How to Build Credit for Your Business

When it comes to building credit we’ve all heard the typical advice; get a few credit cards, use them regularly and pay your statements on time. But when it comes to building credit for your business what then?

In this post I will cover how to build credit for your company whether you are a startup or seasoned business. The first thing you should know is acquiring credit in the name of your business is not as simple as filling out a credit application.

There’s some initial prep work that needs to be done once you incorporate your business in order to structure the proper foundation for building a creditworthy company.

Are you familiar with the term lender compliance?

Lender compliance is an industry term that basically means having a business set up and structured in a way that meets standard guidelines set forth by lenders, creditors, and suppliers.

By meeting these guidelines you not only have the ability to acquire credit as a business but also increase the financing opportunities available for your company.

Now meeting these guidelines not only applies to startups. If you own an existing business you will need to conduct a complete evaluation of your current foundation. You would be surprised to know how many seasoned companies don’t comply with these standard requirements.

Once you complete lender compliance the next step is to get a DUNs number for your business. Dun and Bradstreet is one of the major business credit reporting agencies that enable you to register your business and set up a company profile.

The DUNs number assigned to your business will be the number you submit on business credit applications. This enables a creditor or supplier to review your profile when you apply for credit. By supplying your DUNs number, creditors and suppliers will also be able to report your payment history to your business credit report if they share data with Dun and Bradstreet.

Getting your company listed with Corporate Experian or Equifax Small Business requires that your business applies for credit with creditors that furnish data to one or both of these agencies. The information you supply on credit applications must be consistent and perfectly match to avoid mismatched data and creating duplicate credit files with an agency.

Now I know you can always acquire credit as a business using your personal credit. However, in order to truly build credit for your business where it actually reflects on your company’s credit reports requires that you follow a step-by-step process.

As you can see building business credit is much more than simply applying for credit. It requires meeting lender compliance, obtaining a DUNs number, and acquiring credit with creditors and suppliers that furnish payment data to one or more of the major business credit reporting agencies.

You have probably heard the quote, “If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” Nothing could be further from the truth. In order to stop putting your personal credit at risk, start building credit for your business today.

Ready to start building credit for your business? 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 lender compliance guidelines, 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!

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About the author

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, All Business.com and About.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 San Francisco Tribune’,‘Alltop’, and ‘Entrepreneur Connect’.

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