The last time Advanta was in the news, it was at the beginning of the year and at that time their small business credit cardholders were receiving letters that they could not longer make any new purchases. This time around it seems that the news has not gotten any better as Advanta Corp filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Like so many other companies, the reason behind this bankruptcy is because they feel they would not meet the obligations of paying their debt, even after listing $363 million in assets and $331 million in debt. However like many other large corporations who file bankruptcy, there is a twist. The twist in this case is that Advanta Bank Corp, which is the main operation that issued small business credit cards, is not part of the filing; simply because troubled banks are handled by regulators. Instead it is thought this branch of operations could eventually be taken over by the FDIC or sold to another company.

For at least one group of cardholders bankruptcy is not the answer they are looking for, as they are still paying skyrocketed interest rates on their card accounts. Instead they have filed a class action lawsuit, which stems from a settlement between the FDIC and Advanta over deceptive and unfair practices. These practices include habitually enticing business owners with low interest rate credit cards only to drastically raise their rates later with no reason. At the moment it is stated that over 300 thousand business cardholders still owe more than $2 billion.

For many Americans today, starting their own business is beginning of the "American dream" and financial freedom.  Although the potential to make money always exist, what many people do not realize is that the most frequent reason new businesses fail is purely financial. While owning a business there are many ways to access money to pay for goods and services, but the most common method is with a credit card. In an article entitled "Business Credit Card Debt May Hurt More Than It Helps", we see that while it makes sense to get a credit card, the over usage could potentially lead to failure.

In this article, we find the results of a recent study which was performed to determine if a link between high debt and a high failure rate among American businesses could be found. What they found out was that the survival of the business was in exact correlation with the amount of credit card debt that was carried.

As is the same case with any credit card, business owners must use their cards wisely. Just like with personal credit cards, owners must read and understand the terms and conditions of the offer and determine if it right for them. As interest rates climb and credit limits decrease, it is essential more now than ever for business owners to navigate carefully to help increase the odds of survival.

Earlier this month many business owners were delighted to hear that Chase was releasing their next generation of business credit cards. This line know as "Ink" were garnered by many as a breath of fresh air due to the fact business owners were considered by most the hardest hit by the "credit crunch".  It looks like Chase is not done extending credit as they recently announced expanding their commercial cards in the European, African and Middle Eastern market.

Among the things Chase is scheduled to launch, international businesses can look forward to the following products:
 

• The Executive Card
• J.P. Morgan’s Prepaid Cash Card (British Pounds and Euro)
• J.P. Morgan’s International Dollar Card (in U.S. dollars)
• Multi-Language Management and Information Reporting System

Although most of the new products are not scheduled to be launched until early 2010, Chase is now looking to offer its corporate clients something that they are currently lacking. According to a Chase representative, their hope is to offer more visibility and flexibility on spending for their expenses during the current economic environment.

Like many credit card issuers, it seems that Chase is serious about growing within this region. The international market has shown in the past to be a very promising source of revenue and it seems that it will only grow as more businesses look to grow internationally.

Anyone will tell you that small businesses have been through many tests and trails since the recession begun more than a year ago. Besides the decrease in sales and profit, many business owners saw their primary way to purchase goods and services lost when they were no longer allowed to make new purchases with their credit cards. In fact, the largest business credit card issuer at the time, which was Advanta, even shut their doors and sold parts of their portfolio to American Express. Now with a new line of business credit cards, Chase hopes to give businesses what they want and need most; credit.

Recently, Chase announced a suite of business cards known as "Ink from Chase" specifically geared toward small businesses. At the moment, the suite consist of four cards, with one being a charge card meaning it must be paid in full each month. The names of the cards are the Ink, Ink Cash, Ink Bold and Ink Plus.

Chase has stated that they engineered the "Ink" line of cards to address the needs that small businesses have displayed from daily operations. These cards hope to not only ease these daily operations, but also give quick access to capital as well as improve cash flow. As with many business credit cards today these cards also give business owners the ability to earn and redeem priceless rewards based on their cardholder’s preferences.

A war is raging and credit card issuers once again are finding themselves right in the middle of the battleground. Instead of the usual opponent, which is the consumer, now credit card issuers are finding themselves up against merchants. For a while now, merchants have complained about increasing processing fees, known as interchange fees, which banks charge every time a consumers uses a debit or credit card for payment.

