My Business Credit Card of Choice (For Now)
Even though any individual can apply for business credit cards, I’ve been looking for one for my actual active business, as I have some upcoming big purchases to make. I don’t buy gas or groceries for my business, mostly software, online services, and computer equipment. Most biz cards only get 1% back on those things, so applied for the AmEx Business Gold Rewards Card which I wrote about previously, mainly for the $100 and 5,000 miles upfront bonus. I doubt I can get to the 90,000 bonus point level, but I’m going to try to reach the 10,000 point bonus.
This should give me a nice bonus and greater than 1% overall back since I’ll also get 1 Membership Rewads point per dollar spent. I also get 5% off FedEx too. I saw “for now” because the annual fee is only waived for the first year, but sometimes they waive it for the 2nd year too.
Additional Business Cards (discussed below)
Advanta Platinum Rewards Business MasterCard
Chase Business Rebate Visa Card
Find more in Credit Cards, Entrepreneurial | 10/8/06, 2:12pm | Trackback
October 8th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
I also recently had to decide on a business card. I got the Advanta card which offers 5% cash back up to $300 per annum on computers, telecom utilities, etc.
I also got a PremierPass BizCard which offers $150 up front in gift cards with your first purchase, and annual fee is waived. I plan on using this card for travel.
I got a Citi Professional card which offers 3% back on restaurants and gas, and I plan on using this card for those purposes and having my company reimburse me via expense reports for those uses to keep records clean.
October 8th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Let me try to understand this; you are going to intentionally borrow $10,000 and assume all the associated risks for a return of less than $250? Why not spend cash and save 5-10% by using the power of cash?
Plus you spend less when you use cash. It hurts more, and you are a lot more careful when you dish out $100 bills as opposed to swiping your plastic.
October 8th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Joel - Huh? I assume you were commenting on me borrowing money and making money off the interest? Here, I’m just applying for a business credit card for some free money. If so, here is a more detailed explanation of it. I think I’m pretty clear that it’s not fit for everyone.
I’m not sure what you mean by “spend cash and save 5-10%”, but I don’t really subscribe to the theory that you spend less when using cash. Not everyone handles credit responsibly, but many, many people do. Instead, they use it for convenience and sometimes profit.
October 8th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Not sure what this guy is smoking, but I make over $500/mo. of 0% balance transfers. Everything is setup on auto-bill pay so no risk of late payment, etc. AND I monitor the statements every month to make sure all is on track.
Just need a calendar and about 5 minutes of your time a month to review statements. Seems well worth it to me to earn that much money.
October 8th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
I’m not talking about the zero percent interest game, I am speaking of the “I?m going to try to reach the 10,000 point bonus” assuming you will get those points on the one dollar equals one point method you mentioned.
The 5-10% discount is what you can usually get when you ask for it and are paying with cash. Best Buy, Circuit City and several other chains will usually give this much on the price if not more, and almost all of your mom and pop places will do the same.
I know I would never discount someone paying me with AMEX. On their regular card it used to cost me 3.5% to process a transaction and on that reward card it is 4.5%.
It is obvious that the credit card companies win no matter what. They simply use these gimmicks to get you hooked on their product, passing on the cost of these gimmicks to the vendors. Once your hooked, they wait for the slightest hiccup anywhere in your credit (excessive balances, late payments, too many inquiries, etc…) and then exercise the universal default clause so they can use you to build another big building in a city near you.
As for what I’m smoking; I guess I would rather build buildings I get to live in and strive for a life of no payments, not reminders of when my payments are due. It is amazing what life can be like when you make $10,000 per month and have absolutely no payments. I have been on track for that goal for the last ten months and will be there in another thirty-eight. No gimmicks;-)
October 8th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Let me guess, you’re a Dave Ramsey fan
I’m not going to argue about the evilness of credit card companies here, but don’t worry, I’m just going to reach that 10,000 point level by making sure all expenses that my clients pay me to buy (and then I get a check from them) are put on this card. I’m not going to spend more money just to get 2% back on it, I agree with you that would be foolish.
“The 5-10% discount is what you can usually get when you ask for it and are paying with cash. Best Buy, Circuit City and several other chains will usually give this much on the price if not more”
Please give me the address and phone number of any Best Buy or Circuit City that will give me a 5-10% discount for paying cash. I’m not joking, I would really like to know!
October 8th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
[...] In the meantime, I have engaged myself in a couple of conversations on a couple of different blogs. We are talking about credit card rewards here. Over here, we are talking about the recent police shooting in Florida. Drop by and check it out, and feel free to join in. « Away From the Internet, BRB [...]
October 8th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
As a matter of fact, I am a Dave Ramsey fan.
