Get a Better Credit Card

I love going to Costco. I've mentioned the benefits you can get from shopping at warehouse clubs in some of my earlier posts. Yesterday, however, I had an annoying experience at Costco that reminded me to post about something that I've been meaning to discuss and that some people don't know.

I was going through the checkout line and gave my American Express card to the cashier (Costco only takes cash/debit or American Express). The cashier made some kind of motion when she saw my card and the next thing I knew, some lady appeared at my side trying to push the Costco AmEx card on me. I felt really bothered by the fact that the cashiers were summoning these shills over whenever someone paid with a card that wasn't the Costco branded card. It felt to me like they were using semi-private information (what kind of card I use) for their own benefit. I didn't like it one bit.

Anyway - the lady gave me her best pitch, trying to get me to sign up for the card. She was telling me about how I could get 3% back on gas purchases (except when I purchased from their competitors at Sams & BJs!) and 1% on other purchases. I listened to her explain all the benefits and then simply told her that I was sorry - my current AmEx has better benefits. She told me that this was not possible since their card was the best consumer AmEx card. That's exactly my point - I don't have a consumer AmEx card! I have a business AmEx card and you can have one too. Anybody can have a business AmEx - all you have to do is fill out the application and list your business as a sole proprietorship with one employee (yourself). You use your own Social Security number as the tax id. That's all there is to it!

Most credit card companies give much more favorable terms on their business cards since these often get issued to companies that are large and have many employees. Your sole proprietorship (You Inc.) can reap the same benefits that these big companies get and most people don't take advantage of this. I've got two business cards myself for my side business and I don't plan on ever going back to the consumer cards - the benefits just don't stack up!