Using personal credit cards for business purposes

[ohnomyfigo]

You really should look to switching to a different business card. The Amex SPG business would be far superior. People get lured in by the "2 points" per dollar spent on Venture but in all acutallty Capital One points are among the least valuable rewards points in the industry. Star points can be worth as much as 4.4 cents a piece and have way better redemption options. 

There's a reason why the credit savvy forum dwellers stay away from the Venture card. Here's a great post on why the Venture card is a bad idea. 

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/08/04/capital-one-venture-card/

[Anonymous]

While some credit card issuers explicitly prohibit commingling business and personal credit card use, and others do not, it is still a major breach of basic accounting/business principles. Any accounting 101 class will teach the "business entity concept" which states that all business and personal entities must be completely seperate from each other. Using the same credit card for personal and business use is a huge no-no.

So, with that said, I'd be less worried about my bank finding out and closing my credit account, and more worried that I was inadvertently cooking the books.

EDIT: Just read the part where you talk about how you have a degree in accounting, so you probably know everything I said above. It seems you do a good job of keeping business expenses and personal expenses separate, even if on the same credit card. So, while I'm sure everything you're doing is legal, I'd still be worried about a potential source of confusion and commingling in the future by using one credit card for both personal and business use. 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, thats why I'm chomping at the bit for 5/24 to pass in December so I can apply for the Chase Ink Business Preferred.  Its offering 3x on shipping up to $150k which is a bit under our yearly FedEx spend.  So that would convert to 450,000 UR then transfered to the CSR would get me 675,000 UR points in a given year.  Currently, FedEx codes as other travel on Capital One so it is essentially a 2% cash back.  While I've got a bad taste in my mouth over the way Amex does business with there random account holds waiting for income verification I just looked at the American Express Business Gold Charge and it does look compltting as a backp to the Chase Ink Business Preferred.  It looks like that one is 3x as well but capped at $100k in category spend.

Has anyone actuually read in their Terms of Conditions where using a personal card for bsuiness spend is prohibited?  I just read every word of the Credit Card Agreement for Consumer Cards in Capital One,® N.A., and did not see anything that would make the practice of using a personal card for business purposes a violation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice on the Amex products.  I'm going to get the bad taste out of my mouth from my dealings with them in the past and give them a second look.  As I mentioned in one of these posts, the way Cap One codes FedEx and UPS as Other Travel essentially turns those points into a 2% card.  I realize there are some better opportunities available.  However, CapOne has been the one that has been the most generous with me on CL, hence why they have gotten the majority of my spend.  They never raise a stink about anything, have amazing fraud prevention algorithms, separate the spend by AU making reconciliations easier, and overall have been a pleasure to work with.  I know many beat up on them but I'm not one of them.  At least today ... if they cancel my account tomorrow I'll be singing a different tune.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, thats why I'm chomping at the bit for 5/24 to pass in December so I can apply for the Chase Ink Business Preferred.  Its offering 3x on shipping up to $150k which is a bit under our yearly FedEx spend.  So that would convert to 450,000 UR then transfered to the CSR would get me 675,000 UR points in a given year.  Currently, FedEx codes as other travel on Capital One so it is essentially a 2% cash back.  While I've got a bad taste in my mouth over the way Amex does business with there random account holds waiting for income verification I just looked at the American Express Business Gold Charge and it does look compltting as a backp to the Chase Ink Business Preferred.  It looks like that one is 3x as well but capped at $100k in category spend.

Has anyone actuually read in their Terms of Conditions where using a personal card for bsuiness spend is prohibited?  I just read every word of the Credit Card Agreement for Consumer Cards in Capital One,® N.A., and did not see anything that would make the practice of using a personal card for business purposes a violation.

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That's not quite how it works.  If you transfer 450K UR points to the CSR, you still would end up with 450K UR points, not 675K.  The 1.5X that you're getting confused is that the 450K UR points becomes worth $6,750 to be used towards travel using the Chase travel portal vs the 1.25 conversion if you did not have a CSR.  While that's good, it still is far different than ending up with 675K UR points that you can transfer to travel partners which is where you get the maximum redemption rate out of UR points.

[Skymogul]

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@Anonymous wrote:

As far as getting business credit cards, that is certainly viable and as soon as my 5/24 runs out I plan on getting the Chase Ink Business Preferred due to the 3x points on the first $150k of shipping.   

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Wow, congrats on your success!

I'm not sure the Chase 5/24 inquiry rule would apply here. I'm not sure that applies in business at all; the business is applying for the account (under its TIN/EIN) with you and your employees as AUs, no? 

You might just have a phone conversation with them or even sit down with someone at a physical branch. With your revenues, you shouldn't have a problem doing whatever you need to do.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the correction Irish.  You are absolutely correct.  I was not thinking about the transfer to a partner as thus far all my redemptions have been through their travel portal.  I do have the CSR so the 1.5 conversion on their portal is nice.  I follow some of the travel hacks on other sites and see how people are getting such amazing conversion ratios of 4x plus.  However, whenever I try to work these hacks they always seem to be using first class/businnes class etc for their math.  I strive for quantity over quality for travel so I can't get that math to work for me.  I guess I need to play around some more with the travel partners as I am sure I'm leaving some value on the table.

[Anonymous]

Here is the communication from the Chase Business Section I received on April 24, 2017 (triggered a telephone call):

Message:

Subject: Business credit cards should be used only for business purposes

Dear Chase Online Customer:

Thank you for using your Chase business credit card. Please continue to use it for business purchases, but remember that it's not intended for personal use.

The regulations that cover business cards do not provide the level of protection given to consumer cards. We want you to receive the consumer protections you are entitled to. So, please use a consumer credit card for purchases for personal, family or household use.

If you need a consumer credit card, please call us. We can help you choose the Chase consumer credit card with the features and benefits that fit your lifestyle best.

If you have questions, please call us anytime at the number on the back of your card.

Sincerely,
Card Services

[Anonymous]

You are correct in that it is technically the business applying but as most all things business credit related, you are personally on the hook, and the decision is based both on your personal and business credit profile.  From my understanding Chase doesn't report their business products on a personal credit report, unlike many others, including CapOne.  I've read on other travel hack sites that the Chase Ink Business Preferred is part of their 5/24 rules.  Unfortunatley no branches in my state.  I guess it's worth a call.  I'll report back if I find out differently.  Thanks for the encouragement.

[Anonymous]

Dinosaur, your copy/paste deals with the use of Business cards for Personal use, which I stipulated above is a no-no.

This thread is about the use of Personal cards for Business use.  Still looking for something in writing from a card issuer that doing so is a violation.  I just read the Terms & Conditions for PenFed’s cards a few minutes ago and again found nothing prohibiting it.  So now I have verified in the terms and conditions of Chase, Capital One, and PenFed (the three banks I have cards with) that there is nothing prohibiting it.

I'm not saying that there aren't issuers who specifically prohibit it, or those who will take an AA for doing so.  All I'll saying is that in my experience and from what I have read in the terms & conditions I have access to there is no mention of a prohibition for using personal cards for business use.

If anyone has any evidence, other than anecdotal, I would love to see it.

Thanks all for the discussion.