Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Doing Business with Business Credit Cards

Putting your business onto a business credit card system is certainly a good way to do business better. This could apply whether you have one employee, or a hundred. Here are a number of reasons why your business can profit by using business credit cards.

Makes Accounting Easier

If you have ever had a problem with employees losing receipts (or maybe you have done it), or forgetting to hand in the receipts until a month or two later, then you can certainly appreciate the ease that business credit cards can give you. This system would enable you to not have to fool around with either needing to have cash on hand, or, of needing to have more than one signature on a check each time you need one. Another great element of using business credit cards is that it saves time and expense on check writing. This way you only need to write one check.

Most business credit card companies will give you the option of putting it all on one monthly statement - if you want it. This shows your accounting department every penny spent through credit card purchases, and single reports enable them to easily verify spending limits, as well as being able to accurately keep the books up to date. Online access to your business credit card account lets you know what transpires on an almost daily basis.

Give Employees A Credit Card

Once again, the purpose here is to make it easier on all concerned. If you have a number of employees that need to travel on a regular or semi-regular basis, then here is a good way to make it easier to keep track of their expenses. Or, you may have employees that are in charge of purchasing items for specific departments - this would sure make it simpler. Each key employee could be given a business credit card of their own for the company, and you could place set limits on individual cards allowing you to have a degree of protection for the company.

One thing that you may need to be aware of though is that the credit level of each person being issued a card will have a credit check made. This could have a negative effect on the interest rates of the card if one or more people that are to receive the business credit cards have low credit ratings. The way to avoid this is to only give cards to those with good ratings.

Earn Business Rewards

If you put all of your business expenses on one business credit card company, then you could earn a lot of business rewards. These rewards will usually come in several forms, including cash back, air miles, free gas, points, etc., which are redeemable at various merchants and can add up to thousands of dollars saved each year. You can even get greater savings by getting your card from a company that is near you - such as a gas station, or a particular airline in your city.

Compare the Other Options

Apart from the other things mentioned, you need to consider whether or not you can make balance transfers, and if there is a charge or not. Many of the credit cards do permit you to make transfers but find out for how long the benefit applies - some cards will allow you to enjoy 0% interest for twelve months or longer. A number of cards will also allow you to get 0% interest on all purchases for one year, too. Of course, the best way is just to pay it off with each month's billing, and then interest never becomes an issue.

One other thing that you will want to make a note of, and that is to see whether or not there is an annual fee for the card. Some business credit card companies may give you 0% interest, but then they will charge you an annual fee. If you're willing to look around, you can easily find some card products that can offer up great benefits for your company.






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