BUSINESS CREDIT REPORT

If your company is less than 2 years old, you will NOT be able to obtain an unsecured business lines of credit through banks. The only options you can qualify for are credit cards, factoring, lease financing, vendor credit and business loans.

HOW DO I BUILD MY BUSINESS CREDIT PROFILE?

You will typically need to do the following regardless of whether your company is a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship or a partnership:

      1 Get a Tax Identification Number from the IRS

      2 Get a DUNS Number through Dun & Bradstreet at www.dnb.com. A DUNS number will allow vendors to look up your business credit 

         profile online.  Dun & Bradstreet is the leading source of commercial credit data.  After you receive your D-U-N-S Number your business

         will be listed in D&B’s database and your credit information will be available to banks and other companies.  D&B compiles its information

         on your company from outside sources as well as from phone interviews with a corporate officer. What you tell D & B, they will

         normally include in your D&B report, which will be available to anyone who requests a profile on your company. So it's a good idea to

         present your company in a very positive light when providing information to D&B. Although you don't have to provide financial data to

         D&B, you may want to do so if it is positive and would make your report attractive to creditors that may review it. You can provide

         D&B with figures over the telephone or submit financial statements on your company.

         DO NOT get drawn into spending a large amount of money on products such as CreditBuilder, etc.

      3 Apply for vendor credit lines from Stapes, Quill and NEBS.   

Once all three vendor business credit lines have been established, make minor purchases and PAY your bill on time. You can apply  for credit lines at numerous online retailers such as:

      Office Depot
      Home Depot
      Dell
      HP
      IBM
      Officemax

The secret is to keep your PAYDEX (the way that DNB monitors your business credit) to be above 70. If you can do that, in less than 90 days you can have 5 or 6 vendor tradelines in various amounts. Do not go overboard, max out your vendor credit lines and then pay minimal balance. Doing so SEVERELY hampers business credit.

The goal is to keep building business credit and be prompt on payments. That way, your company establishes a long line of credit history. You can start qualifying for equipment leases and credit lines.