DotLoop Blog

Consider yourselves warned.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, that "professional card" offer you received in the mail last week may give your ego a boost, but not without first raiding your wallet.

With issuing offers of such cards up 256% from last year, you may be asking yourself: has everyone become a small-business owner over night?

Hardly. Thanks to the new CARD (Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility and Disclosure) Act of 2009, card issuers can no longer jack up your rates or ding you with inactivity fees.

Such consumer protections are not covered for small-business cards, though. So, now, not only can your dog receive a credit card, he can also be a small business owner, too.

They keep finding the loopholes.

Chase spokeswoman Laura Rossi says that only small-business owners should be receiving these cards and that "mailings for small-business cards have not spiked but have remained relatively consistent."

Apparently, a 256% increase is not a spike. "Professional", huh?

So, if when they ask you 'what's in your wallet?' let them know: cash.