Business Credit Reporting Agency: How to Register with the Top 3 Business Credit Bureaus

December 17, 2010 By Marco Carbajo

Business Credit Reporting Agency

Is your company listed with the major business credit bureaus? Business Credit Reporting Agency

Do you know that there are over 30 business credit reporting agencies in America?

With so many companies in the business of collecting commercial information it can be quite a challenge deciding which ones are most important for your company to get listed with.

For starters you should focus on getting listed with the top three business credit reporting agencies which are Dun and Bradstreet, Corporate Experian, and Small Business Equifax.

Click to continue …

Business Credit Reporting: A Smart Move in Today’s Economy

December 9, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

Business Credit Reporting

While extending a credit term by as little as 30 or 60 day is just like offering an unsecured loan it’s a credit risk most of us are willing to take. We’re simply providing goods or services in return for a promise to pay.

But as many business owners have learned during these tough economic times, promises are easily broken.

However, by reporting your customer’s payment experience to a business credit bureau you can reduce customer late payments, defaults, and improve collections. In fact one of my clients who is set up with D&B’s trade exchange program experienced a 25% reduction on his past due accounts once his customers were notified that their payments were getting reported.

Here’s a list of benefits you can expect:

Confidentiality – Your company name is not revealed to other clients in order to protect the privacy of your information.
Timely payments – Customers who know you are reporting to the business credit bureaus are less likely to default on their debt
Improve Collections – Leverage the powerful brands of the major business credit bureaus like Dun and Bradstreet,business Experian and business Equifax in your invoicing and collections activity.
Contribute to your customer’s financial health – Reporting your customers’ payment experience can help ensure that your clients don’t assume more debt with other creditors than they can manage
Reduce Credit Risk – Through data sharing your business will have the ability to make more informed credit decisions and receive additional solutions from the business credit bureaus to further mitigate risk and identify opportunities.

Here’s how to get set up with some of the major business credit reporting agencies so you can start business credit reporting.

D&B Trade Exchange Program

If your business has more than 300 active accounts or is a current DNBi customer you can qualify to participate in the D&B Trade Exchange Program. There is no fee or cost to participate and your customer data is secure at all times.

Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE)

The Small Business Financial Exchange is a non-profit association consisting of national and regional financial institutions. It’s managed by business Equifax and is a member-owned database of positive and negative small business trade line data including loans, credit lines, leases, credit cards and SBA loans.

To participate in data sharing with SBFE you must be a financial institution or leasing company. If you are interested in joining the SBFE, call 888-201-6879 or send an email to [email protected]

Small Business Exchange (SBX)

With the development of the SBX database, Equifax now offers both banking and leasing payment experience information and non-banking trade receivable history. This is great news for small business owners who don’t fall into the financial institution or leasing company category required by SBFE. Now there is a single source of data from banks, leasing companies and trade suppliers.

Data sharing with SBX is open to any company that provides products and services to small businesses on an invoice basis. If you are interested in joining the SBX, call 888-201-6879 or send an email to [email protected].

Corporate Experian

Business Experian offers commercial trade reporting through the Internet via Secure HTTP. If your business gets set up it can only submit payment data via electronic transmission. There is no fee or cost to participate.

To set up a user ID and password to begin reporting your data online call at 800-478-0650.

By reporting your customer’s payment experiences with creditors across the country, you help other business decision-makers reduce their credit risk plus ensure the growth of your company and that of the business community at large. Begin reducing your customer late payments, defaults, and improve collections by reporting to a business credit bureau today! Stay tuned for additional posts on how to get set up with additional bureaus.

To access business credit insider secrets, premium vendors, leasing companies, business credit cards, and lenders that report to all the major business credit bureaus become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle. Submit your name and email below for details and receive a free audio seminar ($597 value) =>

Marco Picture 2009 Super Small pic 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 The Scotsman Guide, Alltop, Entrepreneur Connect, and Active Rain.

Start Business Credit: What Business Structure Should I Choose?

