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You’ve probably heard the old joke that a weekly budget is just something to help you explain why the money ran out about Tuesday. To small business owners, keeping a lid on costs is no joke. Consequently, small business owners are ever vigilant about cutting corners to make ends meet.
One way to stretch your small business budget is through vendor savings programs. More commonly known as reward and/or discount vendor programs, vendor savings programs are offered by business credit card providers to help small business owners save money on necessary purchases. With them, you get everything from free travel to cash back, helping you to grow your small business more efficiently.

Cash Back

Most of the major credit card companies offer programs that will fit your small business needs. For example, the American Express OPEN Small Business Network offers up to 5 percent cash back that can add up if you consider you might spend $10,000 over the course of a year. Doing so would net you $500 in cold hard cash - not bad for the cost of doing business. What’s more, cash-back bonuses can generally be applied directly to various vendor accounts, allowing you to use your cash-back rewards for such things as paying your phone bill.

Business Debits

MasterCard offers its small business customers a MasterCard Cash Rewards program via its Debit MasterCard BusinessCard. The card provides cash-back offers to support small business debit cardholder activation efforts, while also providing usage-incentives for infrequent card-users. Additionally, they offer creative services targeted to business card users, such as help in developing customized direct mail packages in which they will handle rewards fulfillment and cover postage costs for users. The card also provides targeted discounts at a number of leading business merchandise providers, such as Office Depot, Pennywise.com, The New York Times and IBM.

They also allow Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cardholders to earn one reward point for every $2 in small business debit, signature purchase transactions. Equally important, according to a company statement, is the feature that allows cardholders to combine points earned from Debit MasterCard BusinessCard transactions with purchases made with personal MasterCard debit cards, accelerating your ability to accumulate points. In addition to free air travel on any airline with no blackout dates and built-in extras (e.g. free travel insurance), points can be redeemed for electronics, hotel stays and travel packages, as well as discounts at Home Depot, Office Max and Best Buy, among others.

Outside the Box

If you really want to get creative when it comes to leveraging these types of programs, you might consider using some of the available rewards as employee incentives. Giving free mileage or gift merchandize to staff members to reward their hard work is sure to boost morale, enhance loyalty and garner you some good will, which is sure to come in handy at some point.

Finally, consider the fact that using a business card to save money and earn discounts can also help you manage cash flow and streamline accounting paperwork, which frees up your time so you can concentrate on growing your small business by leaps and bounds. That, small business owners might agree, is the biggest reward.

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A higher score can give you more financial options and many favorable credit offers. If you already have a good score, you can still improve it. There is no way to instantly boost your credit score. But improvement is possible, no matter what your credit history includes. With patience, time and tenacity, you can get the credit score you desire.

Seven ways to start improving your credit score today

1. Check your credit report regularly. Correct any incorrect information you find on your credit report as quickly as possible. Incorrect information is an invalid reflection of you as a credit consumer.

2. Learn what your current credit score is as it appears on your credit report. You can get your credit score by contacting any credit reporting agency, such as Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. These credit reporting agencies allow you to quickly get your credit score, along with your credit report, for a small fee. Remember, each of these 3 credit reporting agencies will have slightly different scores.

3. Have as few open credit card accounts as possible. Don’t open new accounts that you don’t need. The more open accounts you have, the lower your score - even if your accounts have a zero balance. Why? If you have an open account, it is assumed you could charge on it at anytime. Therefore, even though you have a zero balance, the account is viewed as debt you could possibly incur at any moment.

4. Try to keep account balances on your credit cards as low as possible. The higher your debt to balance ratio, the lower your score will fall. High balances on your account may negatively affect your score because you have a greater chance of missing payments.

5. Make all of your payments on time. Past Due accounts will be listed on your credit report. Usually, you have 60 days before this happens. If you cannot pay your bills on time, call your creditors as soon as possible to explain the circumstances and work out a payment schedule you can meet. If you are having trouble paying due to circumstances such as serious illness or unemployment, submit (in writing) an explanation to the credit reporting agencies. This explanation will be added to your credit report. Remember, the sooner you deal with your payment problems, the more cooperative creditors will be.

6. Minimize the number of inquiries on your credit report. You can do this by not applying for multiple credit cards over a short period of time. Apply for new credit accounts only as needed. Each time an inquiry is made on your credit report, it is listed. You may lose as much as 5 points from your credit score for each inquiry.
7. If you have a bad credit history, consider opening new accounts and then paying them off on time. This establishes a positive credit history for you and shows that you now handle debt responsibly.

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Managing Your Credit Debt

Buy now and pay later. It’s become the American way. There’s no doubt that a credit card can be a powerful and useful tool. However, as more and more Americans discover every year, too much of a good thing can lead to big trouble.

According to CardWeb.com, the average American family owes over $8,000 in credit card debt. Remember, this is an average. For every family that’s way below this average, there’s another family that’s way above the average. Where you fall in relation to this average can help you determine exactly how serious a problem your credit card debt really is.

