business credit card

Status
Not open for further replies.

JHZR2

Staff member
Joined
Dec 14, 2002
Messages
52,633
Location
New Jersey
Hello,

My wife provides services as a therapist, and some of them are paid to her in such a way that she is essentially an independent contractor. As such, she pays her own taxes, etc., like a mini-business.

Because of this, we are trying to keep everything "business" related separate from our own personal finances. One of the things that I'd like for her to get is a "business" credit card.

For those who have small/side businesses, how do you do it? Is there a type of card that is better than others? Id love to get some sort of points or cash back, though Im not sure if this would be "business" property, and thus "taxable" if we make personal use of, say, airline miles.

Anyway, what do you do?
 
I would check with EKPOLK he's a lawyer and can walk you through the legalities I'm sure.

As for the credit cards for business, we get a lot of American commercial bleed into our TV programming and I've heard about the Business credit card from American Express and it seems to be quite a good choice. Also the Discover card for business I think is a good one too.

I think to get a Credit Card in your businesses name and not one of your names, you need to show operating statements of income for a certian period of time for them to establish a credit rating on your business. (This is how it works up here and our laws are somewhat similar to yours with respect to businesses)

cheers3.gif
 
While I don't know the exact details of a buisness card I do have a rewards card that lets me buy gift cards or gas cards to several stores. I've earned several and have never been 1099'd on any of it. several guys I have worked for had buisness cards that had rewards and not one of them ever mentioned it.

I'd get a good personal card and only use that one for her expenses.
 
I used Capital One since I was just building business credit. Since I paid off my balannce they sent me some 0% checks w/o transaction fees. I wrote a big one right to the biz acct and use them for whatever. I'm shurethere are pther compaines that offer similar terms but Capital One did right by me.


btw- do you have an EIN? You'll need it.
 
I would just get a business checking account with MC/Visa ATM debit card for stuff you HAVE TO get that way.

The good rewards cards are mostly consumer, but she can reimburse herself for expenses. If she travels she can get ~$.48 a mile for car use etc, tax free, and profitable if you do some of the maintenance and the car is good on gas.

That amex rewards looks good but there's probably a hefty fee and a lot of places don't take it.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2


Is there a type of card that is better than others? Id love to get some sort of points or cash back, though Im not sure if this would be "business" property, and thus "taxable" if we make personal use of, say, airline miles.

Anyway, what do you do?


I have a Wells Fargo card in the name of my C-corp.

It discounts about 1 or 2% up front on each monthly statement.

Whenever I use it for a personal expense, or for one of the LLC's, I just have the appropriate entity write a check to reimburse the C-corp.

I think that any business property that you make a personal use of could be taxed to you personally at the value of the benefit, but I would ask your accountant to be sure.
 
My BofA business card gives back 5% on gas station purchases. My Chase business gives back 3% on restaurant, gas station, home improvement, and office supplies purchases.

Don't really have a business, but signed up for them just for the rewards and pay the balance off every month, no annual fees.

I see business cards' big reward come as many businesses have large transaction and cash flow issue once in a while, and most businesses operators don't have any choice but to finance on a regular basis for operation need, therefore it is a huge source of income for the credit card issuers.
 
I have a family member who is a sole proprietor/small business owner and he uses a consumer credit card with rewards for business expenses. He doesn't need/use the types of benefits a business card offers. The CC and bank accounts are seperate from his personal accounts though.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
I have a family member who is a sole proprietor/small business owner and he uses a consumer credit card with rewards for business expenses. He doesn't need/use the types of benefits a business card offers. The CC and bank accounts are seperate from his personal accounts though.


I think the OP's situation sounds like your relative's - she is not a C-corp or an LLC. A separate card for easier accounting is what she needs. Business rewards would be a bonus.
 
My business partner and I have B of A Visa cards for SBP LLC.

VISA

There are reward points, but I have not paid that much attention to the reward stuff. Pretty much anything under $2000 we buy with the card. Easy sleazy accounting.......
 
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Originally Posted By: tom slick
I have a family member who is a sole proprietor/small business owner and he uses a consumer credit card with rewards for business expenses. He doesn't need/use the types of benefits a business card offers. The CC and bank accounts are seperate from his personal accounts though.


I think the OP's situation sounds like your relative's - she is not a C-corp or an LLC. A separate card for easier accounting is what she needs. Business rewards would be a bonus.


Exactly!
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I would just get a business checking account with MC/Visa ATM debit card for stuff you HAVE TO get that way.

The good rewards cards are mostly consumer, but she can reimburse herself for expenses. If she travels she can get ~$.48 a mile for car use etc, tax free, and profitable if you do some of the maintenance and the car is good on gas.

That amex rewards looks good but there's probably a hefty fee and a lot of places don't take it.


+1 on the Amex, even places that do take it pitch a fit because of of the fees.

Myself, I just use a checking account with a Debit/Credit card for most of my transactions. I didn't run into a situation where they wouldn't let me rent a car with it. (Dave Ramsey can Kiss my A%%.) After that I have a Credit card just for emergencies.

I still run my business(es) with a debit/credit. I know exactly what kind of cash flow I have then. Sometimes playing the billing cycle game gets me in trouble (I spend more than I wanted) So using the check card keeps me out of trouble.

PS My debit/check card has cash rewards if I use it as a credit card, which is what I normally do.
 
Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
AMEX blue card


Ah.. the good old days in college when it has price protection guarantee on all item purchased. My roommates and I would buy all sorts of computer items with rebates, price match them to another price without rebate but cheaper, then sell it immediately on ebay.

3 months later we would again do a price match on the fallen prices, up to $1000 a year.

They realized the hefty cost of running such a program, and their financial model miscalculated what a staving computer engineering student would do.

The program is, of course, terminated within 2 years, and as soon as they do I canceled the card.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: msparks


Myself, I just use a checking account with a Debit/Credit card for most of my transactions. I didn't run into a situation where they wouldn't let me rent a car with it. (Dave Ramsey can Kiss my A%%.) After that I have a Credit card just for emergencies.


I worry about the liability/risk for using debit cards. They scare me, as it is a direct connection to one's checking account. Screw that up via fraud or whatever else, and you can get into a perpetual cycle of bouncing checks and fees.

A friend had his debit card number stolen when out in Illinois, and it took weeks to get cleared up. Credit card companies seem to get this stuff taken care of within 5 minutes of a call.

I also do not quite see the issue with managing cashflow via credit card. We know exactly what we spend, and pay it off exactly right for our personal finances, why would it be different for her working expenses?
 
We had a credit card that was only used for our business expenses. We never had a problem with anything. I saved the lower half and made notation concerning the expense if needed. At the end of the year we took that with everything else to the book keeper.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top