• HOME
    • Business Credit
  • About Marco Carbajo
  • Contact Us
  • Archives
  • Resources
    • Business Calculators
      • Business Credit Card Payoff Calculator
      • Business Loan Calculator
      • Business Lease Calculator
  • Business Credit Cards
  • Afffiliate Program
  • Member Login

Business Credit

Building Business Credit for Small Business

  • Business Credit
    • Consumer Credit
  • Funding
  • Business Credit Programs
  • Business Credit Building System
  • Business Funding Engine
  • Real Estate Funding
You are here: Home / Archives for 2009

Archives for 2009

How to Business Plan: What you need to know

June 18, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

business-planI’m sure you’ve heard about ‘business plans’ but do you know the real benefits to having one?

Not every entrepreneur who starts and runs an online or offline business begins with a business plan, but it definitely helps to have one. If you’re seeking funding from a venture capitalist, angel investor or other source of private capital then you will definitely need a comprehensive business plan that is well thought out and shows sound business reasoning.

However, too many entrepreneurs believe that business plans are only needed when you require business capital or financing to launch your business. When it comes to the internet many entrepreneurs can start their business on a shoe string budget so in their minds ‘business plans’ don’t apply to them right?

Nothing can be further from the truth. It’s like building a home without using any plans or blueprint. Imagine believing that because you have all the materials, laborers, and tools needed to build a home you figure why do we need the plans? Let’s just start building away!

A business plan is your blueprint that outlines every necessary component for the success of your business. Now for internet entrepreneurs how can you expect to build your business online without a plan? If you plan to build your business on the internet using social media marketing you’re going to need a plan?

You’ve probably heard me say this ‘A sign of no business plan is a sign of no business’.

Still not convinced?

If you ever decide to approach a banker for a loan for your business, your loan officer may suggest a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, which will require a business plan. If you have an existing business and you are approaching a bank for capital to expand the business, they may not require a business plan, but it will look much more favorably on your application if you do have one.

Here are ’10 Reasons Why You Should Have a Business Plan’

  1. Supports a loan application
  2. To raise equity funding
  3. Define objectives and describe programs to achieve those objectives
  4. Compete in the marketplace (through an analysis of what your competition lacks)
  5. Make money from the start by devising an effective marketing strategy
  6. Provide a revenue estimate (by defining your market — who your customers will be — and the percentage of the market you can expect to reach)
  7. Define agreements between partners
  8. Set a value on a business for sale or legal purposes
  9. Evaluate a new product line, promotion, or expansion
  10. Determine whether your business has a chance of making a good profit

What’s in a business plan?

A business plan should prove that your business will generate enough money to cover your expenses, but a business plan may vary depending upon who your target audience is. If you are writing a plan for your associates and partners, for example, to expand an existing business, then the focus of that plan may be more on the operation side than it will be on the financial side. This plan would show your partners how the expansion will mean more revenues, but they are going to want to know the nuts and bolts of how this new venture is going to be implemented.

If you are writing a business plan for a bank, your bank manager will want to see that your ideas are well thought out, but the most important aspect to him or her will be your financials. Are your projections realistic? And will the cash flow of the business be enough to ensure that you can make the monthly payments for the loan that you have requested? If your business is making $1,000 a month and your payments are $1,200 a month, the bank is likely to reject your application.

When considering an investment opportunity, most venture capitalists will look at the obvious trends and market niches. The most important factor in a decision to invest in a company is the quality of the people. In real estate, the three biggest factors are “location, location and location.” The venture capital factors are “people, people and people.” VCs will ask, how experienced are the people that are going to run this business? Do they have knowledge of the industry? Have they started successful businesses in the past?

I know it’s quite a bit to digest but are you seeing all the benefits to having a business plan?

Excellent!

What makes a successful business plan?

  • Presents a well thought out idea
  • Contains clear and concise writing
  • Has a clear and logical structure
  • Illustrates management’s ability to make the business a success
  • Shows profitability

Lets bring it all together…

Your business plan is your business blueprint and like a calling card, it will get you in the door when you’ll have to convince investors and loan officers that you can put your plan into action. You want your calling card to look impressive, so make sure your business plan is printed out on good quality paper, you have checked the spelling and grammar and that your numbers add up. Anyone who sees errors while reading your plan will wonder whether you are going to make similar errors in running your business.

A great business plan accomplishes two main objectives:

1) It provides you a blueprint for building your business including but not limited to product development, target marketing, operations, and revenue projections

2) Show bankers, venture capitalists, and angel investors that you are worthy of financial support.

