Best Card For Balance Transfer United States

Finance your start-up with credit cards? Google did it--should you?

"Guitar Hero III: Legends of the Rock" recently became the highest-grossing game in U.S. history. And to think Charles Huang, the former partner of Harmonix and designer of the little plastic guitars, maxed out his credit cards to finance the company in 2007.

Same with Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who used plastic to fund Google in the mid-1990s. Mindful of their spending limits, they bought used computers and open-source software--the latter ironically contributing to their global dominance.

And yet another example of using credit cards as a means of creative business financing: the 1994 movie "Clerks." Director Kevin Smith filmed the independent comedy for just $27,575, mainly funded by the 10 credit cards he had in his name. The movie grossed more than $3 million in theaters.

"A lot of famous businesses started in the basement using personal credit cards to get the business off the ground," says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com.

Using the best credit cards to finance a new business venture has risks and rewards. If it works, it's a relatively easy way to secure funding, but if the business fails, you could find yourself in bankruptcy court with your credit in shambles.

Credit cards provide easy funding for start-up

Sam Thacker, owner of Business Finance Solutions in Austin, Tex., says that when he started in the banking business in the mid-1990s, bankers looked askance at entrepreneurs who tried to find the best credit cards to start their businesses.

"Having high credit card balances used to be a pretty big black mark on your ability to grow and build your business," Thacker says. By the late 1990s, though, he says, "it seems like everyone was using the best credit cards they could find to finance their businesses. By 2007, it was the norm. It was part of the culture."

It still is, Thacker says, especially since the financial crisis of 2008 made lenders tighten their credit standards so that it is now much harder to secure a small-business loan. "The biggest pro to using credit cards in this economy is availability," he says. "If you report a high enough income and your credit score is high enough, they'll approve you for $50,000, $75,000, even $100,000 credit card limits--which could be enough to get your business going."

And as long as you toe the line and make at least the minimum payments on time each month, credit card issuers are usually more than happy to extend your credit limit.

The Essentials Of A 0% Balance Transfer And Purchase Rate Credit ...

Saving Money With Credit Cards

If you’ve found yourself stuck under a high rate credit card with a high balance, you might have looked into balance transfer cards, especially those with 0% interest rates on balance transfers. If you haven’t, you should. If you need a card that you’ll be able to make purchases on, though, you need to find a card that will offer you a 0% balance transfer and purchase rate.

These are perfect for those who need to transfer a balance, but will also need to make purchases with their credit cards. There are some things that you need to know about these cards and you can find them listed below.

When you transfer a balance to a new card, you’re given a lower than average interest rate. This can range from 0% to 8% on average, depending on the term of the low interest rate. Shorter term, lower rate – longer term, higher rate. The problem many people run into with these cards is that they make purchases with them, ending up in the same position they were trying to avoid. This is because the lowest interest rate is always paid down first by credit card companies, so if you have $10,000 at 0% and $5,000 at 20%, that $5,000 is going to sit there and earn 20% interest until you’ve paid off the $10,000. That $5,000 will quickly outgrow the $10,000. You can find a card that will give you 0% for both transfers and purchases.

When looking for a card that offers you a balance transfer rate of 0% as well as a purchase rate of 0%, they’re going to be an introductory offer. Eventually, both rates will rise, it’s a matter of when. You want to know that, ideally, they’re both going to rise at the same time. Try to find one that offers the rate on both for 6 months, otherwise, you can end up having the same problem as above when one of the rates goes up and the other stays the same. Since purchase rates can easily be 20% and sometimes even more, you’re going to quickly find yourself buried under the same mountain of debt as before.

There is no chance of trying to get this “confusion” sorted out with the credit card company. They’re going to tell you quite simply, that it was your responsibility to read the terms and conditions through completely, and that there’s little, if anything, that they can do to help you. The payment hierarchy discussed earlier will be in there, as well as your interest rates (including the rate after the introductory offer) as well as the time periods that your introductory offer is good for. With 0% offers, don’t expect any longer than 6 months.