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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Small Business Credit Cards Come with Risks

In spite of the "small business" name, there is nothing about most so-called small business credit cards that requires the cardholder to actually own or operate a business. In fact, over a five year period ending last December, credit card companies sent out more than 2.6 billion business card offers to regular Janes and Joes in the U.S. But while these cards are available to the everyday consumer, they do not come with all the protections associated with non-business credit cards.

Business cards have long been exempt from Truth in Lending Act protections because legislators felt that businesses were able to decide for themselves the best way to handle their credit card selection. But these cards are no longer being targeted to just big businesses with employee expense accounts.

The Pew Trusts recently released a study comparing business cards versus personal credit cards. A chart of the discrepancies between the two types of cards is below, but here are some of the bigger ones:

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