Archive for Personal Finance
What benefits do Business Credit Cards offer?
Posted by: | CommentsBusiness credit cards can be a great tool to help with the day-to-day running of your business. Perhaps the best thing about using credit cards for business is that they are cheaper to use and less hassle. Using cheques often costs money as they can incur handling fees and administration cost. Using a business credit card also means that you don’t have to deal with petty cash and run the risk of cash going astray. All of your expenditure comes from one account, which is easier to view and manage than many separate sources. Aside for these benefits there are also a whole host of other advantages.
Most business credit cards have a reasonable APR of around 15.9%, although some are slightly higher at 17.9% and others lower at 14.9%. Many financial advisors feel it is unwise to go for the cheapest APR as the higher APR cards may have features that would be perfect for your company – and worth the extra fee. Many cards also have 0% balance transfer offers, usually around a year, and 0% on cash purchases, for about 3 months. One thing you should check is whether there is an admin cost for using the card. Sometimes there is a yearly fee that can be anywhere from £30 to £70 although, once again, it is unwise to rule out a fee charging card as there may be added benefits associated with the card.
With business credit card accounts you can have more than one card so that you can assign them to multiple employees who need to make purchases on behalf of your company. Each card can be tailored to the individual employee requirements and you can set varying credit limits. Most cards are covered by some kind of misuse protection just in case an employee goes on a spending spree at the company’s expense.
Ultimately these cards work out cheaper and safer for day-to-day employee expenses. As each employee can be given their own card there is no need to worry about petty cash or setting up credit accounts with stores. This means that a lot of time is saved and petty cash can’t go missing or be stolen. Plastic transactions are accepted practically everywhere so there will be no problem with using a card. Another alternative would be a chequebook but often cheques are more expensive as they incur handling charges and admin costs. Cheques also take time to clear, whereas card transactions are pretty much instantaneous.
Finally, there are a whole host of benefits specific to individual cards. Financial advisors recommend looking at your business requirements in order to select the card best suited to your business. Some cards offer free Airmiles, travel insurance or other travel related benefits, which can be great if employees need to do a lot of travelling as part of their business life. Other cards offer discounts on goods and services that you may use, such as car and van rental. A few cards even allow you to select your own benefits package with the help of a special business financial consultant.
As with all credit cards, business credit cards come with numerous security features. They all use chip and PIN technology, as you would expect, and they all have security codes on the back. What’s more, accounts are monitored for fraudulent activity and there are various assurance policies. Perhaps one of the hidden bonuses is the dedicated business consultant that some card companies provide as this person can be a valuable source of information and provide financial help when required. If you are ever in doubt about any of your business transactions on your company credit cards, you can always give them a call.
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