Advantage Business Credit Card

In the competitive business credit card market, some financial institutions have opted to become niche players. This decision to specialize is primarily driven by the need to gain market share.
One of these niche players is the Advanta Bank Corporation. Advanta is touted to be among the largest issuers of business credit cards for the small business market. That is quite possibly an accurate observation since Advanta is known to have focused exclusively on the small business market, and its business credit cards simply reflects this focus on the requirements of small businesses.
You are clearly reminded of this when you visit the Advanta web site to look at their business credit card offerings: there is only one featured card, the Advanta MasterCard Platinum Business credit card. This is a cash back rewards business credit card which offers you 5% discounts on certain items and a 1% general discount, on others.
There is an ongoing drive from their side to partner with more companies that sell products and services which form a part of the normal operating expenses of small businesses, to increase the appeal of their credit card offering.
The Advanta business credit card packages are competitive from a pricing point of view. The zero-percent introductory annual percentage rate on balance transfers runs for fifteen (15) months, which is longer than most other business credit cards. Just as important to the small business owner, the APR on balance transfers after the introductory period is also one of the lowest, at 7.99% fixed interest. The market average is a full percentage point higher. Most other business credit cards have both higher APRs and variable interest rates.
To add luster to their small business offering, Advanta business credit cards distribute the cash back bonuses earlier than many other business credit cards. There is an automatic cash back payout feature which means you start receiving your cash back checks for every $50 you have accumulated immediately. This could help support cash flow to a small measure.
There is, if you prefer, an opportunity to convert to travel rewards instead. Where many other business credit cards will allow free travel only upon reaching 15,000 or even 25,000 rewards points, Advanta business credit cards allows free travel upon reaching 10,000 rewards points.
In keeping with its niche strategy to cater to the needs of the small business credit card market, Advanta – like many other large banks - make a comprehensive library of small business resources available to their business credit card holders where they can access small business guides and small business tools.
Small business guides typically offer business credit card holders assistance in the preparation of business plans and marketing plans, and provide information on specific financial products. There are normally tips on how to win lucrative government contracts as well as tips on how to protect your personal assets. The latter is something most small business owners consider important.
Small business tools generally provide business credit card holders with easy-to-use templates of various official government forms (for tax purposes or for government contracts), samples of business documents such as business letters, contracts, forms, generalized statements of policies, as well as financial spreadsheets to help them manage their finances.

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Accepting Credit Cards Over the Phone

There has been a huge growth in the number of cold calls, and unsolicited offers that people receive on their home and business phones. The process can be very intrusive and frustrating and is the subject of a growing number of complaints. Many of these calls come from phone companies, especially mobile phone providers but they are also for new windows, for insurance and for credit among other things.
If you are offered credit over the phone, it can be quite tempting, especially if you have poor credit or have had difficulty in getting credit in the past. However, there are some risks involved and you should be careful. The primary concern with these types of calls is that at the end of the day, if you are the recipient of the call, you do not know who is calling you. Just because someone says they are from a respectable bank or credit card provider does not necessarily mean they are, and you should accordingly be cautious about what information you give out over the phone. Of course, if you have made the call, or have requested it from a reputable lender, then this will be far less of a concern.
Do not, under any circumstances, be pressured into giving out sensitive information over the phone or accepting credit if you are not comfortable doing so. If you do think you want to accept a phone offer for credit, then give out as little information as possible over the phone. They will probably need your address, but any other information can be sent to them through the post, in an application form. You should become very suspicious of anyone who calls you and starts asking for your payment details, bank account number or any other similar information. If they are a genuine company, then they should be more than happy to send you an application form through the post.
Also, make sure you ask who you are speaking to and which company they represent. Ask them for their website address so that you can look up the company on line. Also, when the application form does arrive by post, read it carefully and satisfy yourself not only that the offer is one you would like to accept, but also that the company is one that you would like to be dealing with. Finally, look at the address carefully and make sure that it all appears above board.

