62 replies to this topic

[transcendental1]

~After receiving your first phone bill, go to www.staples.com and fax in copy of application along with copy of phone bill to apply for business credit. Use professional letterhead for coversheet. You should receive the standard $750 credit line with no personal guarentee (herein referred to as "PG").

~Set up the following business accounts, and make at least one purchase, you want to pay this off BEFORE the first statement hits:

1. Nextel 2001 Edmund Halley Dr Reston, VA 20191 CONTACT Customer Service 1-800-639-1111
2. UPS - www.ups.com
3. FedEx CONTACT Revenue Services Department 1-800-622-1147 press 4 then 1
4. Verizion CONTACT Customer Service 1-800-755-1048
5. Barnes & Noble CONTACT Purchase order department 1-212-414-6000
6. Quill Corporation 100 So Schelter Lincolnshire, IL 60069 CONTACT Credit Department 1-800-634-3090
7. Viking 8200 East 32nd St No. Wichitas, KS 67226 CONTACT Credit Department 1-888-454-5457
9. Rapid Forms 301 Grove Rd Thorofare, NJ 08086 CONTACT Billing Departement 1-800-257-5287





Okay that is my "ah-ha"s of the thread, please feel free to add your own

Jessica

So does this still hold true? Ive been told its a little more difficult to get approved at staples with no PG?
I have everything in place just dont want to make any early mistakes.

I have a new business and applied for credit through Staples and they are requesting a PG. Any suggestions?

Staples has stiffened the grip a little. I got the code 26 and called. They said I lacked history with DNB and Experian . They demanded a PG. Im going to wait til I have at least 3-5 net 30s (december-january) and reapply.

[saj6347]

Hi! This is all so interesting and timely. I'm just starting out with all of this and appreciate everyone sharing their history and ideas.

3 questions I need help with:

1)when a vender asks to check your personal credit, is that the same as asking for a personal guarantee?

2) I've been reading alot on the net about companies that will get your biz credit profile with no pgs and can get you hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit in 30-60 days, but then I read other sites that say this is not possible and they are frauds. which is true?

3) will this whole debacle with wall street change the strategies for getting biz credit?

[transcendental1]

Hi! This is all so interesting and timely. I'm just starting out with all of this and appreciate everyone sharing their history and ideas.

3 questions I need help with:

1)when a vender asks to check your personal credit, is that the same as asking for a personal guarantee?

2) I've been reading alot on the net about companies that will get your biz credit profile with no pgs and can get you hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit in 30-60 days, but then I read other sites that say this is not possible and they are frauds. which is true?

3) will this whole debacle with wall street change the strategies for getting biz credit?

my business mentor has over a quarter mil in credit and said things are getting tougher. from what my mentor has shown me it is possible to gain thousands in credit within MONTHS. I know it will be increasingly difficult to get larger lines as i have found so far. but as the saying goes "it takes money to make money" so it will be decided on your budget going in to the credit building process how long it takes to reach your goals. Just my 2 cents, there are others on here who have the ability to answer this better than me.

[rbcapital]

Hello Everyone, sort of new to the site but I have been reading the postings for 2 days now. Think I've grasped the necessary concepts but I have a tendency to put the cart before the horse. I want to make sure I do this correct going forward. I recently incorporated my business July 2008. I opened a business checking/savings account with Chase. I already had a business 800 number for my company with FreedomVoice Systems and was using a UPS Store for my business address. My fico scores are 715 745 738. I was instantly issued a business credit card for $15,000 upon opening the business account. I phoned D&B to request my Dunns number and of course I was told the story of how I would not build or establish credit the correct way without utilizing their creditbuilder program for a whopping 599 or so. I told them I would get back to them. I attempted to do it myself but wanted to make sure I do it correctly. I'm glad I paused and was able to read the information on this website. I want to ensure I set up my company information correctly.

1. Do I need to change my company address from the UPS Store to my home address?

2. Realized my 800 number is not listed in business directory if FreedomVoice can publish number can I keep it for business number and have bill mailed to my business address as opposed to being emailed to me?

3. Is it better to utilize a land line number at my home address for business? Or better yet, should I get another cell phone and use as my business number?

3. Will the number of employees or the nature of my business affect my credit limitations when it comes to applying for credit lines and credit cards from banks in the future?

My corporation was set up to manage LLC's that will hold my other rental investment properties. It will also need access to cash to do real estate transactions (aquisition and rehabbing of properties, quickturns etc.) I read somewhere in one of the threads that Real Estate Investors have to be careful how they list the nature of their business not to list it as Real Estate but as a design consultant or something.
Final question:

4. Is there any validity to this statement? Also dont want to get labled and taxed as a dealer

Once I get set up correctly and get the answer to these questions I will on my way. The information provided on this website has truly been a blessing and definitely helpful.

Thank you to everyone who took time to share this information that many attempt to charge people a fortune for. May your business flourish and prosper for you have taken time to give back and help others get on their way to success as well.

Linda

Hello Miss Linda,
I am also a full-time real estate investor. I am not sure about the other questions, but the fear of being labaled a "dealer" by the irs can definitely be costly, because of losing depreciation, having to show property as "inventory" instead of as an investment, etc. along with a few other bad things!

I would do your "flipping" in one entity, and hold rentals in another, or several other, completely seperate ones. If you only flip a few houses a year, you probably don't have to worry much about dealer status, but once you start doing more and more, you may want to form numerous entities and flip some in one, some in another. One entity can be tagged as a dealer, and you can simply set up another entity to replace that one, and never use the dealer entity again.

