One of our favorite business credit card issuers, Advanta, has decided to cease lending to its business credit card holders. Whereas other credit card lenders are simply ceasing to lend to new customers, Advanta will also shut down all existing accounts for future use. So if you have an Advanta credit card, you'd better start looking for another way to pay for your business expenses.
Unfortunately, it may prove difficult to replace the high credit limit Advanta was known for giving its cardholders. One consumer reported to us that in anticipation of losing their $50K Advanta credit limit, they applied for a CitiBusiness card. When the consumer received the approval from Citibank, he was appalled to see a credit limit of only $3,000! A phone call to Citibank's customer service proved unsuccessful, as Citibank's policy is to review accounts for credit line increases only after the account has been open for 6 months!
Our suggestion is to contact your business banker and ask them what business cards they can offer to you. We at Creditnet feel credit cards can be advantageous to business owners and consumers alike, as long as the balances are paid off in full each month. Paying by credit card can be much more convenient for the financially responsible business owner and/or consumer. Charging to a card or setting up autopay to a credit card is much more streamlined for businesses than cutting and mailing individual checks.
If your banker is unable to give you a credit card, than consider applying for more than one business card at a time, in hopes of having enough combined credit to cover your business charges.
Have you had to scramble to figure out what to do with a sudden decrease in business or consumer credit? If so, please share below in the comments section.