In this confrontation, both sides have stated their reasoning behind their fight. Merchants state that the fees are excessive and negate any small profit margins that they may be seeing, which will cause an increase in prices to consumers who cannot afford to pay for higher prices. Credit card issues say that the service that they provide the merchants is much needed and these fees go to maintenance for devices and upkeep of service. Regardless of the reasons, interchange fees accounted for around forty-eight billion dollars in 2008.

Just as with the consumer and credit card issuers, it now seems like Congress could get involved. In fact, Congress is considering up to three bills that would regulate processing fees. If any bill passes, it would most likely allow merchants to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with banks when setting fees.

Although many consumers don’t think about it, many businesses have found themselves in the same situation as countless consumer credit cardholders when it comes to business credit cards. Like consumers, companies are being faced with a tightening credit environment making it very hard to run their businesses. The exact things that business are seeing and how they are being effected can be found in an article entitled "The Changing Landscape for Small Businesses Credit Cards".

According to the article, credit cards have become an everyday part of life for business owners and have been faceted to almost every part of daily operation. In fact, even as the recession started an increasing number of businesses found themselves using credit cards to control cash flow. This in itself showed many experts that other sources of traditional funding had decreased, making companies look for credit cards as a heavily used option for payment solutions.

Some of the things that are being seen within the business credit realm include the same changes consumers find in their mailboxes everyday. These include a drastically reduced credit line, increased interest rate, and less products or services that can be financed. As with any credit card, business owners must be smart and know that changes have and will take place, and try their best to adjust accordingly.

Over the past couple of years we have seen social sites grow in popularity and become a main source of communication for all groups of people. Those with no interest at one time have quickly found themselves immersing in sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others. Now American Express Open has launched a new forum called "Open Forum", as a resource and networking site for small business owners.

So what things can business owners look to find at the Open Forum? According to American Express, business owners will have the ability to create important connections that provide practical information that can be easily implemented. The Open Forum will also allow business owners and entrepreneurs to receive insightful tips and research from industry leaders, bloggers, and other business owners.

American Express has stated that their research shows a majority of business owners feel that they are challenged when it comes to finding new innovative ways to market their products and services. Of this majority, less than ten percent of those business owners are using the social networking opportunities of the internet as a way to gain insight and valuable opinion about their targeted consumers. Now that the Open Forum is available, American Express really hopes with their help that this changes in the near future.
 

Now that Advanta has closed the door on new purchases for its cardholders due to a dramatic increase in defaults, American Express has decided to offer their services. The catch is that only those certain cardholders that are deemed “smart choices” will get an offer to replace their Advanta credit card.

So how do you know if you are a small business credit cardholder that will be one of these select few, and how will you be contacted? According to Advanta you must have been a cardholder in good standing, and apparently Advanta will contact you and relay an invitation to apply for a credit card account with American Express. If you don’t get one from Advanta don’t worry because in some occasions you may get an invitation from American Express themselves. If you do get an invitation, please note that most are only valid for 60 days, so time will be of the essence.

If you don’t happen to get an invitation to become an American Express business credit card holder, it will be up to you to actively try to get another credit card or another line of credit. Although it may be tough, there are still a couple of other credit card issuers that may be worth giving a try. You can find a couple here under business credit cards.
 

For many small business owners, around 1 million to be exact, May 30, 2009 is a day that will not be soon forgotten. You see, on that day Advanta cardholders were no longer able to use their credit cards to make purchases. As they were only given a couple of weeks notice, many business owners were left wondering how they were going to make payroll and purchases. Although this may seem like just a repeat of what has happened to consumers on a day to day basis, this is quite different and could have a major impact on our economic recovery. Unlike consumers, a business owner’s credit line can be compared to their business’ lifeline.  For them, their credit and their ability to make purchases is the difference between a healthy thriving business and the loss of their primary if not only income.

Since the economic downturn, many people have suffered from what seems to be a drought in lending, but none more than small business owners. For the past months, many business owners have seen a decrease in the number of credit card offers made available to them. This is due to the fact defaults on business credit cards have increased as consumers spent less. In the case of Advanta, they decided to cut off credit to cardholders after charge-offs increased dramatically.

Help for small business owners needing credit may soon be on the way however, as President Obama vows to help. Stating that small businesses are an essential part of the economy, he promises to revive frozen credit markets to increase lending to small business. With a two step solution in the works, this is what many business owners want to see, in order to get credit flowing again.