November 24, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

Business Entity

Start Business Credit: Entity Selection

I get asked this question quite often and thought I would clear the air on what business entity selection is best when you start building business credit. This step by far is the most important because it’s the foundation for what you will be building your business credit upon. Not to mention all the other important areas that entity selection affects such as taxes, liability, asset protection and so on.

When a client comes to me for advice on selecting the best business structure, the first questions are:

What Does Your Business Do?

I ask this to get you into the best structure for taxes. How your income is taxed depends on the type of income your business earns. If your income is earned through passive sources – rent, portfolio income, etc., it will be taxed differently than if your business provides a product or a service that you sell.

Where Do You Live?

I ask this question because where you live can make a difference to the kind of business structure you form. Some states charge more for one type of structure over another. Knowing where a client lives allows my entity specialist to choose the most economic structure.

How Much Does Your Business Earn?

This question again relates to taxes, and is specifically geared towards someone who receives “earned” income (that’s income from selling a product or providing a service). There’s an income threshold we look at – once your income surpasses it, it’s time to rethink your options.

Taxation is a Critical Factor!

Did you notice that all three of those questions are related to taxes? That’s the secret lesson to take away here. All business structures will work in all situations. The secret is knowing which business structure best matches your income and tax situation so you keep more of what you earn.

The mistake I see so many business owners make is selecting the wrong entity structure for their company. They get anxious about building their profile with the business credit bureaus and think that one type of entity is better than all the rest. There is no cookie cutter approach to entity selection because every business is different. Don’t take any shortcuts in this step because it can cost you big time.

As a business owner, you have four real choices when it comes to business structures and two bad choices:

* C Corporation

* S Corporation

* Limited Liability Company

* Limited Partnership

* Sole Proprietorship

* General Partnership

Business Credit Blog » Business Credit » Start Business Credit – entity selection for business credit

Sole Proprietor and General Partnership

To learn why Sole Proprietorships and General Partnerships are so dangerous to you and your family, read on.

A Sole Proprietorship is bad…

Have you heard the saying “You get what you pay for?” Well, you normally don’t pay anything to start either a Sole Proprietorship or a General Partnership. Of course you don’t get anything, either. Unless you count the following as valuable business assets:

* Lots of personal liability

* No protection from your business creditors

* An increased risk of being audited

* Problems with valuation for a subsequent sale of the business

The reason for this lack of protection is because neither of these structures is considered a separate legal structure. Instead, they are considered personal extensions of you, if you are operating as a Sole Proprietorship, or you and your partners, if you’re operating as a General Partnership.

And, because these business types are considered personal extensions of you, you don’t have any protection from them.

But a General Partnership is Downright Ugly!

It gets even worse if you are operating with a partner as a General Partnership. That’s because not only are you responsible for all debts and agreements you enter into in the name of your business, you’re also on the hook for all of your partner’s actions in the name of your business as well. This can be devastating if your partner is financially irresponsible, and, because either of you can bind the partnership; you have zero protection from your partner.

If You Don’t Choose a Good Entity, the Government Will Choose a Bad One for You!

If you’ve been doing business up to now without a business structure, both the IRS and your state government have defaulted your business into either a Sole Proprietorship or a General Partnership.

And that means you’re exposed.

Select the proper business structure and incorporate your company if you want to start business credit and you want to protect yourself from personal liabilities. So if you already decided on the right entity structure then the next step is incorporating your business.

If you already have an existing entity set up then the next key step is obtaining a federal Tax ID.

Business Credit Resources

» Business Credit Seminar

» Business Credit Insiders Circle

» Business Credit Blog

Are you ready to incorporate and start building business credit? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven step-by-step business credit building system.

To Your Success!

