26 replies to this topic

[weallneedcredit]

Helloooo Everyone, I hope all is well today in cyber world as well as everyone's personal lives too!!!! I am wanting to build my business credit and would like for someone to give me some upddated info as to the "BEST" "Order Of Process" that needs to be taken. I do have a tax ID and a legal busineess name plus I am registered too. My personal credit is pretty new but I do have 5 credit cards two with limits of 1500.00 one with 2500.00 and then two starter cards. My total history on my credit is only 8 months and my scores from TU and Equifax are 735 and 742. I am also a member of 3 Credit Unions one of them being Navy Federal. I have no other loans and I have always paid my BIF's prior to my due date every month. I now want to build my business credit and I do not mind being a personal guarantor for a little while in order to get my Business credit going.

WHAT IS THE BEST ROUTE FOR ME TO TAKE AT THIS POINT>>>>TO GET A FEW BUSINESS LINES GOING??? ANY AND ALL ADVISE WILL BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

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[sully1975]

What type of Business do you do? if you are a contractor an entry level gas or fleet card would do as well as an account at Graingers? If you are an office type of business a Staples or Ofice Depot card might be decent.

[weallneedcredit]

What type of Business do you do? if you are a contractor an entry level gas or fleet card would do as well as an account at Graingers? If you are an office type of business a Staples or Ofice Depot card might be decent.

When I apply for these cards should I use my own credit or just my tax id???

[weallneedcredit]

BTW: I am a member at Graingers and have been for a year

[sully1975]

What type of Business do you do? if you are a contractor an entry level gas or fleet card would do as well as an account at Graingers? If you are an office type of business a Staples or Ofice Depot card might be decent.

When I apply for these cards should I use my own credit or just my tax id???

You always apply as your business entity with an EIN. Virtually always they will ask for your other personal data as well including social and will try to get you to personally guarantee as well.

[weallneedcredit]

What type of Business do you do? if you are a contractor an entry level gas or fleet card would do as well as an account at Graingers? If you are an office type of business a Staples or Ofice Depot card might be decent.

When I apply for these cards should I use my own credit or just my tax id???

You always apply as your business entity with an EIN. Virtually always they will ask for your other personal data as well including social and will try to get you to personally guarantee as well.

Should I personally Guarantee just to get approved or should I stay away and try to get it solely with my EIN???

[Panhead]

Don't personally garuantee anything !! You don't have to!!!

[weallneedcredit]

Don't personally garuantee anything !! You don't have to!!!

I guess I'm a little confused about how to get approved without any issues then. Is it not a good idea to gurantee just to get the business credit established?? Is there an easier way???

[Panhead]

All the cards Ive heard people talking about that are being personally garuanteed USUALLY don't report to personal anyway! The second reason is having such a short credit history I guessing there prolly not gona give u a very high limit ether... Depending on the business your in, net 30s have been my life life line in starting my business....

[Panhead]

Correction: all the cards I've heard people talking about that are being personally garuanteed USUALLY don't report to BUSINESS anyway!!!

[Lorentsen]

Don't personally garuantee anything !! You don't have to!!!

I guess I'm a little confused about how to get approved without any issues then. Is it not a good idea to gurantee just to get the business credit established?? Is there an easier way???

Building a strong credit history takes time and you begin with Net 30 accounts if you have nothing at all, accounts your company will actually use. Do not spam applications for accounts you are never going to use, it is not a race to see how many accounts you get, but improving on the accounts you need.

Pick companies that actually report to D&B and/or Experian/Equifax. Some will report to more than one (those are the best ones).

Once you have Net 30 accounts you can use, don't make paltry $50 purchases once or twice a year. Make both large/small purchases throughout the year, creditors want to see that you can pay off your debts (both large/small) and they also know legitimate businesses cost more than $100/yr in supplies to operate.

It takes time to build up credit and it will cost you money, esp if you want high-end credit accounts in this economy. As for PG accounts, only PG if you absolutely have no choice and the business absolutely needs that account. PG'ng should be a last resort, unless you are a Sole Proprietorship or something similar (in which case you will always have to).

Credit Cards like NO PG American Express are long way off for a new business (*unless* you can produce financial statements that shows your business makes at least $5M a year), so I won't even bother talking about them.

There is so much more to be said about building credit, but I don't have the time to go into all, but there is plenty of information on this forum and elsewhere that can help you in more detail.

[sully1975]

Don't personally garuantee anything !! You don't have to!!!

I guess I'm a little confused about how to get approved without any issues then. Is it not a good idea to gurantee just to get the business credit established?? Is there an easier way???

Building a strong credit history takes time and you begin with Net 30 accounts if you have nothing at all, accounts your company will actually use. Do not spam applications for accounts you are never going to use, it is not a race to see how many accounts you get, but improving on the accounts you need.

Pick companies that actually report to D&B and/or Experian/Equifax. Some will report to more than one (those are the best ones).

Once you have Net 30 accounts you can use, don't make paltry $50 purchases once or twice a year. Make both large/small purchases throughout the year, creditors want to see that you can pay off your debts (both large/small) and they also know legitimate businesses cost more than $100/yr in supplies to operate.

It takes time to build up credit and it will cost you money, esp if you want high-end credit accounts in this economy. As for PG accounts, only PG if you absolutely have no choice and the business absolutely needs that account. PG'ng should be a last resort, unless you are a Sole Proprietorship or something similar (in which case you will always have to).

