards offers can become confusing, especially while you are in the process of doing some comparison shopping for the business credit card that best suits your needs. Platinum, gold, rewards and cash back are some of the nomenclature used to describe a business credit card type. These different names for business credit cards also imply significant differences in the features offered to the business credit card holder. You will notice that among these types, platinum business credit cards stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Platinum business credit cards work best for those business credit card holders who prefer to carry a balance on their account and who have the ability to effectively manage business expenses. Platinum business credit cards are usually only granted to persons with excellent credit histories.

Platinum cards make many exceptional perks available to their cardholders, perks that are not available with regular business credit cards. One of the reasons is that businesses that qualify for platinum business credit cards have high, if not sterling, credit scores.

Some of the advantages that you get from having a platinum business credit card may include: a waived annual fee, higher credit limits, lower interest rates, and more benefits, rewards and savings (fraud protection service, frequent flier miles and cash back programs). The travel-related benefits you get from a platinum business credit card also include travel accident insurance, car rental insurance, lost luggage insurance, and a number of travel and emergency services while you are traveling in another country.

Platinum business credit card users receive generous business-related special discounts from participating merchant accounts, including hotel rooms, office equipment and car rentals. All things being equal, the extent of benefits you get from each participating merchant will vary, as described in their disclosures regarding limitations and restrictions.

The credit card company does not have much control over these terms and conditions that the merchants impose on business credit card holders. They make every effort to negotiate the best possible terms on behalf of its business credit card customers though. This is why it is also important for you to give feedback to the business credit card issuer regarding particular service areas where you, as a business credit card user, would like to see improvements.

Business credit card companies often provide a low-cost program to platinum business credit card customers, knowing that platinum business credit card holders are more willing to charge business expenses as long as they can carry a balance without paying too much in finance charges. Remember, business credit card companies make their profits from those business credit card users that carry balances on their accounts.

They also offer a 12-month introductory period at zero percent APR and zero annual fees. After the introductory period expires, the subsequent APR is usually reasonable. However, the platinum business credit card holder should realize that the APR on transactions is indexed to the highest prime rate within a specific time frame. The business credit card issuer retains the option to choose which rate within that period of time. For this reason, you can be sure that the APRs may approach, but never quite reach, the lowest possible rate within the period.

If you are not a platinum business credit card holder yet, but have been diligently paying your bills every month, credit card companies will most likely offer you a platinum business credit card. This is to encourage you to keep your business with them and to reward you for being a responsible borrower.

The Rewards You Get from Owning Business Credit Cards

Business credit card holders are also eligible for incentives and rewards similar to those that are available to personal credit card holders. You may find these incentives and rewards offered by business credit cards helpful in a variety of different ways.

Discounts on Business Travel Planning a business trip can be quite time consuming. As part of the service that some business credit card companies offer, they help arrange for your itineraries, bookings, emergency assistance abroad, and free travel accident insurance. The business credit card travel incentives may also include public transport in those countries where you’re traveling on business.

You are also likely to make phone calls from abroad to your business office. Many business credit card issuers have made special arrangements with telephone service providers if these bills are paid with a business credit card. A business owner who requires regular updates through telephone or email will be able to save with this feature. Business credit cards often secure preferential exchange rates to the business traveler. In addition, business travel becomes more pleasurable since your business credit cards can entitle you to seat upgrades on the flights you take and the use of business lounges at the airports while you are waiting for a connection.

Business credit card holders sometimes qualify for frequent miles or discounts on certain flights and at certain hotels. These arrangements make traveling both more convenient and cheaper for holders of business credit cards.

Discounts on Goods and Services When your business makes use of a business credit card, you will enjoy discounts on your purchases of goods and services. The discounts could add up to substantial saving for your business and enable you to use the money for other purposes. You may want to see which discounts you qualify for at individual suppliers when you use your business credit card. Purchase of certain products may result in rebates, thereby returning some of the money spent to the coffers of the business.

Incentives for the Drivers Many business credit cards entitle you to discounts or rebates on gas purchases. As part of their travel incentives, business credit cards also offer discounts on car hire, which yields substantial savings if your employees are required to frequently undertake traveling. Business credit card issuers also arrange for worldwide emergency and travel assistance. If your employees are traveling in a foreign country and an emergency occurs, they know they can count on the assistance of knowledgeable people who have the appropriate contacts for emergency services.

