There's an explosion of entrepreneurs running businesses from home. According to recent data, the SOHO (small office, home office) segment has 41 million businesses, with one added every 30 seconds. That phenomenon has caught the eye of credit-card companies, which are aggressively courting small businesses. "We've found that access to capital is one of the primary difficulties," says Kris Castagno, director of Visa Business. Whether it's meeting payroll, making purchases or securing more capital, small-business credit cards can ease the cash crunch, with added perks. The Visa Business Card and MasterCard Executive BusinessCard offer unsecured credit lines of up to $50,000 and $100,000, respectively. Those funds are accessed by card, check or ATM. Both offer free quarterly or annual spending reports to help monitor expenses and identify business-tax deductions, along with savings on travel, entertainment and business-to-business services. You can, say, rack up points, similar to frequent-flier miles, by using the Visa card, which can then be used for discounts at Staples and other retailers. To be eligible as a small business, you generally need revenue of less than $10 million or fewer than one hundred employees. Though Visa and MasterCard brand the cards, individual banks offer them, so shop around for the best interest rate and no annual fee.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group