A lot of small business owners today are very much interested to know how they can effectively manage their existing card accounts. Good thing that in this article, we have enumerated and discussed pointers you can all employ to responsibly manage your small business credit cards.
Take out and review the fine print of your card program, from time to time. This way, you can remind yourself of all the important terms, conditions and restrictions that apply to your credit card account. Moreover, this will help strengthen your decision to always abide by the stipulations of your program. This way, you can avoid incurring pesky fines and penalties that are often charged to delinquent business credit cardholders.
Stick to your payment schedule. We also encourage you to settle your credit card charges prudently. Keep in mind that there are plenty of benefits associated with this tip. First and foremost, you can generate significant savings on late payment penalties and surcharges. Second, you can build and maintain an excellent business credit profile. Third, you can establish strong working ties with your card issuer, which is something you can fall back on should you decide to apply for additional business lines of credit or when negotiating for better credit card features.
Don’t carry balance from one month to the next. After all, this will only cause your interest charges to balloon out and soon get way out of hand. So, instead of carrying balance, you should resolve to settle your credit card bills completely.
Manage at most two small business credit cards. Keep in mind that managing multiple credit card accounts increases your risk of incurring a huge debt that your enterprise might not be able to pay back. At the same time, submitting several applications for various card programs, all at once, can pull your credit score down. In fact, it can inflict severe damage your financial prospects.
Hence, you should be contented with the existing lines of credit you have. And resolve to apply for and take out additional credit programs ONLY when it is absolutely necessary.
Never spend beyond your credit limit. This is because there’s a stiff penalty imposed on cardholders who exceeded the limit or cap imposed on their business card accounts. This penalty usually comes in the form of huge overdraft charges and declined transaction fees.
Now, if you wish to avoid incurring such penalty, it is highly-recommended that you spend within the limit or cap set on your credit card. To do this, we suggest that you regularly check the available balance you have on your card account. This way, you can determine if it is still safe to charge your business-related expenses and purchases on your line of credit. Otherwise, you may have to pay them in cash.
Pay close attention to your monthly billing statements. After all, this can serve as your first line of defense against credit fraud and identity theft. By keeping a tab on your small business credit card transactions, you can easily detect if your card information has been compromised and is being used by an unauthorized party for their personal gain. This way, you can report such problem to your card issuer so that you won’t be held liable for purchases you never made.