In my article on “Building Business Credit,” I recommended Advanta Mastercard as great business credit card to use for your business. Their terms were very good, their customer support was great, and their reporting to the credit bureaus would allow you to build credit quickly.
Unfortunately, I just got word last week that Advanta has lost funding for it’s business credit customers, and will be closing all business lines of credit (including credit cards) as of yesterday.
I just wanted to put the word out there in case anyone has an Advanta business credit card and hadn’t heard about this. I’m also soliciting advice for a new business Visa or Mastercard. I use Amex for most of our business transactions, but unfortunately, not all merchants/vendors accept Amex these days.
Let me know if you have any suggestions!
I had an Advanta Card as well. It sucks they went out of business, don’t forget to buy something with your reward points within the next 30 days.
I use the Bank Atlantic Biz Card, http://bankatlanticbizcard.com/. They’re pretty good 1% cash-back, plus high limit instant approvals.
I’m actually glad, cause I owe them money from a bad debt. Maybe now I can get it taken off my credit report easily.
I owe them about $45k right now… I wonder if this means I can stop paying them with impunity? haha I doubt it. Hate to see them go — They were truly the BEST in business credit!
-Hakrjak
I’m going to go with the AT&T Universal Visa card, FYI…. It may take me a long time to build up the $50k credit limit I had with Advanta, but it looks like it is rated the highest and offers a good rewards program: http://www.creditcards.com/business.php
Hak –
That’s a good question — I’m not sure if they’ll continue servicing the balance on their loans or if they’ll sell them. I have to imagine that either way you’re gonna want to keep making payments, as I’m sure they still have the ability to trash someone’s credit if they want to.
Hak –
Good suggestion! I used them for a personal card many years ago…I need to call and find out what their business offerings look like…
Yeh I can’t imagine I could get that lucky…. Took out a $45k cash advance on the card 1 week before they announced all accounts would be frozen… haha That would be sweet to not have to pay that back 😉
-Hakrjak