

Ask HN: What type of Biz Credit Card do you have? - rishi

I am looking to get a business credit card.  What offers the most cash back and best deals/points?  What should I look for in a business credit card?
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pxlpshr
AMEX is one of the best cards for floating monthly expenses. Customer service
is top notch, and you often get an extra year warranty on anything you buy. If
you're irresponsible, prepared to get slaughtered by high interest rates that
pay for these services... That said, I would not use an AMEX to bootstrap a
company. You can find a better interest rate through VISA/Mastercard.

I currently use an AMEX Blue (cash back) for my personal stuff, balance is
paid IN FULL every month. And we have a business checking account for the
iPhone company. $5/month through Wells Fargo.

While I keep a few accounts at Wells Fargo, I bank through ING Direct. Love
everything about ING, and they have great leadership. One complaint: for an
online bank their web interface is freaking terrible.

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moonpolysoft
Careful with ING. In November they closed my account with no advanced notice
and no chance for me to make any arrangements for my money. I couldn't access
my savings for 2 weeks while I waited for a paper check. I also had to wait
for a paper paycheck since it was too late to change my direct deposit. When I
called they said that I had taken advantage of too many of their "free"
services and my account had become unprofitable. No one there, including the
ombudsman, cared that they had cut me off from my money for 2 weeks or that my
bills would be late.

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kirubakaran
Wow thats scary. I have almost all my savings in ING. What "free" services are
you taking about?

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moonpolysoft
Well, what happened to me was that I was having a tough month, and a couple of
automated ETF's came in unexpectedly. They all got returned NSF on the same
day and the next day without any warning they just shut down my account
without notice. The only way I knew something was wrong was that I could no
longer log in to my account.

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CaptainMorgan
Right now I'm using American Express. I was using Visa/Mastercard for quite
some time, but lately and after reviewing what it offers, American Express has
been too good to pass up. What I found to be of maximum value, was its deals
for shopping at selected vendors and you get three times the point for every
dollar.

On a side note, like most of us, if I use a number a lot, I tend to remember
it, and that goes for credit card numbers... comes in real handy when you
don't have the card on your person. But switching to AE was ironic because
it's not a typical 16-digit number, in fact, it's not even sixteen digits, but
fifteen - but in an odd sequence(4-6-5), which I found to be interesting since
every credit card I've ever used(even debit cards) have been 16 digits in
groups of four numbers. :)

~~~
rishi
How much do you pay for it a year?

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brandong
Main Cards:

* LOC linked to a visa cc through a local credit union (highly recommend going this route.)

* Also a citibusiness cc. (pretty good for a multinational)

* 3 other credit union cc's.

Also have 2 other business loc's and many other credit cards not worth
mentioning.

I used to be a very Amex heavy business. Luckily I had my other options
available so when I got Amex f/r'ed last year, I was able to cancel all Amex
and switch without any major cash flow issues.

I was very lucky in this respect, as Amex has jeopardized many businesses with
their f/r, cdl, and verification practices. There is alot to say here, but to
keep it short: If you rely on Amex for operating your business, go ahead and
setup alternatives that can be switched to "just in case".

Amex is the greatest when everything is peachy, but if they decide otherwise
(and this does not require late payments, breaking your cl, or any other negs)
they can and will shut you off until you work with them through it. I decided
this type of unreliability was not an acceptable type of relationship I needed
for my business financially. Their points & cash back programs are still the
best I have encountered, however.

Best of Luck!

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wallflower
Amex business. As an anecdote, I heard Jeff Barr say that Smugmug was charging
all of their monthly Amazon S3 expenses on Amex Business Platinum (generating
multiple first-class air tickets)

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thinkzig
I've had an Amex Gold Business Card since starting up in 2001. Their customer
service is the best and their web site keeps getting better each year for
tracking my transactions, etc.

I've also had them go to bat for me a few times over disputed charges and I've
always been very happy with the outcome. I'd highly recommend them.

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quellhorst
American Express Plum Card. <http://www.plumcard.com/> With early pay I get 2%
cash back. If you need to push payments off you can pay 10% by the due date
and pay the balance 2 months later without interest charges.

I try to use this card for every expense I can, it can really help you manage
your cash flow.

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ScottWhigham
I've seen this and I think you might get ideas:
[http://www.btgains.com/credit/card/Regular/Promo_Balance_Tra...](http://www.btgains.com/credit/card/Regular/Promo_Balance_Transfer_APR/sorted_by_12_month_balance_transfer_profit/index.php)

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goodkarma
We have <http://www.plumcard.com/> and love it.

2% cash back if you pay within 7 days of your statement. (But there is a
minimum monthly spend of $1000 or something like that.)

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there
american express platinum.

no monthly/yearly fees, doesn't have to be paid off every month, and it does
the whole reward point thing (i've used them to buy flight tickets).

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tptacek
Amex Gold.

~~~
rishi
are the monthly fees worth it for AMEX?

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tptacek
Amex has simply the best customer service of any credit card company in the
universe. You have a problem with any random transaction, you call them up,
they apologize, and they go fix it.

I haven't noticed the fees being an issue, but I'm not paying attention; we
have a finance@ for that.

~~~
huhtenberg
> _You have a problem with any random transaction, you call them up, they
> apologize, and they go fix it._

I have absolutely the same experience with my bank's Visa.

~~~
tptacek
What's the biggest conflict you've had over a Visa transaction? My biggest
Amex conflict: I was forced to buy a walk-up fare one way ticket from Prague
because CSA screwed up my booking; Amex fixed that in 4 minutes over the phone
when I got home.

I'm not arguing with you; it's just my perception that Amex has been better
than the various Visas and MCs I've held.

~~~
mikeyur
I've had my card copied and used to purchase thousands in gas and electronics.
I called up Visa after seeing the charges when I logged in - and within
minutes it was sorted with all charges waived.

Also, all purchases made with the card have their warranty doubled. So when my
dell died right out of 2 yr warranty, I contacted them and was told to send it
in. I then received a comparable unit from Dell the week after.

~~~
tptacek
Just to be devil's advocate, any credit card is going to do the same thing if
your card is stolen; they're legally required to, but they also do a good job
on this just as a customer retention measure.

My Amex story is about getting fucked over in a legitimate transaction, and
Amex making it right even though the problem had nothing to do with my credit
card. I was told to expect this of Amex customer service, and they were right.

~~~
huhtenberg
> _What's the biggest conflict you've had over a Visa transaction?_

We had to buy full-price tickets (~ $1k) to get back home from a vacation due
to a hurricane warning. We had no applicable insurance on original return
tickets, but we got a full refund after a call to a bank's credit card
department. Perhaps it wasn't 4 minutes as in your case, more like 15, but
considering the circuimstances I think it's still pretty awesome :-)

~~~
tptacek
That is pretty awesome!

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drhowarddrfine
I've been in business for 23 years. I look for the best interest rate on a
card, no matter what it is. I don't care about cash back because it's never
enough to balance the interest rate charged. If ToysRUs had a better deal,
that's what I would use.

Now my wife is my accountant and we have a Amazon Visa card. I don't know
anything more than that but, knowing how she investigates all that, I know
it's the best deal. The only other card we have is a Discover card because
that's the only one used by Sams Club.