Rewards Programs Issuers of business credit cards have formulated programs that are akin to what they offer to personal credit card holders. As a holder of business credit cards, you will also earn air miles, or other forms of rewards points. Some business credit cards are more generous, giving you four points per dollar spent as opposed to the traditional reward of one point per dollar. If you have company employees making use of your business credit cards, their usage will rapidly increase your rewards point earnings.

With all of these rewards that holders of business credit cards offer, securing business credit cards becomes the best choice for many businesses.

Personal Liability on Business Credit Cards

If the business does not meet these criteria, the business credit card issuers will use the credit history of the principal making the business credit card application as their basis for evaluating credit risk.

Do note that most business credit card issuers will not approve your application for a business credit card unless you agree to the personal liability provision. This essentially makes a business credit card the same as a personal credit card from a personal liability point of view. Hence, whenever your business fails to repay the business credit cards, the issuer may invoke the personal liability agreement in order to collect payment from the business credit card principal.

Because of this personal liability provision on your business credit card application, your personal credit reports will also contain a record of your business credit card history. You will therefore damage your personal credit score if you make late payments on your business credit cards. If your business accumulates a big debt, it will inflate your personal debt burden and cause you to appear overextended.

The personal liability agreement, however, is not always cast in concrete. If you can show that you diligently make your regular payments, you should be able to convince the issuer of business credit cards to remove the provision after a few years. It would really be up to the issuers whether they decide to grant you your request or not. Nonetheless, you could always try to negotiate with them. Whatever the case may be, endeavor to have the business establish its own credit history. This will eventually allow you to separate your small business credit card from your personal credit records.

You must be aware that since business credit cards are not intended to be used by consumers, the consumer protections applicable to personal credit card are not necessarily present in business credit cards. When making use of personal credit cards, the law grants you the right to dispute billing errors on your account within the specified period of time. Within this period, the card issuer cannot mark the disputed amount delinquent or cancel the card. This particular right of the consumer is not applicable to the holders of business credit cards.

When you receive ordered merchandise in poor condition, you cannot dispute the charges and in case the vendor refuses to cooperate, request the business credit card company to intervene on your behalf – as they do in the case of personal credit cards. With business credit cards, you are largely on your own.

So, should you carry a small business credit card rather than a personal credit card? The answer is: Yes. Once your business has established its track record, you can separate personal and business finances. That will work well – both for you and your business.

Business Green Rewards from American Express For Quick Rewards

Business Green Rewards Card introduced by American Express favors business owners with good credit. Those of you, who can pay in full each month, be ready to redeem the extensive rewards program without any limits.

The Business Green Rewards from American Express offers you a great rewards program. The most important thing you need to understand is that Business Green Rewards card is a charge card, that implies all charges made on this card must be paid in full as the monthly bill arrives.

For late payments, you will be subjected to a fee equivalent to the greater of $30 or 2.99% of your overdue balance. Nevertheless, this may be a perfect option for those of you who want to get rid of accumulating credit card debt.

Rewards Program

Whenever you make a purchase with your Business Green Rewards card, you earn a point for every dollar spent on the card. You get an automatic enrollment in the Membership Rewards program without any additional fee and redeem points for merchandise, travel and other rewards for your business and yourself as part of the program. The card gifts you 5,000 bonus points as soon as you make your first purchase with the card.

Business Green Rewards from American Express redemption program is quite broad, so you can redeem points in denominations as small as 400. You can use your points when you feel like and they will not expire.

Some Basic Features

Have a look at the basic features of Business Green Rewards Credit Card:

§ The Credit Card has a low 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers.

§ As a primary cardholder, you will have to pay an annual fee of $95, which will be waived for the first year in case the card-application is submitted online.

Unique Features

The unique features of Business Green Rewards from American Express are as listed below:

§ OPEN Program – gives you access to the OPEN small business network. This OPEN network basically provides businesses with discounts on essential services such as car rentals, telephone, shipping, and printing. With OPEN Savings SM you get discounts at FedEx, Delta®, Courtyard by Marriott®, and more by using your Business Card.

(You will need no coupons or codes and your savings will come along with other discounts your business may already receive. You would have no pre-set spending limit on cards. It also offers you fee-free additional cards, offers online management tools and credit-savvy agents).