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Accept Business Credit Cards: Empower Your Business and Your Clients

Businesses today are increasingly making use of business credit cards to transact, both as vendors and as buyers. This trend in spite, there are still a number of vendors who do not accept business credit cards from their business clientele. The truth of the matter is that if such a vendor wishes to achieve higher trading volumes and increase its client base, accepting business credit cards changes from being an optional, to a must.
Accounts receivable is not only a nasty trap, but also creates a vicious cycle. Vendors that do not accept business credit cards, often agree to extending credit to their clients in order to retain their custom. Although this may be a necessary business practice, it does place unnecessary strain on the business’ finances: Unnecessary, because by accepting business credit cards, you can retain your clients and mitigate your cash flow risk at the same time.
The benefits of accepting business credit cards are numerous and include:
Boost Your Sales: When your clients are in a position to purchase what they want immediately, most of them will. When they make that immediate purchase, your sales are boosted. A simple browse - either in your store or on your web site - may turn into a profitable visit if you enable your clients to make payments with their business credit cards.
Bolster Your Cash Flow: Many merchants who do not have sufficient cash flow with which to support growth, may be victims of high accounts receivables. One of the quickest ways to free your business from this trap is to start accepting business credit cards. Stop billing your clients and start billing their banks instead! When you accept business credit cards, the revenue from the sale will reach your bottom line much sooner than accounts receivables would.
Put Smiles on Your Clients’ Faces: Clients obtained their business credit cards for a variety of good business reasons and will want to use these. Don’t allow your clients to find alternative suppliers purely because your business is not able to process business credit card transactions. When business clients are searching for a supplier, and they want to pay by means of their business credit cards, they will search until they find a supplier who does. Accepting business credit cards places you in the running for their business – and that is a good place to be!
Put Smiles on Your Financial staff’s Faces: Your accounting department will be very happy when you decide to accept business credit cards as payment for purchases. They will be freed from the hassles of paperwork and the headaches of collecting all your accounts receivables on time. If one compares the collection of outstanding accounts from many of different clients to collecting from the relatively few merchant services that issue business credit cards, the latter is a walk in the park.
Accepting business credit cards may be necessary to enhance and grow the business relationship you enjoy with your clients. It affords your clients the opportunity to make use of their preferred method of payment and liberates you from the accounts receivable trap at the same time.

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Tips To Improving Your Credit Card Reports

Credit is something that some take lightly or give little thought to until it’s really needed. There are 10 things that you can do to make sure that your credit is always in good standing so it will be available when needed.
1) Pay your bills on time. A consistent history of timely payments will greatly improve your credit profile and will, therefore, make you more desirable to lenders. In many cases, a strong payment history in your credit reports will also result in better interest rates.
2) If possible, pay your bill in full every month. This will help to save you money in finance charges, especially credit cards with high interest rates, and will make your credit reports even stronger.
3) Avoid carrying a balance of more than 50% of your total credit limit on any credit card.
4) If you notice any incorrect information on your credit reports, dispute it in writing with the credit bureau immediately. You may also find it helpful to contact the creditor directly, notify them of the incorrect information and ask that they correct it with the credit bureau and on each of your credit reports.
5) If you have recently filed for bankruptcy, start rebuilding your credit with either a secured credit card or one that is known to be bankruptcy-friendly. The latter often requires higher interest be paid, but your credit score will begin to rise after three months of a steady payment history is listed in your credit reports.
6) If you have old accounts that are listed as being open, but are actually closed, call the creditor and send a letter to the credit bureau. Often times, creditors simply never report an account as being closed with the credit bureaus. If you have a lot of available credit on your report, potential lenders may wonder why you need all of this open credit and what your plans are for it’s use. A large number of apparently open accounts with a zero balance may put you in the high risk loan category if the lender suspects you plan to increase your debt load substantially with your unused credit.
7) Avoid excessively applying for credit as this may lower your credit score because of multiple inquiries.
8) Use your credit cards for necessities only and avoid spending more than you could repay within six months.
9) If your credit cards have excessively high credit limits that you never plan to use, call the creditor and ask that they reduce your credit limit to an amount that you are comfortable with. This will not only reduce the temptation of overspending, but will also prevent potential lenders from seeing that you have a lot of available credit and suspecting that you plan to go into serious debt.
10) The best way to improve your credit reports is to review the information filed with each of the three major credit bureaus every six months. These include TransUnion, Experian and Equifax.

