81–90 of 111 posts
Does anyone use the new age business cards for example from Bento[1] or Dash[2] (I have no affiliation)? 1. http://get.bentoforbusiness.com/ 2. https://getdash.io/
For procedures: - everyone should have a company card in their own name. This means you don't wonder who placed that order for 55 gal of lube on Amazon; it will clearly be John Doe or Jane Smith. Since it's a company card, you'll get the bill and will be able to manage recurring purchases (e.g AWS) after the employee leaves. On the other hand if they accidentally order a bridesmaid's dress on the company card (happened at one of my companies) you can make sure the employee is on the hook for it. - no expenses reimbursed -- only company card to be used.
SVB does this very well -- the employees get individual bills a day or two before the company consolidated bill arrives (all sent to the company -- again so the employee has a chance to catch that bridesmaid dress before the boss sees it).
Just keep in mind when applying that you might have personal joint liability for your business card's balance. We have a Chase Ink Business Cash card that I applied for as a representative of our company and had to provide my SSN on the application. The card was approved no problem but looking at Chase's offerings enticed me to apply for the Sapphire card for myself. I got denied a Sapphire card despite a damn near p…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would say save the hassles and just stick to the corps credit card. I experienced the AWS under a personal credit card issue, but AWS was quick to resolve the issue with us anyway. Though it is needless to say, also make sure you have a vendor email address to manage vendors. We have had vendor account signed up using work email but after the person left the company, we lose the account control and have to ping acc…
Rather than a vendors@ email address for vendors, alias their old.employee@ address to someone else still with the company in a similar role (their replacement, if they have one). That way you won't miss sales queries, service notifications, or other stuff they used their email for. Update the accounts as necessary and it slows to a trickle quickly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would say save the hassles and just stick to the corps credit card. I experienced the AWS under a personal credit card issue, but AWS was quick to resolve the issue with us anyway. Though it is needless to say, also make sure you have a vendor email address to manage vendors. We have had vendor account signed up using work email but after the person left the company, we lose the account control and have to ping acc…
How do you not have access to the departed employee's email account? I have never seen that as an actual issue.
There are a lot of people at my work who use their personal gmail for everything.
If you use a VISA check card from your bank you can easily monitor all expenses through your company bank account. I found this helpful for my startup, but as you get bigger and spend more money you'll probably want to look at cards that give you extras (cash back, etc...).
The big problem with that is that debit cards have much slower fraud protections than credit cards (depending on issuer, of course). If fraud hits your debit card, your cash account is empty and things like rent may be getting returned while you deal with it. With a credit card, that's the credit card company's money so they move faster.
Aside from the 2-5% return by using these cards, (and warranty, travel, etc. benefits), I find amex billing statements the easiest to reconcile across multiple purchasers.
Just keep in mind when applying that you might have personal joint liability for your business card's balance. We have a Chase Ink Business Cash card that I applied for as a representative of our company and had to provide my SSN on the application. The card was approved no problem but looking at Chase's offerings enticed me to apply for the Sapphire card for myself. I got denied a Sapphire card despite a damn near p…
For your particular situation I would probably just open a credit card account with whoever your startup banks with. Beyond that I would probably explore do the following (in rough order depending on your company size):
1. Using Personal Guarantee: If you are an early startup you probably cant get easily get a business card without a personal guarantee. In this case its really up to the founding team's credit worthiness and I would recommend Amex/OPEN, Capital One Spark, and Chase Ink. All of these will probably require a personal guarantee to start but these particular ones won't go on your personal credit report (Some other cards may).
2. Establishing Credit: Create a Dunn and Bradstreet account, update it, and make sure you have a good web presence. The easiest business credit accounts to establish are UPS, Fedex, Amazon, Staples/OfficeMax/Depot, Frys, Uline. Open them and pay your bills on time (and in full). This will all boost your D&B Paydex score even if you are only making small purchases from each.
3. Utilize your Bank: In SF Wells Fargo is actually quite good for a small startup, SVB is good once you have funding, and US Bank/First Republic are good alternatives. This is your best bet for first major business line of credit (LOC). A business LOC is almost like a credit card and could even have better terms for repayment. If and how you should actually use it depends on your company and your finances, however if you get one without a personal guarantee they will probably limit your expenses to business expenses.
4. Get Credit without PGs(personal guarantees): Once you are seasoned for around 3-9 months you can start looking to getting credit without a personal guarantee. Beyond your bank I would look at US Bank, Amazon, Amex Business, Cap One Spark. If by that time you have funding and more substantial bank deposits approval will be much easier.