How to Build Your Business Credit Fast

Building business credit can benefit your small business in many ways. Strong business credit can make it easier or less expensive to get certain types of financing, business insurance, or better terms with suppliers. It can even help your business land lucrative business contracts.

Here we’ll share simple steps to establish and build business credit to help your small business grow.

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Why Is It Important to Establish Business Credit?

Your business can have its own credit reports and scores. Anyone can check business credit, so it may be used by lenders, suppliers or even companies deciding whether to do business with you. Good business credit may help you qualify for small business loans or financing, as well as help you secure financing at more favorable terms or lower interest rates. Since there is no requirement that companies notify you when your business credit is reviewed, however, you may never know how your credit history has affected your business.

At the same time, it’s misconception that if a business has good business credit, the owner’s personal credit will never be checked, and that they will no longer have to provide personal guarantees for a business loan. The reality is that many small business lenders check personal credit, and that some loans, including bank loans or SBA loans, will require a personal guarantee.

How Business Credit Works

Business credit works much like personal credit. Lenders, vendors and other companies may report payment history to commercial credit reporting agencies.

Other businesses and lenders then purchase a business’s credit report to help decide whether to extend credit or do business with that company.

There are a few key differences though:

  • Unlike personal credit, where most loans are reported to credit bureaus, not all companies report payment history to business credit.
  • Anyone can purchase a business credit report, in contrast to personal credit reports which are more tightly regulated.
  • Credit limits and the names of creditors typically aren’t reported. It can sometimes be difficult to ascertain which companies appear on business credit reports.

Does Your Personal Credit Matter for Your Business?

Both personal and business credit are important if you’re a small business owner. It is common for lenders to require personal credit checks for small business loans. Here we’ll focus on how to build business credit, but be sure your personal credit scores are good as well.

The good news is that you can start building business credit even if your personal credit isn’t strong.

How To Build Business Credit

Major business credit bureaus maintain business credit reports. The key to building good business credit scores is to do business with companies that report payment history, and then to pay on time and keep debt levels manageable.

It really can be that simple.

However, there are some nuances that make the process of establishing business credit a little tricky for some entrepreneurs, so we’ll break it down here into step-by-step instructions.

7 Steps to Establish Business Credit

  1. Build your foundation
  2. Register your business
  3. Get a D-U-N-S number
  4. Get accounts that report
  5. Open a business credit card
  6. Pay on time
  7. Monitor your credit

1. Build Your Foundation

To effectively establish business credit, it helps to properly establish your business. If your business is new, take the time to set up your business so it appears professional to both clients and lenders.

Get a business phone number and, if possible, get it listed in directory assistance. Get and use a professional email address. Choose and consistently use a business address, which can be P.O. Box or even your home address if you’re just getting started.

Here are 15 steps to make your business legit.

Why is this important? Business details such as these may appear on your business credit reports and you want to maintain a consistent, professional image.

2. Register Your Business

Most businesses should be officially registered with their state. If you form a business entity such as an LLC or S Corp in your state, you will complete this step. Annual filings will likely be required. (If you formed your business in another state, you may also need to register your business in the state in which you do business as a foreign corporation.)

If you are operating as a sole proprietorship or independent contractor and have not registered your business, you can file a fictitious business name with your state. (This is sometimes referred to as a “DBA”.)

In either case, you may need to get professional or business licenses. Check your state requirements.

Why is this important? Public information such as this may be used by some commercial credit agencies to start your business credit profile.

3. Get a D-U-N-S number

A DUNS number is your business identifier with the credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet. If your business doesn’t already have one (you can check whether it does for free), you will want to request one. It’s free.

Creditsafe, Equifax and Experian all have separate identifiers (numbers to identify your business in their systems) but you don’t have to initiate this type of request with them.

An EIN is the business equivalent of a Social Security number. The IRS requires some businesses to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN), but having one is not required to establish a business credit file. However, some business financial applications may require an EIN, and EINs may be reported to business credit reports.

Why is this important? It ensures your business is visible to Dun & Bradstreet.

