Personal Business Cards » Credit Cards

Avoiding Business Fraud

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:50:51 +0000

What is Business Fraud?

Depending on the size of their operations, company owners may have to deal with enormous number of employment and financial tribulations that they need to address on a daily basis. A single mistake in making decision may instigate a bigger problem that may affect the entire operation of the company.

Thus, they must make sure to avoid engaging with deceitful practices of other parties in order to lessen the risk of losing probable income due to credit extensions and over employment.

Business fraud is a deceitful act that aims to deprive an individual or an entity of their property or rights that may result to economic injuries. This type of illicit activities is considered as one of the primary causes why most small and medium scale businesses fall due to bankruptcy.

How to Avoid Being a Fraud Victim

Do not offer credits to individuals or companies that you still have no considerable acquaintance yet. Try to inquire with your references and obtain a credit report before transacting with other parties. Watch out for counterfeited statement of accounts. Many fake companies utilize misleading invoices to cheat on other firms practically making them pay for products and services that have not been provided. Ask your personnel not to divulge any information regarding your office equipment through a phone call. In some cases, fraudulent companies pretend to be the regular suppliers and provide you with over-priced company equipment. Be sure to implement a Privacy Policy in your company. This seeks to secure the identity of your customers and employees. Be careful with individuals who make large purchases through credit cards and demand for speedy services. Most of the times, these people cannot present their valid I.D. to prove their ownership of such credit cards. Never send checks or money through mail in paying an invoice. A lot of instances have been reported wherein mailed checks have been stolen and altered. Have monthly account verification with your bank. This will enable you to detect any stolen and altered checks and resolve this problem right away. Supervise your employees. Make sure that they are utilizing company assets, as they should be. Employees whom you have found guilty of theft should be reprimanded or should be punished depending to the extent of their violations. Be sure that your employees are competent on handling their jobs especially those who are assigned in doing financial matters and making company transactions. Consult a qualified business lawyer in drafting your company rules and policies. This is to make sure that certain provisions that tackle employment fraud will be included in your regulations.

By: Rainier Policarpio

Credit Cards for Small Business

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:43:41 +0000

When you decide to start a small business, you find out pretty quickly that it takes more than skills and dedication in your respective area of work. Besides being good at what you want to do, you also need to known your accounting and financing issues, no matter how annoying and boring these may be. And the credit card problem for small businesses needs careful handling, just like that of a regular, personal credit card.

Choosing the right type of credit card is vital for the success of a small business. Even if you don’t have access to a corporate credit card, a small business card can be a major tool on the path to success. When you apply for a small business credit card, lenders will analyze your request from a variety of points of views. While their evaluation of the risk may vary according to various local factors, they will all take into account the “five Cs”: capital, capacity to make the payments, collateral, conditions and character.

Capital, meaning your personal investment in the business, outlines not only the size of the business, but also how much risk you are willing to take. Balance risks carefully – too much means you will be rated reckless, too little, and the lenders may think you are not serious about this. The capacity to repay the loan is, of course, critical for the lender and will be carefully analyzed. The collateral or the guarantees will show that you have a backup plan for returning the loan, in case things go wrong. The conditions represent the general situation in your geographical area and your respective line of business – mostly things that you cannot control (but you can make them look better in carefully planned business plan). Last but not least, character is the impression you make on the lenders – how trustworthy and business-oriented you appear to them.

If you take all these into account, your application is more likely to be successful right from the start. Of course, you also need to consider, carefully, which type of business card suits your needs.

Many small businesses rely on cash flow to pay for suppliers or contractors, because they need to purchase materials and services before their own clients pay up. You need to calculate the difference between the date when you purchase the materials and the date when the clients pay you back. If this is shorter than 30 days, go for a card that doesn’t charge you interest for the respective period. If it is two, three months or longer, go for a low interest card.

Also, you should think of how often you will have to travel for business-related purposes, and how a special type of credit card can help you with this, or how you will handle unprepared emergency situations that hustle small businesses constantly.

Some of the offers for credit cards for small business include Blue for Business Card – no annual fee, 0% intro APR for the first 9 months, credit line of up to $50,000 or Blue Cash for Business Credit Card – up to 5% cash rebate, no annual fee, 0% APR for up to 15 months. Advanta Platinum with Rewards, featuring cash back bonus, offers 0% intro APR for balance transfers, up to 50,000 credit line and various types of rewards for the things you buy most often (gas, office supplies and so on), bonus miles or cash back.

The CitiBusiness card has 0% APR for purchases for the first 6 months, no annual fee, a generous credit line and additional cards for the employees, with a credit limit set by you. The Platinum Business Credit Card from American Express has no annual fee and 0% APR for the first nine months on purchases and balance transfers.

Other options include Business Green Rewards Cash – no fees for the first year and no pre-set spending limit, and the Business Cash Rebate from OPEN: the Small Business Network, with up to 5% cash rebate, no annual fee, 0% APR for the first six months, no limit for cash back and no minimum spending requirements.

