The tools and resources available to business leaders play a vital role in the growth and success of their company. One such tool is business credit cards. While they can offer a wide range of benefits tailored to meet the different needs of businesses, it can be challenging to identify whether you need one and, ultimately, which one to choose.
Business vs personal credit cards
One of the key distinctions between business and personal credit cards is their intended use and functionality. While personal credit cards are designed for individual consumer purchases and expenses, business credit cards are specifically geared towards meeting the financial needs of a business.
Business credit cards often come with features such as higher credit limits, rewards programs tailored for businesses, and expense tracking tools that cater to the unique requirements of business finances.
If your business is exposed to a certain seasonality pattern or your cash flow is not consistent throughout the month, a business credit card will allow for easier cash flow management.
For example, if most of your outstanding payments are due at the end of the month and at that time you haven’t collected all your receivables, a credit card will allow you to make payments on time.
Overall, the best thing you can do as a business owner is to separate your personal credit from business. This will allow for more streamlined expense tracking and provide you with more growth and cash management efficiencies.
Business credit cards vs other payment methods
Business credit cards offer distinct advantages over other payment methods commonly used by businesses, such as Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs) or cheques. One of the primary benefits of using a business credit card is the convenience and flexibility it provides. With a business credit card, business owners can make quick and secure payments online or in person, without the need for complex processes or paperwork associated with EFTs or cheques.
Furthermore, business credit cards often come with rewards programs that allow businesses to earn cashback, travel rewards, or other perks on their everyday business expenses. These rewards can provide significant savings and benefits to the business, making business credit cards a more attractive option than traditional payment methods.
Additionally, business credit cards offer robust expense tracking and reporting tools that can help business owners monitor and manage their finances more effectively. These tools can streamline the accounting process, simplify tax preparation, and provide valuable insights into the business's spending patterns and financial health.
For example, with a CWB Business Credit Card account you will be able to view spend for the entire account, including the transactions made by all cardholders, i.e. employees.
Finally, when used properly, a credit card offers a number of security benefits over traditional payment methods like cheques, for example. Not only do credit cards come with chargeback protection and real-time fraud detection and validation services, modern business credit card solutions can also offer digital-only and one-time digital card capabilities that will help you make your business less exposed to fraud.
Common questions about business credit cards
1. Can I use a personal credit card for my business expenses?
While it is possible to use a personal credit card for business expenses, it is not recommended. Mixing personal and business expenses can lead to accounting challenges, tax complications, and potential liability issues. Business credit cards are designed to separate business finances from personal finances, making it easier to track expenses and manage cash flow.
2. What are the benefits of having a business credit card for my small business?
Business credit cards can offer a range of benefits, including rewards programs, higher credit limits, expense tracking tools, and corporate liability protection insurance. These benefits can help business owners streamline their finances, earn rewards on their expenses, and protect themselves from unauthorized spend.
3. How can I choose the right business credit card for my business?
When choosing a business credit card, you should consider factors such as rewards programs, insurance coverage, interest rates, fees, CAD vs USD currency, and reporting tools. It is important to compare different credit card offers and select a card that aligns with the business's financial goals and needs.
Business credit cards that work as hard as you do
CWB offers a range of business credit cards tailored to meet unique business needs. Our competitive cashback rewards program (available with the Echelon Rewards+ and Echelon Rewards Business™ Mastercard®) allows you to earn reward points on every purchase and redeem them on any transaction anywhere in the world. In addition, there is no limit to earning potential, which means that with our earning rate – one of the highest in the market – the sky is truly the limit when it comes to earning your cash back.
Apart from cash back points, you can earn up to 30% back in points when shopping with select retail partners, such as Apple, Lululemon, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Dropbox, and many others.
CWB business credit cards come with a compelling suite of digital capabilities, which includes digital card capability, dynamic spend monitoring tools, enhanced self-serve security features and the ability to add, remove, and modify employee cardholders in real time. All 4 of our business credit cards are compatible with 5 mobile wallets: Google Wallet, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit, and Garmin.
If you want to thrive in the business world, you have to keep evolving. That’s why we will continue adding new features to bring more opportunities to our business credit card clients. Stay tuned to see when direct integration to QuickBooks accounting software and our new one-time digital card capability go live with CWB business credit cards.
In conclusion, business credit cards play a valuable role in helping business owners manage their finances, streamline their expenses, and earn rewards on their spending. By comparing business credit cards to personal credit cards and other payment methods, it’s clear business credit cards offer unique advantages that cater to the specific needs of businesses. With the right business credit card in hand, business owners can unlock a range of benefits that can drive growth and success for their ventures.