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May 01, 2009 -- Double warning for biz owners about credit cards, processors

Clark has a double warning for business owners that he needs to share.

First, the proposed Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights would leave business credit cards unprotected under its provisions.

You'd still be subjected to sudden interest rate hikes, retroactive rate increases, shorter billing cycles and more on your business card -- all the things that normal consumers may soon not have to deal with any longer.

In addition, when you apply for a business credit card, you sign for personal liability. That means you're still personally responsible for charges even if your business fails.

However, there's a very simple workaround you should know about. Just use a personal credit card for your business expenses. As a business owner using a personal card, you would still come under the protection of the potential law.

One further caveat and another reason to switch to a personal credit card: If you lose a personal card, your maximum liability is capped at $50. But with a business card, your liability could potentially be unlimited under the Uniform Commercial Code!

Basically, you're carrying dynamite in your wallet or purse if you carry business credit cards.

Meanwhile, here's the second part of Clark's double warning: BusinessWeek reports that a number of small businesses were bankrupted recently because their merchant processors for credit card transactions kept "hold back" money up to 100%.

"Hold back" money is money the processors keep based on their guesstimate of how likely you are to have charge-backs. Holding back 100% would mean an instant stop of cash flow.

So how can business owners protect themselves from this danger? You should always be under contract with more than one processor. If one tries to stick it to you, you can go with the other one to run your transactions.

And as always, with banks shutting down their lines of credit to small business, Clark wants to repeat another of his recent alerts: If your business relies on a line of credit to survive, draw it down now before the bank cuts it off. Then be sure to deposit it elsewhere at another institution so the original bank can't automatically seize the funds.
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