4. Get Accounts That Report to Business Credit Agencies

The most important part of any credit report is information on how you’ve paid your bills. Past payment history is used to help predict how likely your business is to pay on time in the future. That means you need accounts that will report to business credit bureaus, and not all do. Ideally you’ll want to establish at least two to three credit accounts with companies that report. More can be helpful as your business grows.

These may include:

  1. Suppliers and vendors
  2. Business loans and financing
  3. Credit builder accounts
  4. Business credit cards

No lender or vendor is required to report to business credit; some do and some don’t. Some may report to one or two of the major commercial credit bureaus, but not others. So if your goal is to build business credit, you must choose accounts that report.

Why is this important? If you don’t have any accounts with payment history, you’ll likely have no business credit report or a report with a low credit score.

5. Open a Business Credit Card

Opening a business credit card that reports to the major commercial credit reporting agencies is a great way to establish business credit. You can benefit from perks such as cash back or travel rewards, but you can also use one of these cards to build credit.

Most small business credit card issuers will use the owner’s personal credit scores and income from all sources to determine if you qualify. That means they are available to startups as well as established businesses.

You definitely should have at least one open business card if you qualify, but more than one can also help. That way, you may be able to access a higher credit limit to increase cash flow. However, be sure to use caution and avoid getting overextended as that can hurt your business credit scores.

If you don’t qualify for a business credit card, you can skip this step but come back to it in the future when your personal credit history has improved.

Why is this important? Business credit cards can help establish credit when paid on time.

6. Pay On Time

Payment history is the most important factor for any type of credit scores, and especially so for business credit. Business credit reports use a term called, “Days Beyond Terms” (DBT) that describe how many days beyond the due date a payment was made. For example, if your terms with a vendor is “net-30,” and you pay on day 32, the account will be reported as 2 DBT. Yes, that means late payments can affect your business credit score if you pay just a day or two late.

Pay on time or early if you can, and you may build your business credit score more quickly.

Why is this important? Payment history is the single most important factor for building business credit.

7. Monitor Your Credit

Diligently monitoring your business credit history can help you monitor your progress as well as spot mistakes. If you do find an error, be sure to file a dispute with the credit bureau reporting the mistake.

Be sure to check your credit reports and scores with more than one major credit reporting agency to find out whether your accounts are helping your scores, and if not, consider adding additional credit references.

Why is this important? Monitoring your business credit can alert you to problems so you can investigate further.

How Long Does It Take to Establish Business Credit?

It may take a few months before new accounts appear on your business credit reports. Once they do, you’ll need several months of on-time payments to establish a good business credit score. Whether you have a new business or one that is well-established, if you take the steps above, you may be able to establish a good business credit rating in several months to a year.

Business Credit for New Businesses

You can begin to establish business credit as soon as you establish your business. In fact, the sooner you begin to establish business credit, the sooner you can benefit. Still, you’ll want to make sure you have established your basic business information (name, address, etc). Learn more in these business credit articles.

What Is the Starting Credit Score for a Business?

Business credit scores have different ranges. The Experian Intelliscore and the D&B Paydex score both start at 0 and go up to 100. Other scores may start at a different number. If your business hasn’t established credit, you may have a low credit score or no credit score at all. This is very common, even for companies that have been operating for many years.

How To Check A Business Credit Score

You can purchase business credit scores individually from commercial credit agencies, such as Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. With Nav Prime, you can monitor full business credit reports from multiple credit bureaus and build business credit with tradeline reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions About How to Build Business Credit

  • What types of business entities have business credit?

  • Can you get business credit with an LLC?

  • Can a personal credit card help build business credit?

  • Will a business checking account help my business credit score?

  • What types of small business loans report to business credit?

  • Why don’t all of my accounts appear on my business credit reports?

  • How can I add accounts I already have to my business credit reports?

  • Can I establish business credit without debt?

  • How do I build business credit fast?

  • How can I raise my credit score in 30 days?

  • Do I need an EIN to build business credit?

  • What is the 609 loophole?

  • Why is my credit score low if I have no debt?

  • What is the current prime rate as of December 2022?

  • What are SBA 7(A) interest rates?

  • What are the business credit interest rate expectations in 2023?