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Tips To Improve Your Credit Card Score

These days most of us avail loans to buy a house, set up a business, or buy a car. Many students take loans to further their education. How soon the loan is sanctioned, the rate of interest, and the amount sanctioned will all depend on your credit score which is based on your credit report. People with scores of 700 and more are the beneficiaries of lower interest rates and quick sanctions. Imagine if your score is greater than 700 and another person has a score of 698 then the person with score 698 will have to pay interest that is higher by one-half percentage point. And, this means over a year a person with a lower score will pay USD 19,000 and more as interest on a loan of say USD 165,000.
A credit score takes into consideration: payment history, current earnings, current debt, length of credit history, types of credit utilized, and your new credit. If two or more members of your family are earning then apply for a loan jointly.
You can take a few simple steps and ensure that your credit score is higher than 700.
• Maintain a long healthy credit history. Keep alive your oldest credit card and be sure to pay all bills in time. Never keep bills pending over a 30 day period. If in a crunch at least pay the minimum charges due.
• Do not have too many credit cards. Learn to say “NO,” to offers of free credit cards. And, maintain a good credit limit. Avoid using all the available credit on the cards.
• Ensure that the credit report you have is accurate and that there are no errors clerical or otherwise.
• Plan your finance such that it is healthy. Consider debt consolidation.
• Never suddenly close or open accounts. This leads to suspicion that you are trying to manipulate your credit report.
• If you are having problems speak to your creditors well in advance and work out a stage wise repayment. Request the creditor to refrain from reporting the late payment.
• Late or delayed payments drive your score down so always pay bills dead on time. Keep a tab on due dates and ensure that all bills are paid.

Learn all you can about credit reports and scores and keep the criteria in mind while managing your finances. Maintain the debt-to-credit limit ratio and, if need be take the help of a finance planner. A useful source to learn about managing credit is provide in depth coverage on money management, debt management, and credit report review.
Even if advised refrain from filing for bankruptcy. All you need to do is to sit down and curtail expenses, plan you income-expenditure , and avoid spending what you have not earned.

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Credit-Free Card: What Is A Prepaid Credit Card?

In this high-tech era of computers and machines, the purchasing power of people is mostly based on credit. Nowadays, credit cards are almost indispensable in almost any business transaction. For one, nobody can purchase anything online without a credit card.
People who have a poor credit history though, will have a hard time getting or renewing their credit cards. This is where prepaid credit becomes useful.
There are lenders that offer prepaid MasterCards and/or prepaid Visa Cards. Both these cards can be used like a regular credit card. It is even hard to distinguish which card is prepaid or not, by simply looking at it or even using it.
This is basically how prepaid credit cards work. When an account is opened, the card should be “pre-loaded” with cash up-front. This is like paying for a pre-paid calling card. Prepaid MasterCards or Visas can be used anywhere as long as these cards are accepted.
The prepaid credit card advantage:
1. Prepaid credit card can be easily obtained. It can be purchased online or in local retail stores. It does not require any credit check or proof of income.
The only thing to do is to fill out an application, pay a small fee for setting-up the account and load the card with cash. The amount of cash loaded will be the “credit limit”
2. No interest charges.
When a prepaid MasterCard or prepaid Visa is used, there is no interest charge unlike the regular credit card. The reason for this is that the money used is the owner’s actual money therefore no interest is needed.
3. Prepaid credit cards are free from financial or credit problems.
4. Prepaid cards can be used almost anywhere. Prepaid MasterCards and Visa cards are almost accepted anywhere in the world.
Disadvantages of Prepaid Credit Cards:
1. Usually a set-up fee of 5 to 50 dollars is needed when an account is opened. Then another fee of $5 or more is paid every time more money is loaded onto the card.
Regular credit cards usually do not charge a set-up fee or annual fees.
2. Cash up front is needed before any purchase could be made with the prepaid card. This could be an advantage since compulsive spending can be avoided.
3. There are some prepaid credit cards that cannot be used to pay regular payments such as monthly electric consumption or online services.
The Conclusion:
The prepaid credit card is a definite help for people who have past credit problems. It is just a matter of choosing the right prepaid credit card that suits ones’ needs.

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