Good Credit Scores or Not, Everyone is a “Professional” Today
It seems that these days the credit card companies have decided that everyone is a “professional,” even those who don’t have good credit scores. Of course, if you do happen to have a good credit rating, then you may be more of a target than others for these new “professional” credit cards which seem to shower you with the affectation of being someone important, even if you are just a night watchman earning minimum wage. Why all the hoopla about “professional” and “business” credit cards? Of course, the answer is quite simple: greed.
New Rules Affect Credit Card Companies Adversely
Whether you have good or bad credit, the fact is that new laws have been passed which severely limit the amounts of money that credit card companies can charge you. The new rules require that certain grace periods be offered. They also require that there be firm limits on the amounts you can be charged for late fees and that your interest rates cannot simply be changed arbitrarily. However, as with everything else in life, the credit card companies have found themselves a nice fat loophole – “professional” credit cards are exempt from the new rules.
Meant for Business, Now Being Given to Everyone
Professional credit cards, unlike an ordinary credit card for good credit, were always intended to be used by businesses as a corporate purchasing card. In other words, they were intended to allow people running a small business to keep their personal and professional debt separate. However, even these so called corporate credit cards were typically tied to a person’s personal credit and the owner of the company was typically personally responsible for debts run up on the corporate card. Thus, corporate cards were often given only to those with good credit scores. However, now that the new rules governing personal credit cards have gone into effect, the credit card companies are trying to get the biggest spenders to move to “professional” cards, which are just thinly veiled versions of the so-called corporate cards they had always issued and which had been one of the benefits of good credit.
Your Options
It’s really quite simple. As flattering as it may sound, if you have good credit scores, you can simply ignore the offers of a “professional” credit card and stick with your personal cards. Even if you know you always pay on time and they are offering rewards that sound enticing, it’s generally a good idea to stay away unless you legitimately run a business and need to keep separate accounting of your business and personal expenses.
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