Marco Carbajo

About the Author

Marco Picture 2009 Super Small pic Marco Carbajo is a business credit specialist, author, speaker, and founder of the Business Credit Insider’s Circle. Want to learn more about how you can become a member and gain access to Marco’s business credit secrets, sources, and information on how to obtain unlimited financing for your business without a personal guarantee? Claim his FREE ‘Eight Steps To Ultimate Business Credit Without a Personal Guarantee’ audio seminar ($597 Value), for a limited time by submitting your name and email below =>

Top 10 Business Credit Bureaus

November 21, 2009 By Marco Carbajo

Business Credit Bureaus

The majority of us can easily identify with the three major consumer credit reporting agencies known as Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. These are privately held companies that specialize in collecting data on consumers and then compiling the data in a format known as a credit report.

Did you know that there are companies that collect data specifically on businesses? These privately held companies are known as business credit reporting agencies and they compile their data into formats called business credit reports. They collect data from banks, suppliers, finance companies, business owners, and look at public records such as tax liens, bankruptcies, and judgments.

It’s important for you to get your company listed because it can make the process of establishing business credit and financing much easier but keep in mind that there is over 25 other business credit bureaus not listed here and some are even industry specific such as trucking or construction. You may want to look into some of these particular bureaus to get listed with in addition to the top 10 depending on the type of industry your business is in.

Here are my Top 10 Business Credit Bureaus you should know.

1. Dun and Bradstreet (D&B)
D&B is the primary business credit reporting agency with over 70 million businesses registered in their database. A business credit file with D&B contains information provided by the business owner and vendors of the business. D&B issues a paydex score based on payment experiences and a DUNS rating based on financials. Its business credit builder program is a great way for business owners to add trade references to their file in a short period of time.

2. Equifax Small Business Enterprise
Small Business Equifax, one of the three primary consumer credit reporting agencies, also provides business credit evaluations for over 22,000,000 small businesses and corporations.

3. Experian SmartBusinessReportsTM
Experian business is another one of the three primary consumer credit reporting agencies who provides business credit evaluations as well. SmartBusinessReports assigns a business credit score called the Intelliscore.

4. FDInsight™
This is a company that is relatively new to the business credit market. It was originally the second largest credit reporting company in the mortgage broker field. The information on their business files is provided by the business owner or a third party and then every piece of information is verified by the staff of FDInsight™. They are known to provide the most accurate business credit report in the industry.

5. Credit.net
Credit.net is a division of InfoUSA® that generates credit reports on approximately 15,000,000 businesses. The credit analysis provided by Credit.net relies on four criteria: years in business, number of employees, public records, and stability within the industry. Its business credit score is a grading system from A through C (70-100) and is awarded as an evaluation of the company’s credit history.

6. AccurintTMBusiness
This is a new business that is a combination of forces between The Better Business Bureau (BBB) and LexisNexis. Accurint Business is like Business Experian in that they provide public and business profile information, including credit history based on payment patterns of small, medium, and large companies.

7. ClientChecker
This is a business credit bureau that started in 2003 and specifically targets small businesses, freelance professionals, and contractors searching for information to help them determine which other businesses they should do business with. Rather than providing a fixed business credit score, ClientChecker compiles information based on feedback from its members.

8. Paynet
Paynet collects real-time loan information from more than 200 leading U.S. lenders. The company’s database has a collection of commercial loans and leases. It’s the largest proprietary database of long-term debt over a period of ten years.

9. Cortera
Cortera provides credit information on businesses large and small but then combines it with ratings from a community of small business owners, who provide feedback both good and bad on these businesses.

10. ChexSystems
The tenth reporting agency is extremely important as it has to do with your ability to open up a business checking account with a financial institution. Banks use a reporting agency known as ChexSystems which is a network comprised of member Financial Institutions that regularly contribute information on mishandled checking and savings accounts to a central location.

These business credit bureaus allow your business to establish its own credit profile, scores, and payment history. As a business owner you should know who the major business credit reporting agencies are and what type of data they collect on your business. Knowing this will give you greater insight into getting listed and established in the business credit industry.

Ready to get your business listed with the business credit bureaus? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven 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!

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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, 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’.