Hope this helps,
Rick

PS, where exactly are you in NY, I'm in PA, adn always looking for investors to network with, I may even expand my business into NY in the near future.

[Koproducts]

Hi! This is all so interesting and timely. I'm just starting out with all of this and appreciate everyone sharing their history and ideas.

3 questions I need help with:

1)when a vender asks to check your personal credit, is that the same as asking for a personal guarantee?

2) I've been reading alot on the net about companies that will get your biz credit profile with no pgs and can get you hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit in 30-60 days, but then I read other sites that say this is not possible and they are frauds. which is true?

3) will this whole debacle with wall street change the strategies for getting biz credit?

Hey, When a Vendor ask you for your PG yes this is a personal guarantee start with
your 30 day nets and then move up to gas cards ,store credit like staples,Home depot etc and then Citibank
credit cards.Good luck

[helpgetbizcred]

I'm a newbie and this is ALL great stuff. I've been reading for hours and I've tried to find the answer to a few questions and I haven't quite found what I'm looking for although I read some great posts.

I've owned my business for five years but only incorporated a year ago. I set up a bank account in my company name and obtained a DnB. However, I have no business credit. Since I didn't do my homework and read up on this site, I applied for a Staples, Office Depot and Kinko's FedEx account in the same day. All were turned down due to insufficient commercial credit history but offered to approve with PG. My personal credit history is stellar, all three scores well over 700 and I continue to receive personal credit offers but I want to establish business credit without PG. I may have started wrong by applying to three merchants at the same time thus they all came back with the same response. I realize now that I should have done all of this five years ago but since I was a one person shop, it never dawned on me. I know, I know. I can't believe it either.

How do I get commercial credit? My goal is to get a paydex score, etc since I'm just getting started. Is it better to apply in person or by phone where I can plead my case? Do I have to wait several months before trying again? What other types of business activities can I use to show my successful history to date? For example, I have a corporate UPS and USPS account but they are tied to my personal credit card. I don't mind starting out with $250 credit limits as long as I can establish my business credit history. I see posts where individuals had no PG and no DnB, etc and still received credit from Staples, Office Depot, etc so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'd appreciate any advice. And THANKS. I LOVE this site and will recommend it to others.

[mortgagevilla]

Here is my advice
Before you keep applying make sure that you are in compliance,but that I mean follow the lenders guidelines. This days with the credit crunch lenders are more picky.
Also be aware of not getting too many inquiries on your personal.

First of all check the corp status at the secretary of state and the information that is display there. It needs to match what you put on the applications.
Get a physical business address. With increasing home based businesses, your home is fine for a business address. A UPS store or PO BOX (Virtual office address) is not acceptable to build business credit.
Choose a neutral name. For starters DON'T name your company with the word "realty" or "Real Estate"; it will make biz credit harder since they are considered high risk industries.
Obtain a Tax ID (EIN #) for the corporation online from the IRS.
Have a bank account with 6 months history, one of the easiest is Bank of America.
Get a business phone line (not just a regular Land Line), Listed in 411. Be sure that your business phone number has the same area code that your corporation is located at. Use the Tax Id not your social to open it.
using a VOIP listyourself.net is free takes some days to show up or the Number to call to get listed with 411. $16 setup and $1.05 monthly 1-800-500-5419 or 1-800-509-6685 Just remember to use "foreign listing."
Get a business License

Monitor your DNB,Experian and Equifax biz files so that your information is the same on all of them, check for inconsistencies and dispute them or update them.
After you get some net 30s reporting on your files and get the scores apply again for the cards that you were turned down without PG.
For cash credit cards,You might have the scores but this days I am seeing that you need to have a 4 or 5 history on your personal credit and you need to be at least 25+ years old.No more than 5 inquiries in the last six months.

See if you are missing anything from this and fix it, Read the sticky treads here and follow there instructions. It will take some time but the knowledge is priceless to avoid been declined.

Hope this helps, BE WEALTHY.

[SterlingGirl]

Can anyone tell me the best site to go to so I can get the Professional Corporation started. I live in ohio. But I know so sights will get you your Tax ID and everything for a small fee

[MrNeef]

Ok so now I read everywhere the UPS Store using their address with a "Suite" number isn't a good idea.

How do I make that transition to my home office then?

[theycallmebe]

Does this still work even with the credit crunch from the recession? Do companies like Staples still allocate credit with out PG?

[alplouis]

Does this still work even with the credit crunch from the recession? Do companies like Staples still allocate credit with out PG?

Yes, Staples still allocate credit with no PG. It all depends on your credit files. This is still possible today. I have both Staples/Office depot with no PG.

[Mo Munny Mo Problems]

Staples requires a PG now

[Ismail]

I just ordered products thru Uline, Grainger and nebs-- minimum spent between $50.00 to $60.00. Uline let me use net 30 account for the order, which is really nice, while Grainger and Nebs expect you to pay the order using your credit cards.

My question is and does any know----should I use my personal Credit cards to make the payments or should I open new account under my business name from my bank and order cheques using my company name to pay the order?? Also, how should they know my Duns number to make the trade reference?? Should I tell them and notify them after I make the payments and receiced orders.

Thanks and your reply is always appreciated.

Thanks much!!!!