Think twice about "business" credit cards for personal use.
Many influencers and people chasing huge SUBs that are only available on business cards tend to say they're a Sole Proprietorship and the credit card company just goes ahead and approves this without making them prove there's a business. In many cases, putting down that there's minimal business income of $500 or $1000 gets you approved and issued a "business" card tied to your own Social Security number and personal credit file.
However, all of the worst credit card industry practices that were banned by the Credit CARD Act in 2009 are still on the table with business cards as Congress exempted them from the law.
It serves credit card banks to look the other way and slip business cards to people who don't have businesses because they're putting themselves in danger and the banks can do things that would normally violate the CARD Act if they were a personal credit card account.
Don't get a "business" credit card. Banks want you to have one even if there's clearly no business because it's still the wild west.
Even worse, claiming that you're in business because you "sold a pack of baseball cards on eBay" is stretching it, and could be construed as lying on a credit application. A point the bank will certainly make if you ever end up in default and try to get away from them through bankruptcy or something.
TikTok Influencers are usually not lawyers, and even if they were, they are not your lawyer. They're more likely to give you bad advice, including not filing income tax returns.
In many cases, they use a referral link to sign people up for credit cards, so they get paid if you fall for what they've told you.
If you otherwise tell the truth about your income, you probably won't get approved for more of a credit limit than you would on a personal card anyway.
Business cards for personal use are risk without benefit.
https://michellawyers.com/small-biz-credit-cards-not-protected-by-card-act/
"Consumers no longer risk exposure to two-cycle billing, unilateral APR increases, and certain fees. But since business cards lack these protections, and many business cards are still backed by their holders’ personal credit, credit card companies have kept a “back door” open to the old practices.
And business credit card holders most at risk are small business owners, reports the Pew Charitable Trust. Many credit card companies make small business owners guarantee business cards with personal credit. Thus, the business owner remains responsible if the company goes out of business.
This liability tail carries particular danger for business owners who issue business credit cards to employees. So why don’t small business owners simply use their personal credit cards for business? Wouldn’t they keep their CARD Act protections against APR increases, billing games and arbitrary late fees?
Yes, but charges to a consumer card used in business might be harder to qualify as business tax deductions. Interest charged to consumer accounts might not qualify as a business expense.
And many business credit cards still have the old arbitrary rules and fees. Pew’s findings: 80% of business cards include an “any time” change in terms clause 84% of business cards empower card companies to apply payments to low-rate balances first 67% of business cards include penalty rates for late payments, contrary to CARD Act protections Penalty fees are virtually unrestricted on business credit cards Business credit cards keep coming in the mail to small business owners. But these cards do not carry any of the CARD Act protections."
