If you have tried to apply for a credit card lately and found it difficult to get approval then you should try applying for a business credit card and see what happens. It would seem that getting business credit cards is nearly impossible these days. The economy has hit just about all of us hard but none more so than small businesses.
Small businesses throughout America, and indeed around the world, are shutting down at an alarming rate. Once more, many are either currently in default to their creditors or have declared bankruptcy. This environment is as challenging as it gets for running a business big or small. Many leading economists agree that times have not been this tough since the Great Depression ended in the 1930s.
One of the largest issuers of small business credit cards recently declared they were going out of business with very little fanfare or notice. Advanta catered to small businesses by offering low interest rates and very attractive rewards programs. Unfortunately for them, as businesses started to go under at a record pace they too went down with the ship. They were too heavily over-exposed in one sector and paid the price for it.
For many small businesses their credit cards are their lifeblood. The line of credit they provide offers them the kind of liquidity that they often cannot find elsewhere. There are also a handy tool that allows businesses to keep track of expenditures and helps to streamline accounting by making it easier to manage.
It is not all doom and gloom though. Many times in our economy we see these boom and bust cycles repeat themselves. There is no question that the American economy will rebound and small business and entrepreneurship will lead the way. The situation is however, magnified now because of the depth and length of the current recession.
The current recession, when measured by technical parameters, began around July of 2007. Recent economic indicators would seem to show that there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. The funny thing about recessions are that you never know that you're in them until about six months have passed and in the same way you never know for sure that you're out of them until well after they have actually ended. The reason for this is because recessions are defined by what are known as lagging economic indicators.
Small businesses throughout America, and indeed around the world, are shutting down at an alarming rate. Once more, many are either currently in default to their creditors or have declared bankruptcy. This environment is as challenging as it gets for running a business big or small. Many leading economists agree that times have not been this tough since the Great Depression ended in the 1930s.
One of the largest issuers of small business credit cards recently declared they were going out of business with very little fanfare or notice. Advanta catered to small businesses by offering low interest rates and very attractive rewards programs. Unfortunately for them, as businesses started to go under at a record pace they too went down with the ship. They were too heavily over-exposed in one sector and paid the price for it.
For many small businesses their credit cards are their lifeblood. The line of credit they provide offers them the kind of liquidity that they often cannot find elsewhere. There are also a handy tool that allows businesses to keep track of expenditures and helps to streamline accounting by making it easier to manage.
It is not all doom and gloom though. Many times in our economy we see these boom and bust cycles repeat themselves. There is no question that the American economy will rebound and small business and entrepreneurship will lead the way. The situation is however, magnified now because of the depth and length of the current recession.
The current recession, when measured by technical parameters, began around July of 2007. Recent economic indicators would seem to show that there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. The funny thing about recessions are that you never know that you're in them until about six months have passed and in the same way you never know for sure that you're out of them until well after they have actually ended. The reason for this is because recessions are defined by what are known as lagging economic indicators.
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