Despite highly volatile interest rates, small business credit cards have been enjoying the rise of popularity for the last decade. New opportunities are becoming available to businesses; however some of them must be treated with caution. Nowadays in US around 65% of small and medium businesses use such credit cards and 40% of those use them frequently and intensively.
If used wisely small business credit cards can provide wide range of benefits and advantages to its owners:
- Expenses of small businesses and personal expenses of the owners are often mixed. Using small business credit cards set a strict demarcation line between personal expenses and business expenses, transactions are accurately recorded and easily traceable. Besides such credit cards come with free or paid software that makes transaction tracing highly convenient. Owners can easily distinguish their personal expenses from business ones;
As already mentioned transactions are easily traced. For taxation purposes owners do not have to count dozens of receipts and distinguish business expenses from personal ones, since credit card companies provide owners with a year-end statement that contains categorized list of transactions;
- Through small business credit cards companies can build their credit history. In the future expansion businesses may require loans and credit lines. If they have good credit history from the credit card that may help getting other banking services;
- Credit card companies provide special rewards (discounts and benefits) to those, who comply with the rules set by credit companies for the credit card users. Such rewards may result in significant cost savings;
- Small business credit card users have possibility to provide credit cards to their employees with preset amounts and control their spending by separate statements;
Small business credit card behaves like any other financial product: if it is used wisely and in compliance with the rules set by the issuer, it can help new or even established businesses in their operations; however the misuse of this instrument can result in a severe loss for a business and its owner. Typically these losses are bad credit history for both owner and the business, also personal liability of the owner for the debts of the company.
So the question arises: should we use small business credit cards or not? The answer is yes, use it, but use it carefully and responsibly. If you do so, you will avoid costs that arise from credit card mismanagement and you will enjoy low-cost credit for your business that may result in long-term growth of your business affairs.