Credit Cards for New Businesses
| December 9th, 2008Starting a new business can be fun, exciting and stressful. One thing you shouldn’t have to stress over is getting credit. By credit I don’t mean borrowing money to make your business run. I mean a credit card to pay for things online and automate some of your routine payments.
When you first register a business unless it is at a bank you already do banking with chances are they will ask for a down payment of ~$1000 to secure a credit card. This essentially makes your card prepaid. I was told at the bank I am at now that it’s “security deposit” is required for all companies without a history of earning ~$35,000 a year. If you’re just starting out there is no way you’ll make this requirement at the time of creating your business account.
At this point you have 3 options; make the $1000 deposit, use your personal card and just keep track of the expenses or get a totally new card. The new card is to you as an individual that you use exclusively for the business.
If you have good credit getting another card is easy and often free. You can also opt to get a slightly better card that has a low annual fee if the “welcome bonus” offsets the price. Things become much easier to track when a statement exclusively for your businesses is sent to that address.
I’m writing this as I was in a similar situation. No way I was paying $1000 to have access to credit when personally I already have great credit and don’t plan on making any ridiculous expenses for my web business. I was using a current card for a while but if you misplace a statement or whatnot it becomes an accounting nightmare. Also why mix your personal expenses with routine business ones?
Just recently I got a card exclusively for business use; I should of done this months ago. When the invoices come I can quickly sort them into that month’s file folder and that’s it. Are you running a new business? What are you doing to satisfy your credit needs? If I can give you any advice it’s keep good track from the beginning. It’s easier to keep up then catch up!
Keep working for yourself,
Rob
I started my business back in May of 08. I have set up some net30 accounts with companies that I know report to DNB. After a few months I expect to be able to get a card fully in the business name without having to piggyback on my personal credit.