Personal Vs small business credit card
Credit cards seem to have become a fad today. Almost everyone
has a personal credit card today (a lot of people have more than
one credit cards). Though most of the people use personal credit
cards for what they are really meant for, some are unable to
decide on when to use which type of credit card.
So is there a difference in terms of what credit card - Personal
or business, you use for what transactions?
The answer very clearly is 'Yes'.
Some people use their personal credit card for paying the bills
of the small business they run. However, this is not what you
should be doing. Personal credit cards are meant for just
personal expenses and the business credit cards just for
business expenses. So unless you want to utterly confuse
yourself and spend hours together on sorting out business and
personal expenses, you should not create this confusion in the
first place. This confusion is very easy to avoid and just
requires some discipline on your part. Just use your small
business credit card for whatever spends you do for your
business and the personal credit card for the personal expenses.
If you feel that getting the business expenses segregated is not
much of a problem and you would rather use just your personal
credit card, you need to re-consider using a small business
credit card. This springs from the fact that the small business
credit cards generally carry a lower APR as compared to the
personal ones. So it makes more sense to make your business
spends on your small business credit cards. Moreover, the small
business credit cards also carry a reduced or no annual fee on
them.
Also, the customer query resolution and support services are
much better with the small business credit cards than with the
personal credit cards. The credit card companies always give
preferential treatment to the small business credit card
customers. This is owing to the simple fact that small business
owners are much bigger consumers of such services than the
personal credit cards. Obviously, the needs of an enterprise are
expected to be more than those of an individual. Moreover, if
the business grows, it might create more customers for the
credit card company (e.g. in the form of corporate credit cards).
There are times when one requires quick money for a short period
of time. This can be due to some immediate purchase requirements
which you are ultimately going to invoice your client to or some
other unplanned/emergency expenses. In most of the cases you
have a visibility of a month or so in which you are expecting
your invoices to clear. Having the small business credit card
can be more beneficial in such cases (as compared to a personal
credit card).
Moreover, as with personal credit cards, the small business
credit cards can also help in building your business' credit
rating. So when it comes to getting a loan for business
expansion, you at least have something to show for the credit
rating.