Make sure that your plan is clear, focused and realistic. Then show them that you have the tools, talent and team to make it happen.

Start your business plan today!

CLICK HERE for 500 sample business plans

Here’s a free course on‘How to Write A Business Plan‘from the SBA

Looking to build your business credit? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven step-by-step business credit building system. A system that provides you access to vendor lines of credit, fleet cards, business credit cards with and without a PG, funding sources and lenders that report to all the major business credit bureaus. Submit your name and email below for details and receive a free business credit building audio seminar ($597 value) =>

To Your Success In Business and in Life!

Did This Blog Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate if you like and shared this on Facebook and Twitter.

About the author

Marco CarbajoMarco Carbajo is a business credit expert, author, speaker, and founder of the Business Credit Insiders Circle. He is a business credit blogger for Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp, the SBA.gov Community, About.com and All Business.com. His articles and blog; Business Credit Blogger.com,  have been featured in ‘Fox Small Business’,’American Express Small Business’, ‘Business Week’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The San Francisco Tribune’,‘Alltop’, and ‘Entrepreneur Connect’.

Filed Under: Business Credit Tagged With: business plan, business plan help, business plan how to, business plan software, business planning, business plans, how business plan, how to business plan, small business administration

Business Loan Finance: How to Get Approved

June 17, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

Business CreditLending institutions want to lend money because it’s the way they make money. However, they only want to lend money to a borrower who is able to repay the loan on time and in full.

When lending small amounts of money under $50,000 typically the qualification depends solely on personal and business credit scores. Depending on the personal and business credit scores, they either will or will not approve the loan.

When deciding to extend credit to a business lenders use the ‘Four Factors for Lending Approval’:

Capacity

Collateral

Conditions

Character

Each of these areas helps the lender to determine the overall risk of the loan. While each of the C’s is reviewed, none of them on their own will prevent or guarantee access to financing. There are really no automatic formulas or guaranteed percentages that are used with the Five C’s. They are only a variety of factors lenders use to evaluate and decide how much of a risk the potential borrower is.

Let’s cover these 4 Factors in greater detail.

Capacity

This is an evaluation of your ability to repay the loan. Capacity is evaluated by several components including cash flow, payment history, and additional cash sources. The best way to show your capacity is with a strong business credit profile, a strong bank rating (typically a low 5), a well designed business plan and/or prior year(s) financials that show you can produce enough cash to repay the loan.

If your loan is under $50k most banks will grant an approval if you have a strong business credit rating, a favorable personal credit score, and a low 5 bank rating.

CLICK HERE for a free business plan course

Collateral

Heavy machinery, inventory, equipment, stocks and bonds, and other expensive business assets that can be sold if a borrower fails to repay the loan are considered collateral. One of the easiest ways to obtain a business loan for building business credit and bank credit is using the CD-Secured loan strategy.

*There are specific banks that do these types of loans that can allow you to grow your access to capital at a much faster rate.

Conditions

Be prepared to prove that the conditions are right for your business. Make sure there’s a market, an industry, positioning, competitiveness, and experience to back up your plan.

Character

Lenders have to believe that a business owner is a reliable individual who can be depended on to repay the loan. Some areas they look into include personal credit history, education, and work experience.

When applying for a small business loan, don’t forget the importance of personal relationships. Apply for a loan at a bank where you already have a positive business relationship. Also, make an attempt to meet with the person who will be evaluating your application, such as a bank’s lending officer, rather than the teller who handles your day-to-day banking transactions.

If you want to succeed in getting a loan, be sure to also check out Elements of a Successful Small Business Loan Application.

*Gain access to my private list of banks that do CD-Secured loans when you join our business credit building system.

Remember – To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business. ~ J. Paul Getty

Looking to rebuild your business credit? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven step-by-step business credit building system. A system that provides you access to vendor lines of credit, fleet cards, business credit cards with and without a PG, funding sources and lenders that report to all the major business credit bureaus. Submit your name and email below for details and receive a free business credit building audio seminar ($497 value) =>

To Your Success in Business and in Life!

Did This Blog Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate if you like and shared this on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Author

 Marco Carbajo                                                                                                

Marco Carbajo is a business credit expert, author, speaker, and founder of the Business Credit Insiders Circle. He is a business credit blogger for Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp, the SBA.gov Community, Business.com, About.com and All Business.com. His articles and blog; Business Credit Blogger.com, have been featured in ‘Fox Small Business’,’American Express Small Business’, ‘Business Week’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The San Francisco Tribune’,‘Alltop’, and ‘Entrepreneur Connect’.

