Search the Community

So, my second business is new and I am in the process of establishing credit. It's a nonprofit org. I am trying to stay away from leaning on my personal credit, so I haven't dived into many PG required ops. I am also trying to figure out how much credit I will need with my looking to raise about $2M in donations over the next 18-24 mos to get things going. I decided to open a Wells Fargo biz checking/savings and a biz secured card. Banker told me that in roughly 6 -12 mos, you usually get upgraded and they refund you the security deposit. You can also sign up for the rewards program and the AF is waived the first year. Awesome sauce! So I am reading through all the paperwork and I come across a 'Nonprofit notice and disclaimer' which, in part, states: "...If the applicant is a not-for-profit organization recognized by and in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service, the personal guaranty of the signer is not required, and the personal guaranty paragraph below shall have no force or effect." Wondering if anyone else has worked on establishing credit for a NP and if so, has this no PG thing always been around?

This reference I am about to post is in no way targeting any specific member or actions. Just a real world example on what can and did happen...... http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=504817 Lets discuss some other ideas on negative affects this can have.....

Hey Everyone. Thanks to the guidelines for establishing business credit I have applied for and have received the following without any PG. Office Depot Net 30: 1,000 Staples Net 30: 1,000 Uline Net 30: 1,000 Apple: 10,000 Amazon Net 55: 3,000 Chevron Net 30: 900.00 Home Depot: 1,000 I pulled my Experian business credit report and some company called Air trans is reporting me as a late pay. I have no idea who theses people are and have never used them. What can I do to remove this? Any ideas. By the way my company was incorporated in 2003.

Thanks to the information on this website I started building my business credit. I have picked up the following net 30 accountsI: U Line 750.00 Office Max: 1,500.00 Office Depot 1,500.00 Amazon: 3,000 Home Depot 1,000 Credit Cards with PG: Amex Capital One My business has been established since 2003. I applied for Best Buy net 30 and was denied. I noticed that on D&B there are inqurires. Cound i have been denied because of too many inquirires. Also, does anyone have any feedback on how lond those inquiries stay on your D&B. Let me know. Have a great day everybody!

Hi everyone. I am trying to build my business credit, so I have been applying for net 30 accounts. I was approved by Uline, Office Max, Staples and Amazon. I received a decline letter from Home Depot. Should I call and fight it? Do I call the number on the decline letter? Let me know. I still have an application pending with Grainger and Jiffy Lube Fleet. Have a great day!!!!

Hello Everyone: Many years ago, when the crisis occurred, I owed Amex 24k. I was going through so much at the time that I am not clear whether I paid that debt. I am almost positive that I did, because I remember the lady lying to me and telling me they were gong to resend my card. I called Amex the other day because my mom was going to add me to her card and they said "No". When I called the collection agent answered, said hello and automatically informed me that I still owe them 24k and that because the statute of limitations has passed they can no longer collect. (hell of a hello). Anyhow, the collection agency at the time was Nationwide Credit. I want to call them to see if they have record of me paying. My fear is that if I didn't, they are going to start bothering me. Should I call? Would like to hear opinions.

I just applied for credit at u line and was given 750.00 and staples gave me 1.500. Will they report the limits to D&B or will the only report the amount that I use? Anyone know? Thanks

a friend wrote me this- liz: you've got a money head, and i don't...so you've got to tell me whether i should accept this deal from IMCA Capital... i just received a PLATINUM credit cardfrom them for which i can either lease equipment for my huge corporation (it's got my name and TT (name of her company), Inc on the face of it) or have them deposit it in a lump sum in my bank. a financial kid called andy kim sent me thestuff and got in touch. i have no idea whether this sounds absolutely right but i'm still in shock. anyhow, if i take a deal like this, i can pay you --- and the bank -- back instantly, and just owe this one entity. the paperwork is ultra simple (one page), and the introductory offer means either a) no payments for 90 days a 0.0% introductory percentage offer... do you think it sounds right? I told her that after the 90 days she would probably be paying a huge rate and be denied a consumer's protection.. Has anyone heard of this donkey outfit? they are out of LA

