Amid a credit crunch that makes business loans hard to find, more small companies are tapping business credit cards to pay for capital investments, operating expenses -- and even gasoline.

''In many ways business credit cards have replaced commercial lines of credit,'' said Alan Carsrud, executive director of the Global Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University.

Using a credit card as a substitute for a line of credit ''is obviously a very dangerous thing to do,'' said Marc Junkunc, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Miami. ``It can be very expensive financing.''

Credit cards promising easy money at low interest rates can look attractive but Junkunc cautioned these are often ''teaser rates'' that can be raised with little notice.

In the current credit crunch, some credit card issuers also are reducing credit limits. That's what happened to Blockbuster Golf Cars, which sells golf supplies in Pompano Beach. Last month, manager Brad Meyers said American Express sent a letter notifying him that the company's small business credit card line had been reduced by $2,000.

FINANCING

Yet finding financing of any kind has become so extremely difficult that some small companies don't have much choice except to turn to plastic.

A survey conducted this month by American Express OPEN shows that 63 percent of small businesses reported they were affected by tightening credit, compared to 50 percent in August.

Over the next 12 to 18 months, 46 percent said they believe economic conditions will worsen and 18 percent -- double the percentage in August -- worry about going out of business in the next six months, according to the poll of 602 small business owners or managers.

Jennifer Behar, owner of gourmet baking company Jennifer's Homemade in Miami, is among the small business owners who have turned to using a credit card more in recent months.

She said flour and sugar, as well as some operating expenses, go on her American Express Platinum card. She's upped her credit card use to avoid tapping the line of credit she has with SunTrust Bank.

''It's helping me with my cash flow,'' she said. ``It allows me to utilize the credit line for things like payroll, where I couldn't use a card.''

So far Behar's credit limit has remained the same, but anticipating tighter credit availability, Behar got an additional card in August. Both cards have a prime interest rate of 4.5 percent.

Behar would like to expand Jennifer's Homemade but is concerned about the credit crunch.

''I'm looking at growing, and what do you do to grow the business if people aren't lending?'' she asked.

Many first-time entrepreneurs, unable to find a bank loan, do rely on credit cards to set up and open shop, and successful companies typically use them for day-to-day expenses that are paid off monthly.

But data show business owners have become more reliant on plastic for capital expenses -- purchases of equipment or other fixed assets. A survey by the National Small Business Association, an industry group in Washington, D.C., showed that in the last year a record low 28 percent of small businesses used bank loans while 44 percent of small businesses used credit cards to pay for capital expenses.

And 57 percent of these companies said their credit card terms had gotten worse in the last year.

Meyers, of Blockbuster Golf Cars, said American Express cited late payments as the reason for reducing the firm's credit limit. But he said that wasn't reason enough. ''If we were late, we were late by one day once or twice,'' Meyers said.

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