We all know it’s easy to use a credit card. Most major businesses accept them, there’s no hassling with change, no taking the time to dig a pen out of your purse or pocket to write a check, and it keeps a very detailed receipt of the date, time and place where you spent your money. Yes, a business credit card does offer quite a few benefits.
But there are benefits to checks and cash as well, and sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to use your business credit card.
A business credit card is great for helping a business to afford larger purchases. Major equipment can rarely be purchased with cash on hand, and this is where a business credit card really shines. There may be a substantial interest rate to pay for big purchases like equipment, but the great benefit of the business credit card is that it gives it’s holder time. As long as you make a certain amount of payment each month, you can stretch payments out over a long time. Cash and checks don’t allow you to do that.
But there is no more secure way to transact minor business than through cash. You go to a store and pay cash and it’s over. No sensitive information travels halfway around the world to be processed by a computer, and your account number isn’t written down in a cash drawer at the local grocery store where a less-than-altruistic kid with a summer job might have some free time to practice forging your signature. None of those concerns exist. It’s an immediate, one-time transaction of cash for goods and then it’s over.
Checks, on the other hand, afford their own benefits. First of all, their much more tangible than credit transactions, and the simple feeling of having a check in one’s hand can be very satisfying by itself. And while, yes, this is a discussion about business people who are very rational, very realistic people, they’re also people and have emotions just like anyone else. And a good businessperson will know how to use these universal emotions to his or her advantage. They will understand the power that they wield when they present a signed check to someone they are buying a service from, and will be able to use that power to accomplish their goals.
But a business credit card is probably the most common form of payment in business transactions these days for good reason. Many good reasons, in fact. Not only does it eliminate the need to carry cash around, not only does it conveniently fit into a person’s purse, wallet or even a breast pocket, but it’s plain-and-simple convenience and track-ability make it the obvious choice for businesspeople who need to keep detailed records of everything they do. It’s flexible payment schedule it’s of obvious benefit to business people, too. With the ability to pay a little bit at a time, businesses don’t have to worry as much about being able to lay down hard currency for things they need. And they will need things. For a business to stay competitive it has to make sure that it’s computers, machinery, and vehicles stay right up close to its competition. One obsolete department can cause a whole business to slow down, and that’s where a business credit card can come in very handy in a tight pinch.
A business credit card stands out in its track-ability as well. Not only will you be saving the receipts from everything you buy with the business credit card, but you’ll also have the opportunity to compare them to an itemized bill at the end of every month. This gives you the opportunity to get a handle on where your business tends to spend it’s money, and perhaps make any adjustments that need to be made to your business’ spending habits. This insight into your business outflow of money can be very useful to a business in the long run, especially one that needs to find places to cut costs in order to meet rising prices.
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