Need to come to Springfield, Missouri. Pre-Dave Ramsey I was offered 5% off a phone system from Best Buy but walked away because it was still more money than I wanted to spend. I went to Circuit City and got 15% off. You can’t do it at the register, but if you run down the sales guy back in whatever department you are making the purchase, you can really do it. It might take a little longer and involve a phone call to the manager, but if you can save $20 or $40 in five minutes, that is time well spent.
The other thing about the credit card is even when I was sold out on a system (Dave Ramsey’s) and using it, I still kept one credit card with rewards that I paid for my travel with. When I received my travel pay, I always paid it off in full. Then one month I was really tempted to not pay it all off, so I immediately cut the card up. Better to plan ahead than to get stuck paying interest, even for one month. That one month would have cost more than all the rewards I had earned to that point, and remember, the vendor pays for those rewards, not the credit card company. I just don’t play with snakes.
October 9th, 2006 at 8:18 am
I just got the Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate. It pays 3% cash back on purchases at gas stations, restaurants, office supply stores, hardware & home improvement centers, plus 1% back on purchases made elsewhere.
October 9th, 2006 at 9:23 am
I looked more into the Advanta that was mentioned, since you said it paid for computer stuff. One thing to note is you can only earn $25 of rebates a month. At 5% back that’s a limit of $500 of spending. Actually, that’s not too bad for my needs. I just wonder what counts as computer stuff - it has to be “classified as computer, computer peripheral equipment and software distributors, electronics stores, computer software stores, or office supply stores”. Are stores like Newegg.com classified as one of those?
The Chase card sounds good too. I’d get it only for personal use myself, as I rarely buy any of those things (gas, food, home improvement stuff) for work.
October 9th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
I’m wondering what Joel’s $10,000 a month no gimmicks work is. Care to explain that Joel?
October 9th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Not sure if Newegg is but I’ve bought PC parts off obscure websites (thanks pricegrabber) and got the discount. I agree $500 isn’t much, but I’ve got advanta set up to pay my Overture account, telecom, cell, etc. which comes in around $500 a month so it works for me.
The rest I throw onto other cards. If you set it up right, it doesn’t take a lot of work to get your cash back rewards maximized.
Plus - you can get more than one of these cards and they offer 0% on balance transfers for over a year…
Somewhare related topic — anybody know what bank pays the highest in savings, or Money Market for a business account? Wamu Platinum is 4.xx %, wondering if anybody is over 5% anywhere. Limited info avail on most banks sites about business rates
October 9th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Joey or Joel whatever, please explain to me again laymans how using cash for my $3,000 every two weeks in Hotels/Air/Food business expenses is better than my Citi Professional Card that pays me $100 in free gas right off the top, gives me up to 3% on all my purchases in points that every 5000 points gives me another $50 in free gas. And allows me to defer payment up to 45 days interest free while I get reimbursed from my company usually within the week direct-deposit which goes into a 6% yeilding money-market account.
Please, tell me why I should give up my monthly free 50 in gas and 3-6k interest-free loans to use cash instead and payout my money in advance while I wait for company reimbursement.
October 9th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Let’s not let this degenerate into one of the many Dave Ramsey arguments I’ve read, none of which end in a winner. There is no single right answer for everyone - let’s all make our own choices, eh?
October 9th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Bobby,
Where are you getting 6% on a money-market account? The most I’ve seen is 5.5%
October 9th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
@Topic
AmEx has introduced a new card. One from American Expres.
They are opening a high yield savings account i.e. 5% APR, once you get your card. No max limit.
But yes there is $35 annual fee (first year free and they will give bonus of $50 first year). ANd one each $100 spent by you they will add $1 to your savings account.
Even you can also add money to your savings account.
How do you think about this offer. I am kind of new and just wondering that what you think.
October 9th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
I think that making a card that supposedly is going to help you save money and then charging an annual fee is an oxymoron! Why?!
You can already get 5% APY at tons of banks, and better than 1% cash back with several cards. While it is not the worst card ever, I would not recommend this AmEx One card. Here are some: link
October 9th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Kaiser Federail pays 6% on Savings …. of course you need some $ but it does pay 6%.
October 11th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Jonathan,
Do you know any good business credit cards to play the 0% balance transfers??
Thanks
October 26th, 2006 at 9:47 am
That Advanta 5% deal is really not very good. I got the card, planning to take advantage of all the 5% possibilities, such as Utilities and ISP service and then learned (here) about the $25 a month limit.
Among other things, this means that if I bought a computer for more than $500, in a month that I had no other purchases (unlikely,) I would only get a cash reward for the first $500 - not even 1% on the overage!
I plan to only use the card for specific 5% items up to $500 any given month.
This makes the Chase 3% cashback card look much better!