It’s important to recognize that no matter what you do, you’re not going to get out of credit card debt over night. It probably took you several years to accumulate the debt you have now, so it’s understandably going to take you some time to get this debt under control. The good news is that as soon as you start, you’ll begin to see both financial and psychological benefits.

Change your spending habits

The first step in gaining control over your credit card debt is understanding how you use your credit cards. Do you save them for unusual expenses like automobile repairs and medical bills? Or do you routinely find yourself reaching for your credit card to pay for a TV Guide, a bag of Cheese Doodles, and a bottle of shampoo?

If you use your credit cards to pay for simple, everyday items, your debt is sure to creep up. You should make a commitment to reserve your credit cards for significant and/or unexpected expenses.

Stop using all your cards

Once you’ve established smart usage guidelines for your credit cards, you need to apply those guidelines. In other words, stop using your credit cards. This may seem obvious, but it’s the most important step you can take to reduce your credit card debt.

Do you have any cards that are maxed out? Cut them up into little pieces. After all, they’re of no real use to you. They only represent temptation every time you get a few dollars paid down.

Each time you look at your credit card statement, you probably grumble over the fact that a huge portion of your minimum payment was applied to interest, reducing your actual balance by only a small amount. The way to combat this effect is to pay more than the minimum amount. Even if you can only pay $10 extra each month, this is an important step, because every extra dollar you pay is applied to your balance. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your balance begins to drop.

Transfer balances to Lower-interest credit cards

One popular approach is to transfer your high-interest credit card debt to some lower-interest loan - either a home equity loan or a low-interest card. This can save you a lot in interest, but be careful. This strategy requires quite a bit of discipline.

If, for example, you use a home equity loan to pay off your credit cards, the only thing keeping you from running those credit cards back up is your own will power. If you’re careless, you could find yourself in a worse position than you were before - maybe even with your home ownership in jeopardy.
The rise in credit card debt has also given rise to the so-called credit counseling industry. These firms promise to negotiate with your creditors for reduced interest and payments. While some of these firms are better than others, it’s important to note that your creditors are not legally required to negotiate with these firms. Most creditors will negotiate because they know the alternative - bankruptcy.

File for Bankruptcy only as a last resort

Bankruptcy should be used only in the most extreme cases. While having your credit card debt completely erased may seem tempting, bankruptcy has several long-term, negative effects. The most obvious is that your credit is essentially ruined for several years, meaning it will be difficult if not impossible to obtain credit even when you really need it.

This may not seem so bad, since your goal is to get out of credit card debt anyway. However, on a more practical level, bankruptcy means having to live completely on an all-cash basis. If the car breaks down, you either pay cash or don’t get it fixed. When it’s back-to-school time, you either write a check for the kids’ new clothes or send them to class in worn-out items from last year.

Once you get your credit card debt under control, it’s just as important to keep it under control. The popular thinking is that you should never charge more than you can pay off at the end of the month. This is, of course, easier said than done.

A more practical approach is to impose your own limit on each card, regardless of its actual limit. For example, if your card has a limit of $2,000, you may choose to impose your own limit of $850. That way, you’ll always have your credit card debt under control, and you’ll have plenty of cushion in case of emergency.

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Having a bad credit can be detrimental to your financing and places a number of hurdles in front of you when it comes to availing loans. Having a poor credit score can happen to anyone for a number of reasons ranging from not paying debts off to missing payments on bills. Luckily, there are ways that you can go about improving your credit score.

1. Pay on time
This is by far the most obvious way to improve your credit score, yet is still worth mentioning. It doesn’t matter if you’re only a few weeks late or a few months late, paying your bills late will result in a lower credit score.

2. Pay down debts
This is tricky because you want to have debts paid off almost to its entirety, but not completely. Your credit score is a reflection of how well you manage your credit, but if you pay off your debt completely you have no credit. The best way to approach this is to pay off most of your debt, but leave a little extra to manage.

3. Assortment of credit cards
Similar to paying off your debt is showing that you can manage different types of credit cards. This is not to say that you should have 10 different credit cards, but having a few different kinds will improve your credit score. Having a Visa, MasterCard, Sears and/or gas card will show that you can manage short-term and long-term credit cards.

4. No new credit
Unless it is completely necessary, it is vital that you stay away from getting any kind of new credit. Every time you get new credit an inquiry is added to your report, which drops your credit score to some degree.

5. Don’t file for bankruptcy or foreclosure
Filing for either of these can kill your credit score because of the fact that they stay on your credit report for 10 years. Not only that, but they also decrease your credit score over time. The good news is the closer you get to the end of your 10 years, the less of an impact it has on your credit score.

6. Delete errors in 48 hours
This is the quickest and most efficient method to correcting any errors from your credit report and raising your credit score. There is a lot of paperwork that is required to do this, but it will save you the hassle of having to deal with much more later on.

No matter how you opt to improve your credit score, it is vital that you get a jump on it as soon as possible. Having a poor credit score can kill your financial status and will make it extremely difficult to acquire any kinds of loans down the road.

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