Filed Under: Business Credit Tagged With: bank credit, bank history, bank loans, banking credit, build business credit, build corporate credit, business credit, business credit card, business credit loan, business credit strategy, business finance, business loan, cd secured loan, corporate credit, corporate finance, getting loans approved, how to business credit, how to business loan, micro loan, sba, small business administration, small business banking, small business finance, small business financing

Credit Cards for Business

June 10, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

small-business-credit-cardWhile small business credit card usage is on the rise according to the 2009 Small Business Credit Card Survey the majority of all small business owners fail to understand the importance of what’s in the fine print.

 

Statistics even show that over 65% off all small businesses use credit cards on a regular basis; but the problem is less than half of those credit cards are actually in the business name.

 

I hope to provide you with some insight into business credit cards and what you should pay close attention to when applying.

 

First, you should be aware that there are over 500 business credit cards available in the marketplace but less than 70 report your payment history to the business credit bureaus.

 

In addition, there are less than 40 business credit cards that will extend cash credit cards to your business without a personal guarantee.

 

Here are my ‘Top 4 Types of Business Credit Card Applications’ you should know about

 

The Business Credit Card Wannabe

 

This business credit card is by far the worst and in my opinion very misleading. It doesn’t matter how much fluff or creative sales copy is used by these particular companies what matters is what’ in the fine print! In a nutshell this business credit card application is nothing more than a glorified personal credit card.

 

How to identify?

 

The application requires your personal information, social security number, and business name only.  No Tax ID# or Duns# is required.

 

Disadvantages

 

Personally liable for all debt

All charges and debts are reported on personal credit files

Impacts personal debt to credit limit ratios

 

The Business Credit Card Poser

 

This business credit card is doing its best to be a true business credit card but it doesn’t quite make the grade. In a nutshell this card still requires a personal guarantee but what makes it appealing is the payment history and credit card balance are solely reported to the businesses credit reports not personal.

 

How to identify?

 

The application requires your business information, Fed Tax ID#, Duns#, personal information and social security number.

 

Disadvantages

 

Personally liable for all debt if the business defaults

 

The True Business Credit Card

 

This is the real deal business credit card and what truly represents what every business owner should have. A card that is tied to the business and completely separate from personal credit. This card is the best of both worlds! The payment history and balances report solely on the business credit reports and there is no personal guarantee keeping the liability strictly tied to the business.

 

How to identify?

 

The application requires your business information, Fed Tax ID#, Duns#, personal information but no personal social security number. (No personal guarantee)

 

Disadvantages

 

NONE

 

*Keep in mind there are also business credit cards that allow you to apply with business information only and no personal credit check. However, if you’re business credit scores and files are not strong enough they may require a personal guarantee for approval. I call this the ‘Two Faced Business Credit Card’.

Looking to rebuild your business credit? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven step-by-step business credit building system. A system that provides you access to vendor lines of credit, fleet cards, business credit cards with and without a PG, funding sources and lenders that report to all the major business credit bureaus. Submit your name and email below for details and receive a free business credit building audio seminar ($497 value) =>


To Your Success in Business and in Life!

Did This Blog Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate if you like and shared this on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Author

Marco Carbajo

Marco Carbajo is a business credit expert, author, speaker, and founder of the Business Credit Insiders Circle. He is a business credit blogger for Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp, the SBA.gov Community, Business.com, About.com and All Business.com. His articles and blog; Business Credit Blogger.com, have been featured in ‘Fox Small Business’,’American Express Small Business’, ‘Business Week’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The San Francisco Tribune’,‘Alltop’, and ‘Entrepreneur Connect’.

Filed Under: Business Credit Tagged With: build business credit, build corporate credit, business credit card, business credit cards, business credit loan, business credit strategy, business credit without a personal guarantee, business loan, corporate credit card, credit card tips, Credit cards, credit cards for business, credit education, credit for small business, how to business credit card, no personal guarantee credit card, no personal guarantee credit cards, small business banking, small business credit card, small business finance, small business financing, visa business credit card

Is You’re Credit Card Company Using ‘Balance Chasing’

May 19, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

business-credit-card

Credit Card Company

As credit card profiling, credit limit reductions and interest rate hikes weren’t enough there is an even greater more dangerous tactic that creditors are using causing a snow ball like effect that’s hitting even the most pristine credit worthy consumers.

By 2010 there is an estimate that there will be $2 trillion less in credit limit availability in the marketplace or 40%.