Hello Everyone: I have not posted to this forum but have been on CB for over a year (Unofficially). Honestly, I have been so focused on my Personal Credit, that I have not given much thought to my Business Credit. However, I had planned to app for a few business cards on my upcoming spree on November 9, 2014 (yes I have a date planned to coincide with TU B*, and updated reports, lol). I would greatly appreciate any and all comments/opinions regarding any pointers on my strategy. I had considered PG anything needed. I definitely want to app for the Barclay's US Airways Biz CC and perhaps the Chase depending on the sign-up bonus at the time. I also wanted to app for the Citi AA Biz CC along with a few store cards (Lowe's, Staples, Dell, and Amazon). However, I don't want to worry about any AA from the Biz apps, as I will have to worry about it on my personal side as it is, lol. If I have to limit myself, I'd probably would want to app for the cards I have the best chance to get approved for and again, I am not opposed to PG, tho I realize that is not in my best interest. My file is particularly thin, I have a Cap1 Sparks Classic reporting for over a year with an orig $1k CL>$1200>$1700>$4k, which showed up this month. My personal FAKOS are TU 768 (TU +) EQ 706 (EQ Complete) EX 700 (EX Direct). Corporation has been in business since 1998, EIN and D&B#. Title of President as W-2 Employee, above avg income, Revenue and Sales are decent (both 7 figures), I do not want to provide Tax Returns, personal nor business (dealing with IRS on back taxes). I have a few small upcoming projects on REI's (approx. $30k - $40k spend) that I have cash for but thought about using a Lowe's or Home Depot Biz CC if it was possible to get approved. So, being that I am gearing up for an App Spree, what recommendations would you have as far as cards to app for?Should I PG any at all? What should I stay away from with such a thin file? Am I being to optimistic or unrealistic about even being ready to apply for cards from the "Big Boys" (Citi, Chase, US Bank)? I thank you all in advance for your help!

Hi everyone, I decided to start a business credit journal for my company. I have a business services LLC. I have been in business for 14 years. At the start of my company, I didn't know much about business credit, tradelines, and PG. Back then I had PG'd 3 business credit cards: Advanta CC, AMEX CC, and AMEX LOC and had no other tradelines. When business slowed down in 2006 I couldn't keep up with paying these creditors, so I tanked my business credit. All three began reporting to my personal CRs and killed my personal credit as well. Once this happened, I decided to stop using credit and paid everything with my business debit card/cash (going on 8 years now). HOWEVER, I have had my debit card # stolen 4 times online. The bank gave me back all the $$, but I realized that I needed to get some business credit to protect my bank accounts. I tried for Chase INK 2 months ago, after getting approved for Chase Freedom, but I was denied. Then I found this forum and I am glad I didn't get approved. I have read through the entire "The new guide to establish business credit" thread 5 times now and I've decided that I am never going to PG any business credit ever again. So here I am and here is where I am at: Business Reports: * DNB File - All company information has been corrected and it shows 1 TL $100 Cash Experience (I think it is for my annual LLC report) * Experian - It shows 2 company profiles; one is mine and the other is not - I'll be calling them on Monday to fix it because there is a negative TL that is not mine; no positive TLs yet * Equifax - It shows the wrong registered agent and address as well as a branch company that doesn't belong to me. It has 1 positive TL called "Packaging" Net 30 that was added today (04/19/14) and 1 Inq from last year; no negative TLs So far here is what I have done: Net 30 accounts * Grainger - waiting on email for account number so I can apply for their net account * Gempler's - Placed order for $105 * Quill - Placed order for $52 * Uline - Placed order for $53 * Reliable - Placed order for $53 * UPS - Used net shipping account for Gempler's order $17 (set up automatic billing) * FedEx - Signed up for net account Any other net accounts to go for?

Hello All, Noob here, Thanks to all the contributors here. Stroked89, BDK, Bob Wang et al, Great advice, helping me on my credit journey. I appreciate it. Cheers! I have friend who owns a business that is failing. He still has great personal credit (800+), but not for long. The situation - Business failing - 10+ PG'd Biz accounts, 300k+ total.. He wanted to max his personal credit to help save the biz, but I convinced him not to do that. The amounts he needs to save the biz are greater than his personal CLs anyway. +Just because your CL says 25k that doesn't mean they will let you max it. Perfect situation that validates Stroked89's valuable advice not to PG Biz accounts. So the situation is that he has great personal credit now, but there are a string of Bads coming due to the PGs. My advice so far : - Keep up to date on all personal accounts - Expect CLDs & Acct Closures once the bads show - Set up share/checking at some of the better CUs now to build relationships (Navy, Penn, State, Logix) - Get an Attorney who will sue on violations of FDCPA FCRA Document everything Because the biggest threat is lawsuits over the PGs from OCs and JDBs - It's not the end of the world, bads can be deleted. Some things I can do to help later. - Make him an AU on a 87 dated Amex - Make him and AU on a 25k limit Chase 05 dated acct. Any advice would be great appreciated. Thanks all, great resource.

