In dire need of funding for your business? There are several funding sources to consider – and each has its own plus and minus.

1. Financial institutions – Plus: most common, trusted source of funding. Minus: usually involves collaterals
2. Family and friends – Plus: easy to get. Minus: putting long-term relationship at stake
3. Loan sharks – Plus: the easiest to get. Minus: very high interest rate
4. Credit cards – Plus: easy to get, with many perks. Minus: Many hidden charges for the unaware
5. Venture capitals or angel investors – Plus: You might get management help from them. Minus: Very hard to find or to qualify.

For many people, using credit cards for business is common, due to the fact that the today’s credit card business is lucrative, mainly targeting consumers.

In today’s numerous, interesting, credit card offers – usually with the keywords of “FREE” and “Low APR”, It’s tempting to have a credit card or two; Especially if you business needs other source of funding.

However, you must take heed of what financial experts tell you – use your credit cards wisely or else, consider not having one, at all.

Using one without the proper knowledge will leave you with bad debts, that will eventually damage your credit reputation – thus, it’s becoming harder to obtain more funding in the future.

There are many online, legitimate, resources on credit cards to learn from. You can find info on Credit Card APR or looking for a debt relief grant from the Net.

If you insist on using credit cards to fund your business, the number one rule is to learn about the credit cards funding system, especially how their interest rates applied and when.

Why? Most people drowning in credit card debts due to their limited knowledge (or misled knowledge) on credit card funding system.

There are apparent benefits of credit cards, if you understand the whole system well, such as: portable (easy to carry), the ability to consolidate your bills, point rewards, the usually-included free insurance, and the most important benefit – the availability of emergency funding.

Considering the perils of misusing credit cards for business purposes, I would suggested you not to use credit cards to fund your business (especially for start ups) unless you have a strong reason to do so. If you decided to use credit cards, I insist you to seek information on business credit cards thoroughly.

Ivan Widjaya
Knowledge is key