By: Jeremy Zongker

Credit Card Processing – Discount Rates and Transaction Fees

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:24:49 +0000

In the competitive business environment that exists today, it is critical you give your customers many options to pay you for your products and or services.

Setting up a merchant account so you can accept credit cards from your customers is one of the most, if not the most, important initial decisions you’ll make when you start a new business. The following article will explain discount rates and transaction fees so you are better prepared when it comes time to pick a company for credit card processing services.

Discount rates and transaction fees go hand in hand. These are the fees you pay to process a credit card transaction. The discount rate is a percentage that is deducted from the total amount of the sale. For example: If your qualified discount rate is 2.20% and you charge a customer’s credit card $100, then you would pay $2.20 to process that transaction. But that is not all – you also pay a transaction fee as well. If you have a transaction fee of 25 cents, then your total cost to process that $100 dollar credit card transaction would be $2.45.

What do you mean by qualified discount rate? The discount rate you pay will not always be the same percentage. It will change based on a number of factors, such as card type and how you actually process the card. Most personal debit and credit cards will fall into the qualified rate category. However, if you take a corporate, business, government, international, or personal rewards card, you will pay a higher discount rate on these types of cards. The discount rate on these types of cards can range from 1% to 2% over the qualified rate. This means that if your qualified rate is 2.20% and you accept an international card, your rate could be as high as 4.20%. Over time this can add up, so it is very important you factor this into your pricing when deciding how much you are going to charge for your product or service, especially if your plans include doing a lot of business to business transactions or selling internationally.

Another factor that influences the discount rate you pay when credit card processing is how you process the credit card. Merchants that swipe credit cards usually pay a lower discount rate than merchants that key in credit cards using an internet merchant account. The qualified rate for a merchant that swipes credit cards will usually be close to 1.80% but a merchant that keys in their transactions will pay a qualified rate of 2.40%. The reason for this is risk. Visa/MasterCard feel there is less risk of the transaction being fraudulent or disputed if the customer is present during the transaction and the merchant is able to swipe their card through credit card processing hardware or software.

Most credit card processing companies will only refer to their qualified rate when they advertise or try to sell you over the phone – so it is important you ask about qualified, mid qualified, and non qualified rates too when choosing a company for credit card processing services.

By: Michael Rupkalvis

Business Card Printing At Home

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:42:44 +0000

Banners, television and commercials, print ads, pop-ups – these are just a few of the gimmicks that draw people to patronize the products and services of a certain company. Even if producing these advertisements means spending a lot of cash, companies still take the risk. After all, informing the public about their products and services is a major part of running a business. Another way to attract customers to check out one’s business is through the business card.

Business cards are made of special paper or cardboard, usually stiff in texture. Often, they are similarly shaped to credit cards. Business cards are very handy and can be kept in a person’s wallet or organizer for easy reference. Personal contact information is printed directly on the card.

Take a look at a regular business card. Information that can be found on it often includes the name of the person who gave it to you, the company where that person works, the occupation and position of that person, the address of his place of work, his mailing address, his office number, his home number, his mobile phone number, and his email address. Sometimes, there are also graphics or logos that are part of the whole design of the business card.

If you are interested in having your own business cards, you can actually design and print them yourself. Business card printing at home is fairly easy. All you need to have are a design for your business card, a computer, printer, and your choice of paper or cardboard. After you have finalized the design and your contact details on your computer, you can then set up your printer and print out your business cards. Later on, you can cut them into individual pieces. Business card printing at home is much cheaper than having companies or businesses do it for you.

By: Seth Miller

Are Rewards on Your Credit Card Taxable?

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:32:47 +0000

Usually, you go on accumulating points on your credit card with the hope that you will get something lucrative upon redemption. In addition, credit card companies offer cash rebates. You claim such rewards and rebates almost every year. This routine goes on year after year. Are you required to pay tax on such rewards?

Well, the IRS has not provided definite guidance on this issue. However, once IRS has given a private ruling indicating that such rewards or rebates need not be included on your federal tax return. It is obvious that the private letter ruling only applies to be concerned taxpayer. Only case specific facts are considered while giving such a ruling. But this ruling helps us to know the approach of IRS on this tax issue.

Tax consultants have generally accepted the view that rebates and rewards on your credit cards are not part of your taxable income, and need not be reported on your federal tax return. They are considered as a reduction in the original purchase price.

IRS Publication 17 indicates that when you receive a cash rebate from any dealer or manufacturer for buying an item, that is not your income. However, you are supposed to reduce the basis of your purchase by that amount of rebate.

Let us take an example. If you purchase of a printer for your business costing $400 and used a cash reward from your credit card of $100 for this purchase, then you should deduct only $300 as your business expense.

IRS explains in publications 17 that rewards are taxable if you provided some information in exchange for getting such reward. The rewards and rebates from credit card companies are not available for providing any information and so they need not be reported on your federal tax return.

IRS views such rebates as a way of offering reduction in the price to induce a customer to buy a product. The same rule applies to all the cash rebates which you may receive from your credit card company for using its card. So even if you use personal card or business card for claiming such reward, there is no taxable income to be reported.

By: Chintamani Abhyankar