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Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

I currently have 3 CC's,  A Cap1 Master,  Citibank Visa and a brand new Discover,     I've read in these forums from the people with 800's that 3 is the best number of cards to have to help your credit,    Earlier this year my wife and I purchased a business,   and were unable to get business credit cards at the time,  Most likely because every one of our vendors ran our credit and the fact that we just bought the business,    I was planning on applying for a couple business cards in the spring, but now that I was just approved for the discover, I have 3 cards already,   If i have another 1 or 2 cards in the business name is that going to drastically effect my credit scores? 

 

Oh we also have a $10,000 LOC in the business name,  but that shows up on my personal report as well as a $1500 sams personal credit line (used for the business, but in our personal names) as well as a $300 lowes card,  also used for business but in our personal names,   I don't know if those two cards count as "credit cards"  or not.

 

If so I'm OK with just continuing to use the Citibank card for business (the rewards on it are pretty good) but I'd really rather keep the work and personal separate,  without killing my scores.

 

Oh and if it matters,  the business is currently run as a Partnership with my wife and I being 50/50 partners,  but for tax reasons we may form an S-Corp. or LLC this winter.

Message 1 of 8
7 REPLIES 7
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

Once you form the LLC or S-corp you could get business cards that are personal gauranteed by you (PG) but do not report to personal credit.  Amex Business cards, Lowes Business Card, etc.

 

Message 2 of 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

Thanks,  Thats kind of what i thought,  I guess i'll wait till after we form the corp before applying for the business cards.

 

Message 3 of 8
GregB
Valued Contributor

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

I think you will find that an accounts either reports to personal credit or does not report. I haven't found the type of business to change that.

 

My Amex Business, Two BofA Business, Advanta, and Lowes Business were obtained when I had two Sole Proprieterships. None of those report to personal credit. I formed LLC 5 years ago and the only new business account since then is CapOne Business, which is the only one that actually names the LLC. It did not report either until CapOne changed their system and started reporting.

 

I assume the next question is what is on my business reports. I can't tell you because I don't care enough to pay a fee to find out. The Amex Business CC limit was $82K before Amex went nuts.

Message 4 of 8
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

The Amex Business CC limit was $82K before Amex went nuts.

 

Wow, what did they take you down too?

Message 5 of 8
GregB
Valued Contributor

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

$14,400 !!!!

 

They dropped it in several steps but didn't seem to be balance chasing me. I vividly remember that one of the big drops came in the same mail delivery with a big CLI from BofA. With the $250/year fee I went ahead and closed it. My Personal Amex was dropped from $28,800 to $3,100. These were my only CLDs.

 

The person that said Amex has PMS seems to have gotten it right. Each CLD was done with a letter explaining the reasons. The reasons were complete fabrication. Several of them said "new negative information" when the only negative was a 30-day late that was almost ready to drop off after 6+ years.

 

ETA:

One update to my first post that might be important. I did have an EIN when the business cards were opened for the Sole Proprieterships. Perhaps they considered it to be a real business since I had employees.

Message 6 of 8
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

my father lost a little over 55k between 4 amex accounts, all pretty much in the same week... one swoop and it was gone. optima was the biggest, went from 25k-$500!

Message 7 of 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Do business cards have a huge effect on personal credit scores?

Discover Business Cards post on personal credit reports and will not show on a business credit report.

 

Just FYI.

Message 8 of 8
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