When applying for business credit app how does the bank confirm what your annual income is on application or do they care if you have a great paydex, Experian busines and business credit profile?

Can you run a business with a P.O and still establish credit if they where to run a verification on the address?

Logistics LLC is 18 months old. Approved vendor accounts. All accounts applied and approved this month. Grainger Strategic Network Solutions Quill Gemplers Fed Ex Office Inter-Tech Communications Received a call from DNB yesterday the guy left a voice mail saying he noticed our business made 5 purchases in the last month from the durable industry and our file is incomplete and the company is wasting money purchasing items,and to give him a call to resolve this issue. The only thing I can think of thats incomplete on the file is our financials, our CPA is suppose to help us with this. Anyone know any info on adding financials to DNB using iupdate? I know they probably want me to purchase something. How can I resolve this without purchasing? My goal is to get some fuel cards along with home depot,samsclub,sears and lowes accounts in a couple of months. looking for some positive advice on this journey!

Hello, My personal credit is terrible and that is something I need to work on obviously. However my more immediate problem is my corporate credit. I opened my own business almost 2 years ago and incorporated a C corp to do it. Recently I applied through the bank that the corporation does business with to open a line of credit and they turned me down siting negative information on the corporate credit report. I am unsure how to even obtain a corporate credit report. Can someone help?

APPROVED FOR US BANK BIZ CARD 10K US USING MYSELF AS A PG. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE CREDIT LINE REPORT BIZ CREDIT ONLY???? OR BOTH BIZ AND PERSONAL? THANKS FOR THE HELP IN ADVANCE!!

I noticed a comment from another seemingly astute person building business credit here that after obtaining a business voice mail, he notes as important applying for a Chase Mastercard just for denial. They indicated it's important for Experian & Equifax for some reasons. Can anyone else embellish on why that would be the case and that would or would not be advisable? I also read it's advisable to persue Chase backed trades or Citibank backed trades etc and "getting into their system" helps. If this is advsiable I wonder if the same could be said of applying for a Citibank line or GE Moneybank line?

I applied at tech depot 3 times and I kept getting denied for an account.....I called Tech depot and they informed me that the company was getting denied because we was using a p.o box as the shipping address.....Im using a po box due to the fact that I dont want the other director to know that Im building business credit under the company's ein......Well I made another order with Tech depot Tuesday and I used the Office address as the shipping address and this morning I got a message from tech depot stating that my order was approved and sent to the vendor.....I called Tech depot and the rep stated that the Company was approved for a net terms account and the account was assigned to a house manager which will negotiate better deals with the vendors for the company orders........as soon as they ship the order Im gonna get the shipping number call ups and tell ups to hold the package at the station until I come pick it up

I have had a LLC for two years. Just signed up and was approved - no PG, no giving social security #'s - with Grainger and Strategic Network Solutions (both awesome companies that really want to help build your business credit). I did get a call from Dun and Bradstreet today that seemed more like an extortion call to me trying to get us to pay all this money to "background check" our company. Without that, they said we can never have good credit reported. They are also trying to get us to pay for the credit builder. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? I was getting the hard sell max from them.

When I first started my gas station business, one of my biggest challenges was keeping track of my company's expenses and getting the buying power I needed to run it. The solution seemed to be getting a business credit card. I did a lot of research online before I made my final choice in choosing a Mastercard business credit card. I use PayMeSecure to process my customer's payments, and I wanted a service that was just as safe. I also did not want to pay annual fees, so I really hoped to earn cash back on all my purchases. It was also important to me that I keep my personal and business expenses separate, and I wanted to work with a company that had experience working with other small businesses. In the end, my final choices offered all this, but one stood out because it had the best fraud liability protection. How did you choose a business credit card for your business? What are the benefits of using it?

