7 Reasons Why The CIMB Platinum BusinessCard Should Be Your Company’s Go-To Credit Card

Maintains a separation of business and personal expense

If you have a sole proprietorship, it’s important to treat your company as a separate entity from your personal financial situation, a key factor in maintaining the limitation of personal liability.

If you mix your personal expenses and business expenses, you could ultimately lose the very legal protection you hoped to gain by incorporating a limited liability company.

Also, for tax purposes, it is best practice to keep your business expenses separated. A business credit card by its very nature will keep business expenses separate.

Effective cash flow management

Business credit cards often come with higher lines of credit, which is how many small businesses get off the ground.

One example where a business credit card excels is in times of adversity when sales are low and the business is strapped for cash. If the business owner has a business credit card, he will be able to access funds to run the business and this can act as a temporary financial cushion for the business.

In short, business credit cards give you better spending power and help create more wiggle room in times of economic difficulties.

Establishes business credit history

Having a business credit card helps you establish a separate credit history for your business.

Small businesses often get turned down for financing or get disadvantageous financing terms because they lack a credit history for their business.

If you get a business credit card, you’ll likely have a business credit score with major credit bureaus. The upside is that if you use your card responsibly, you could improve your score and get lower interest/profit rates in the event you need to take out a business financing.

In today’s economy, more people will take the leap and work for themselves – as evident by the fact that 78.5% of SMEs in Malaysia are micro-enterprises.There’s plenty of rewards and risks in being self-employed, but you can prepare for the latter with a business credit card. Whether you have temporary cash flow issues, want to earn rewards to offset some of your business spending or need to make a necessary business purchase, a business credit card can be a major benefit – if you use it wisely.

It offers major  convenience

One card for all business expenses, including travel, entertainment, utilities, assessments, dining, insurance, and others. CIMB provides both a summary statement for the company as well as an individual card statement for the cardholder. This card provides cost reduction and convenience – no petty cash, manual claims and no manual bill reconciliation.

It makes the process of managing your expense budget easy, with less work on your part to see exactly where you are spending and how much. It also keeps records properly identified for tax purposes, making tax time much less of a headache.

Allows you to delegate, yet control employee spending

As your business grows and adds employees, delegation becomes a critical skill. You want to provide your employees authority and not require them to come to you on minor decisions.

However, you will still require control over critical things such as your business’ finances, and that’s where the CIMB SME BusinessCard comes in – as a useful tool for delegation and individual card issuance.

Earn valuable rewards

The CIMB SME BusinessCard offers plenty of benefits. Apart from its irresistible dining and shopping privileges, and the perpetual waiving of its annual fee, it also provides unlimited 0.5% cash rebate on local spend and 1.25% cash rebate on overseas spend – arguably among the highest in the market today.

As a card owner, you will also enjoy a cash rebate of RM50 annually for 20 retail transactions performed within 12 months from your card issuance or anniversary date. Lastly, the card also comes with travel insurance coverage of up to RM1,000,000!

Easier qualification for financing

Part of being a small business owner means constantly focusing on ways to increase the growth rate of your business. And any business person who has tried to apply for financing from a bank without collateral can tell you how strenuous it can be especially when you do not have a well-established credit reputation.

In some cases, a business credit card comes bundled with some form of financing but the establishment of credit history does give your business some brownie points when applying for a business financing.

This article is brought to you by CIMB as part of our ongoing efforts to raise the level of financial literacy among Malaysians. Financial knowledge and understanding are key to making well-informed and meaningful financial decisions towards positively improving welfare and well-being of communities. This is one of our many efforts to achieve CIMB’s purpose of advancing customers and society.

This article was first published on CompareHero.my