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Business Credit Card for Startup

10 points by VuongN ↗ HN
Hi all,

Like many of you, I am working on a product and starting a small business to maintain it.

One of the important part of legitimizing a business is to make sure all business financial transactions are separated from personal ones. Purchasing servers, domains, AWS services etc. require a credit card. So business credit card is a logical necessity.

I've applied for the Chase Ink card last month. I immediately got approved and a card was sent to me a few days after. Since then, I've had the most difficult time working with their "verification team" to help me activate the card.

First, they wanted a copy of the EIN number. THEN, they wanted a copy of my Social Security Card. I obviously was only informed because I called them and each time it was a different answer. Both had to be faxed in of course(Nope. They don't accept pdf email or any other ways). Fine, did all that.

Waited and started to call them to check on the status every so often. After getting bounced around and being told: "Sorry for the delay, sir. It'll be verified in 'x' days!" It went on for over a week. I called a few times after and still getting the same phrase. They do mixed it up with the range to keep it fresh: "Sorry for the delay, sir. It'll be verified in 'x to y' days!"

Today, after getting dropped off why waiting for a "manager" to get back to me, I've had it. I just realized that any patience of good will I've had with Chase is gone. I can't do business with them anymore. So I just told them: "Just close the account" Again, the card is still not activated.

Now I need a recommendation for another business credit card. Something that's startup/small business friendly. Something with low or no monthly fee. What are your stories when you were trying to get a business credit card?

I would love to hear from you.

Thank you,

-V

21 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 67.5 ms ] thread
VuongN
I have a bank account and a debit card already. <rmah> from #startups mentioned that perhaps all I need is to just that debit card. Now that I think about it, he might be right! The question now is: Do we really need a credit card at all?
PonyGumbo
A credit card is a revolving line of credit, and it's useful if you need more control over when you pay your bills(e.g. paying the hosting bill on the third week of the month instead of the first). Note that I'm not advocating that you carry a balance from month to month - only that you have more control over cash flow if bills are getting paid on your schedule.
epc
I've had an AMEX Gold “Open” card ($75/yr) for close to ten years. I don't recall the exact details about the sign-up process, they asked for information about my business (consulting) how long it had been active (a couple of months) and my expected use. It isn't a credit card per se, you have to pay the balance off every month. After about a year of good use/payment cycles they may offer you "sign and travel", which lets you effectively use it as a credit card (with a pretty hefty APR, IIRC 19%). They also have a credit card version now but it costs more ($300/yr) and I've never had the need to change to it.

I also have a Capital One credit card which as far as I can tell I got by having had a North Fork Bank account for years before Capital One bought them.

kenna
AMEX Starwood card ($65/y) is the best card for the hotel rewards. The hotels that are part of their network are great. The link to the card is here: http://www262.americanexpress.com/business-credit-cards/busi... Check out the hotels that are available on, and how much each night in a hotel is: http://spg.com You can get some really great hotels for 7000-10,000 points per night. Every dollar spent = 1 point, and that can go up as you spend in different places. AMEX is very startup friendly. This particular card has free employee cards. When you get going further in your business, look at a few of their charge cards (which are not credit cards - you have to pay them off in full each bill). The AMEX Gold is one of them.
dirwiz
Can't recommend AMEX highly enough. Did the online application and got the card fedex'ed to me the next morning. Never an issue and points tie to Amazon directly. Best decision I've ever made.
gallerytungsten
Open a business bank account at a local bank. As you complete the paperwork, tell them you want to open a business credit card account too. If they're any good, they'll make it happen.
VuongN
I used Bank of America for the business checking account. As much as I hated them, I believe their online banking ability coupled with the fact that they're one of the rare banks that accept foreign money directly make them the most logically choice. In any case, they DID offer a credit card but I figured if I don't have all my eggs with BoA, it would be a bit safer in term of financial "redundancy" if that's really a thing.
paulsutter
I have always used the debit card that comes with the business checking account. If nothing else, it's one less account to deal with.
dangrossman
I use American Express Plum. It's a trade terms card -- pay your bill within 10 days of the due date for a 1.5% discount on all your spending, or pay 10% of the bill and you have 60 days to pay the rest interest-free.

It's not a traditional credit card, you can't maintain a balance past 60 days... but there's also no credit limit. You can spend as much as your business needs. I've been given credit cards with useless spending limits; Amex let me charge over $10k in the first half month I had the card.

Amex has amazing customer service, and they'll FedEx 2-day the card to you and activate it on the phone with you as soon as you receive it. And you'll get all the benefits all Amex cards come with that almost no one else offers, from extended warranties on all purchases, accidental damage reimbursement, return protection to discounts on purchases at all the OPEN partners like OfficeMax, FedEx and hotels.

CyrusL
I use a Plum as well (I actually got grandfathered in with 2% discount). My understanding is that you can technically save more with Starwood if you use all the points perfectly, but I'm much happier with the simplicity of cash back.
philipithomas
However: "The Plum Card is designed for businesses with revenue in the 6 to 7-figure range [...]" [1]

So, it probably doesn't apply to most early-stage startups that need a line of credit.

[1] http://www.plumcard.com/whoitsfor/

dangrossman
I don't know why that site says that, or what your revenue has to do with your choice of credit card. Amex doesn't know what your revenues are.
VuongN
While I like the AMEX Plum Card, I think the annual fee after the first year is quite steep ($185). It's probably not much if you actually have a lot of cash flow, but I feel like the most usages would mainly be domain names, VPS or AWS S3 bandwidth etc.
brudgers
I use a personal card for my business expenses - the purpose is to separate expenses not establish credit - the bank accounts and other bills can do that just fine.

I've seen the charge it and get reimbursed approach used at a Fortune 100 company and at every level between that and my business.

Obtaining business credit for a small business can be time consuming, and often provides little real benefit. Other than the annual fee, I've been happy with Amex.

VuongN
Many self employment books recommend keeping the business and personal stuff separated as it raises less flag with the IRS when the tax time comes around.
sebandr
Dump Chase - many banks will create an EIN for you - Wells Fargo does - and they do a pretty painless job of setting up a business account without all these hassles. I've used them for several start ups I've done so far. Plus they have a pretty decent online portal that helps you keep all this organized. Plus a nice trick that most don't tell you about: banks will charge you a monthly fee ( $20 approx.) to have a checking account, but if you open a savings account also and fund it periodically, they waive the charge. If you set up a rotating transfer each month of $100 back and forth between the two accounts then you don't incur any charges - voila, free checking! Good luck.
damoncali
Use a solid regional bank. The downside is that many of them don't have the best online banking. The upside is they still treat you like a person.

>So business credit card is a logical necessity.

Is it? Consider a debit card. Keeping one's personal finances separate from corporate finances can be done with or without credit.

VuongN
Initially, after the post I've heard many people recommending a debit card which I already have. However, after a day thinking about it, I realized that there IS a case when I would need a credit card. If one of my products requires flexibility, i.e.: the "dream case" of needing 10 more VPS nodes over night, I would need some credit to make it happen.
molsongolden
I just have a second personal card that is for business use only. It's an old United mileage card from Chase.