I did a little bit of research and I found out that one of the most effective ways to set-up a corporation for future big lines of credit is to do a secured business loan (s). This is what I did: I found a local bank (Mid South Bank) that does secured business loans and asked over the phone what were their requirements. Much to my surprise they were super easy to accomplish. They asked for: Articles of Inc., EIN, ID, and funds to be deposited on a business CD in my case I deposited $6,000.00 Most banks out there require 2 years of company financials, tax returns, and you guessed it...PG (hard pull on your personal credit. For a secured business loan...incredible!) No wonder our economy is in the dumps. Anyways, I was very careful not to make the CD longer than 12 months, so that if I want to pay off the loan sooner there are no penalties for doing so. However, the loan payments are ammortized and scheduled for 60 months bringing my payments to a whooping $120.00 per month. As per my Business Bank Rep 12 months is long enough to establish an "Excellent" track record with the CrA's and long enough to establish a good banking relationship with the bank (Mid South Bank LA & TX only) STRATEGY I could have made the loan for less money but while doing my research, I learned that in order to obtain a Bank Rating of Lower 4 or Mid 5 you must maintain an account balance minimum of $10,000.00 for a period of 3 months. Why is this rating important? Getting Biz Credit Cards and Net 30's are nice but if you are a business owner just like me and you are looking to grow and capitalize your business; Financial Institutions, Angel Investors, VC's, or Investment Groups will not even bother with you unless you can show them that your business is financially sound. The only way that a relative new business can do this is with a secured business loan. I also asked the biz rep whom did they report to and much to my delight she said Equifax! For most newbs out there Biz Equifax is the hardest one to get into since it is mostly used for commercial loans, biz mortgages, capital euipment loans, leasing. Moving on, you may noticed that I deposited $6,000.00 the other $4,000.00 will come out of a personal CC. Please keep in mind that the funds will only sit in this accounts for 3 months. And whatever your interest rate may be for using the $3,000.00 from the credit card is going to be a lot cheaper than not having a business trade line like this on your biz credit file in ghe near future. (This is what is called "Creative Financing") Exactly in 3 months from the bank's closing statement, I will take back the CC money and pay it back to my personal CC. I know for a fact that 6 months is good enough to establish a good paying record with a CRA. So, if you don't want to go the full 12 months you don't have to. Find out what the penalty for Early Withdrawal may be in your bank. Mine, is $40.00. There will also be an orogination fee, mine was $100.00 which I believe is tax deductible. RESULTS After 6 or 12 months of payments of your secured loan in addition to your starter and STROKED recommended accounts you will be GOLDEN with most major financial institutions! As an ex mortgage broker, I can tell you that is the equivalent of having purchased a house in your personal CRA while trying to get a new home loan. You have demonstrated to banks and creditors that you are a serious business, that can handle its financial commitments. (Underwritters love this) Let's not forget about that bank Rating of 4 (less than $5,000.00 balance)and 5 ( Up to $10,000.00) these ratings are key while applying for a small SBA loan or doing biz with the government. In addition, Venture Capitalists that may have not taken seriously before they make take a second look to your financial statements. Another major plus is that Mid South once I pay them 6 months on time they will offer me Biz CC's and Biz Loans without having to ask for them. Why? because I made sure that since the beginning of this process that I introduced myself to the Bank Mgr. and complimented the Biz Acct Rep. In front of him. She was so happy that she expedited my loan docs to close in 1 day! The bank now knows me, knows that I am a serious business owner and that I know how to handle my finances. (Make sure that you give the biz rep and bank mgr your biz card VERY IMPORTANT CORPORATE EMAIL AND BIZ TEL # PLEASE! I am also writing her a biz letter on my company's letterhead thanking her for what she has done for me. This my friends, it's worth more than the 6k CD trust me on this. The bank's Biz Rep's have more pull that you may think they do. A close relationship with them is a must while building biz credit. EXTRA BENEFITS When you payoff the secured business loan and you don't use the loan proceeds and keep them in your business checking account, guess what? You get your original investment money back. So, try not to use this money at all if you can. On a final note, as a business owner you can repeat tnis same exact process with up to 3 banks at a time. Taking the funds from one to the next until you secure three loans. I may just do another one with Capitol One Bank just to reinforce the strength of my file. I forgot to mention that I will also report the loan to DnB thru iupdate. My biz rep said she will be happy to provide me with a Letter of Good Standing to do so. (Which you can alsso use as a bank reference for other crecitors as well Hopefully, this info will inspire you to do the same. Regardless, of how much you do yhe loan amount for it still sets you apart from 99% of the business ou there. I will keep you all posted. If you know of other creative ideas to build biz credit please share. Good luck. CubanSurfer