§ Additional Cards – there is no limit to the number of cardholders you can make. Provide the Business Green Rewards Card to your employees and reward them with the various benefits of Card membership. In return, you will be rewarded with a convenient way to manage their expenses.

§ Expense Management Reports – check your spending from Business Card by spending category, time-period, or individual cardmember, data will be available at no extra charges.

§ Network News – through this you can send your queries via e-mail and receive a monthly e-mail newsletter automatically, which informs you of business tools and resources, promotions and benefits, and timely business articles and advice.

Accessories

Some additional benefits you achieve from the Business Green Rewards from American Express include up to $100,000 in travel accident insurance, auto rental insurance and purchase protection. Apart from these you have various Internet account related facilities, Lost and damaged luggage insurance, emergency card replacement and other travel and emergency assistance services.

Ever Have A Problem With Your Credit Card Company?

What do you do if your credit card bill is incorrect?

What happens if you complain, but you are found to be wrong? You need to know what your rights are.

What if...

...the bill is incorrect?
If your bill contains an error, the creditor must explain to you - in writing - the corrections that will be made to your account. In addition to crediting your account, the creditor must remove all finance charges, late fees or other charges related to the error.

If the creditor determines that you owe a portion of the disputed amount, you must get a written explanation. You may request copies of documents proving you owe the money.

...the bill is correct?
If the creditor's investigation determines the bill is correct, you must be told promptly and in writing how much you owe and why. You may ask for copies of relevant documents. At this point, you'll owe the disputed amount, plus any finance charges that accumulated while the amount was in dispute. You also may have to pay the minimum amount you missed paying because of the dispute.

If you disagree with the results of the investigation, you may write to the creditor, but you must act within 10 days after receiving the explanation, and you may indicate that you refuse to pay the disputed amount. At this point, the creditor may begin collection procedures. However, if the creditor reports you to a credit bureau as delinquent, the report also must state that you don't think you owe the money. The creditor must tell you who gets these reports.

...the creditor fails to follow the procedure?
Any creditor who fails to follow the settlement procedure may not collect the amount in dispute, or any related finance charges, up to $50, even if the bill turns out to be correct. For example, if a creditor acknowledges your complaint in 45 days - 15 days too late - or takes more than two billing cycles to resolve a dispute, the penalty applies. The penalty also applies if a creditor threatens to report - or improperly reports - your failure to pay to anyone during the dispute period.

An important caveat

Disputes about the quality of goods and services are not "billing errors," so the dispute procedure does not apply. However, if you buy unsatisfactory goods or services with a credit or charge card, you can take the same legal actions against the card issuer as you can take under state law against the seller.

To take advantage of this protection regarding the quality of goods or services, you must:
- have made the purchase (it must be for more than $50) in your home state or within 100 miles of your current billing address;
- make a good faith effort to resolve the dispute with the seller first.

The dollar and distance limitations don't apply if the seller also is the card issuer - or if a special business relationship exists between the seller and the card issuer.

Other billing rights

Businesses that offer "open end" credit also must:
- give you a written notice when you open a new account - and at certain other times - that describes your right to dispute billing errors;
- provide a statement for each billing period in which you owe - or they owe you - more than one dollar;
- send your bill at least 14 days before the payment is due - if you have a period within which to pay the bill without incurring additional charges;
- credit all payments to your account on the date they're received, unless no extra charges would result if they failed to do so. Creditors are permitted to set some reasonable rules for making payments, say setting a reasonable deadline for payment to be received to be credited on the same date; and
- promptly credit or refund overpayments and other amounts owed to your account. This applies to instances where your account is owed more than one dollar. Your account must be credited promptly with the amount owed. If you prefer a refund, it must be sent within seven business days after the creditor receives your written request. The creditor must also make a good faith effort to refund a credit balance that has remained on your account for more than six months.

Suing the creditor

You can sue a creditor who violates the FCBA. If you win, you may be awarded damages, plus twice the amount of any finance charge - as long as it's between $100 and $1,000. The court also may order the creditor to pay your attorney's fees and costs.

If possible, hire a lawyer who is willing to accept the amount awarded to you by the court as the entire fee for representing you. Some lawyers may not take your case unless you agree to pay their fee - win or lose - or add to the court-awarded amount if they think it's too low.