The crisis surrounding small financial institutions is getting further underway, even as more of the largest U.S. lenders are aiming to pay back TARP funds by the end of the year.

The latest victim of that trend is Advanta (ADVNB), which ceased honoring recent charges last week, leaving many business owners scrambling to plug a financial gap caused by the abrupt shutdown. Over 1 million firms are expected to be affected.

The vast majority of small business owners rely on credit to fund the operations of their businesses: to make payroll, buy supplies, and smooth out their operational cash flow.

Any disruption to the supply of credit to these firms can be very damaging to our economy. According to SmallBusinessNotes.com:

In a story that I believe was underreported yesterday, the nation’s 11^th largest credit card issuer, Advanta (ADVNB), announced it will be suspending all credit card charges on outstanding credit cards as of June 10^th in order to “dramatically limit the company’s credit loss exposure and maximize its capital and its liquidity measures.”

As of March 31^st, Advanta’s charge-off rate stood at 20%.

Q4 2008 Earnings Call

January 29, 2009, 9:00 am ET

Q2 2008 Earnings Call

July 29, 2008 9:00 am ET

One way that you can earn very high returns is utilizing a technique called 'buying dividends.' Buying dividends is the process of buying a stock just before it goes ex-dividend, and selling it shortly after the ex-dividend date at the same [or at a higher] price as the cost price. The ex-dividend date is the date after which a buyer of the stock is no longer entitled to the dividend.

In other words, if an investor purchases a stock on or after the ex-dividend date, the investor will not receive the dividend; however, if the stock is purchased prior to the ex-dividend date, the investor will receive the dividend on what is called the payment date. Another way to look at it is an investor can sell a stock on the ex-div date or later and still get the dividend.

Q1 2008 Earnings Call

April 30, 2008, 9:00 am ET

Q4 2007 Earnings call

January 30, 2008 9:00 am ET