Credit Cards | Page 6

Business Accounting

Want Swipe-Fee Relief? Now’s the Time to Make it Happen

If you’re a merchant tired of high debit- and credit-card fees, now’s your chance to make a difference. The financial-reform bill slowly wending its way through Congress is coming into the home stretch, and swipe-fee reform has made it through to the version now being reconciled by a joint Senate-House committee. The National Retail Federation […]
By Carol Tice
Business Accounting

Warning: Higher Credit-Card ‘Swipe’ Fees Ahead

Just what small businesses need right now: higher fees for accepting credit cards. Apparently, a settlement with the European Union to cap fees at a lower rate may see banks making up their losses by hiking rates here in the States, a retail trade group is forecasting. The organization of major retailers, the Retail Industry […]
By Carol Tice
Business Accounting

Some Business Credit-Card Owners Catch A Break

I wrote last month about how federal credit-card reform left business credit cards out in the cold. Now, reports are coming in that business-card owners may be getting some breaks that stem indirectly from the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) act. Apparently, some major banks are making the CARD-required changes for business cards […]
By Carol Tice
Business Accounting

Business Owners’ Credit-Card Conundrum

New consumer credit laws put business owners in a tough spot. Should you use personal cards for your business expenses to take advantage of new consumer-credit protections, or stick with business cards, which aren’t covered by the new laws? To recap briefly, consumer protections that took effect in late February require consumer card companies to […]
By Carol Tice
Business Accounting

Obama’s Small Business Forum Examines Lending Logjam

Yesterday, President Barack Obama held a small-business financing forum to discuss what more should be done to help break the lending logjam small business owners have experienced the past two years. Before it even began, Obama was being criticized for keeping the guest list under wraps. Interested parties such as the American Small Business League […]
By Carol Tice
Business Accounting

How Credit Cards Kill Your Small Business

With banks turned stingy about handing out small business loans, more and more small business startups are turning to credit cards as the primary vehicle for their business spending needs. We always knew that was risky, but a new study on businesses’ credit-card use released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is enough to chill […]
By Carol Tice