Recently there was a video on CBS about Miriam Majors, a young woman who had her credit limits reduced because of credit card profiling and as a result the ‘balance chasing’ tactic that creditors are also using created a snow ball effect of problems for Miriam.

What is ‘balance chasing’?

If a creditor sees that another creditor has reduced your credit limits therefore increasing your debt to credit limit ratios than this is what triggers the second creditor to issue an interest rate hike.

Here’s what happened to Miriam Majors:

The Snowball Effect

  • Her credit card’s (creditor #1) credit limit was reduced by $7,000
  • Her FICO score went from 783 down to 733 (50 point reduction)
  • Her other credit card company (Bank of America #2 creditor) raised her interest rate from 7.9% to 28.99%!
  • Her monthly payment increased with creditor #2 because of the interest rate hike
  • She spent her personal time to find out why this happened with Bank of America
  • No comment from Bank of America just policy because her limits and personal credit ratings changed

Her solution:

  • She canceled her credit card account with Bank of America
  • She opened a new credit card account with her credit union

Don’t think for a minute that your 750 or 780 credit score is immune to what’s going on in the credit card industry. As you can see that one creditor that decides to reduce your credit limit can trigger a snow ball or domino like effect on your credit and finances and leave you powerless to defend it.

Miriam Majors did take action but unfortunately the damage is done and even though her credit score is within prime rate qualification the time, frustration and money it cost to her is something that will stick with her for life.

Remember –  Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.  ~ Les Brown

Looking to build your business credit? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven step-by-step business credit building system. A system that provides you access to vendor lines of credit, fleet cards, business credit cards with and without a PG, funding sources and lenders that report to all the major business credit bureaus. Submit your name and email below for details and receive a free business credit building audio seminar ($497 value) =>

To Your Success in Business and in Life!

Did This Blog Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate if you like and shared this on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Author

Marco Carbajo

Marco Carbajo is a business credit specialist, author, speaker, and founder of the Business Credit Insiders Circle. He is a weekly columnist for Dun & Bradstreet Small Business Solutions, a business credit blogger for All Business & American Express Small Business and author of “Eight Steps to Ultimate Business Credit” and “How to Build Business Credit with No Personal Guarantee.” His articles and blogs have also been featured in Business Week, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Tribune, Scotsman Guide, Alltop, Entrepreneur Connect, and Active Rain.  

Filed Under: Business Credit Tagged With: business credit, credit card, credit card tips, Credit cards, credit education, credit tips, credithelp, creditrepair, creditreport, creditreports, creditscore, creditscoring, ficoscore, free credit card tips, free credit reports, personal credit repair, personalcredit

Top 10 Credit Score Myths

May 18, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

credit-scoreMost individuals who have made it a habit to annually check their credit reports with the three credit reporting agencies; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have found themselves in a state of confusion when it comes to understanding credit scores. The most commonly used credit scoring model is FICO® and the new kid on the block known as Vantage Score.

While these scores are important in obtaining credit, loans, and lower interest rates, there seems to be several credit score myths that need to be debunked.

Here are my ‘Top 10 Credit Score Myths’

Myth:  There is only one credit score.
Fact:  There are three credit scores; one from each of the aforementioned agencies.  Equifax’s credit score is called the Beacon Score, Transunion’s credit score is Empirica Score, while Experian has embraced it’s own new credit scoring system called Vantage Score.

Myth:  Your score will decrease every time you check it.
Fact:  Not true.  You can ascertain what your score is as often as you need to and it will not lower your score at all. Go to http://www.myfico.com to order your scores today.
Click to continue …

Filed Under: Business Credit Tagged With: business credit, credit card, Credit cards, credit education, credit tips, creditcrunch, credithelp, creditrepair, creditreport, creditreports, creditscore, creditscoring, ficoscore, free credit card tips, free credit help, free credit reports, personal credit repair, personalcredit

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Join Over 52,000 Business Owners

business credit builder system

business funding engine

>
What's Your Credit Score?

Bank Line of Credit

Opus Virtual Offices banner 6
Build Your Dreams With Net 30 Terms

CATEGORIES

  • Business Credit
  • Business Credit Videos
  • Consumer Credit
  • Funding
  • Help for Small Business

RECENT POSTS

  • Top 5 Benefits of Using Business Credit Cards for Your Business
  • How to Get a Business Line of Credit with a Low Credit Score

CONNECT WITH US

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 Business Credit Blogger.com | All Rights Reserved | TOC | Privacy Policy | Disclosure | Sitemap | Contact Us