Credit Cards like NO PG American Express are long way off for a new business (*unless* you can produce financial statements that shows your business makes at least $5M a year), so I won't even bother talking about them.

There is so much more to be said about building credit, but I don't have the time to go into all, but there is plenty of information on this forum and elsewhere that can help you in more detail.

+1000

[stroked89coupe]

http://creditboards....howtopic=476200

[BRBiz]

Don't personally garuantee anything !! You don't have to!!!

I guess I'm a little confused about how to get approved without any issues then. Is it not a good idea to gurantee just to get the business credit established?? Is there an easier way???

Building a strong credit history takes time and you begin with Net 30 accounts if you have nothing at all, accounts your company will actually use. Do not spam applications for accounts you are never going to use, it is not a race to see how many accounts you get, but improving on the accounts you need.

Pick companies that actually report to D&B and/or Experian/Equifax. Some will report to more than one (those are the best ones).

Once you have Net 30 accounts you can use, don't make paltry $50 purchases once or twice a year. Make both large/small purchases throughout the year, creditors want to see that you can pay off your debts (both large/small) and they also know legitimate businesses cost more than $100/yr in supplies to operate.

It takes time to build up credit and it will cost you money, esp if you want high-end credit accounts in this economy. As for PG accounts, only PG if you absolutely have no choice and the business absolutely needs that account. PG'ng should be a last resort, unless you are a Sole Proprietorship or something similar (in which case you will always have to).

Credit Cards like NO PG American Express are long way off for a new business (*unless* you can produce financial statements that shows your business makes at least $5M a year), so I won't even bother talking about them.

There is so much more to be said about building credit, but I don't have the time to go into all, but there is plenty of information on this forum and elsewhere that can help you in more detail.

Pretty good advice here but if your willing and have good credit PG'ing will get you going you there lot quicker and will get you to those bigger accounts down the road. What a lot of people don't understand is most apps have language built into them basically saying you are PG'ing the account your applying for, you don't need to put your social or date of birth to PG something. Prime example is Grainger they don't pull your personal credit but you arenPG'ing that account and a lot of other net 30 accounts are just like that.

If you don't mind the inquires go for it and in some cases with limited personal credit even if it does report to personal it may help you if used properly but as mentioned make sure it reports to business also.

[dconawa]

Hello,

You should only be a guarantor on VISA & MASTERCARD credit cards. Everything else does not require a PG.

Good Luck

[BRBiz]

Hello,

You should only be a guarantor on VISA & MASTERCARD credit cards. Everything else does not require a PG.

Good Luck

True.. But depending what you really need for credit when you first start off or have limited biz credit their is no problem with PGing a account that you can really use and it pushes your credit building along.

[wingy03]

business credit has nothing to do with personal credit

business credit depends on a few factors but namely when you haven't had a business cc, business loans, etc they want to know how long you have been in business, how does your business checking/savings look (when applying for cc) and for loans what type of collateral you are providing and sometimes if you go through third parties you are easier to be accepted but it comes with steep terms. (eg for a loan you would have to put 30% down and have a ten percent interest rate for 3 years)

who do you do business banking with? how's your relationship with the business banker there? I would always try and get a business cc through the place your business already establish a banking relationship with.

and from there build upon that credit

[dconawa]

business credit has nothing to do with personal credit

business credit depends on a few factors but namely when you haven't had a business cc, business loans, etc they want to know how long you have been in business, how does your business checking/savings look (when applying for cc) and for loans what type of collateral you are providing and sometimes if you go through third parties you are easier to be accepted but it comes with steep terms. (eg for a loan you would have to put 30% down and have a ten percent interest rate for 3 years)

who do you do business banking with? how's your relationship with the business banker there? I would always try and get a business cc through the place your business already establish a banking relationship with.

and from there build upon that credit

Yes, business credit has nothing to do with personal credit until you get to Mastercard/VISA. Your personal credit will have something to do with it. Banking relationship come into play but at the end of the day YOUR Personal Guarantee for recourse is going to be on the dotted line somewhere or you WON'T be getting the credit.

Edited by dconawa, 07 July 2012 - 07:28 PM.

[wingy03]

that's not true

MasterCard/visa has nothing to do with it if you are pulling it under your business name

that's different from applying for a business credit card under your own name/social

technically you're not suppose to but then again if you don't have a business you're not suppose to be able to get a business account in a bank but yet people do and can

[dconawa]

Hello,

My question is ..... "What's not true?" If what I stated is not true I challenge anyone on this board to prove me wrong by filling out an application for mastercard or visa and don't include a social or pg and let me know if you get extended credit. If a company has Mastercard or Visa credit cards WITHOUT a personal guarantor it is only because they are so large and have so many assets they MAY have used those assets as collateral for the line of credit.

This is not the case with your business or my business or any other small enterprise in the United States.

Good Luck.

[wingy03]

You say business credit has nothing to do with a personal credit until you get a mc/visaI say it's not true because I've personally seen an individual with a social security have a profile for his own credit (checking, savings, business) and this same individual has a tax id with it's own profile that has checking, savings and cc open under that tax idHis personal credit is not associated with itWhich is why I say that's not trueMaybe it's not like that at financial institutes you're familiar with but I'm telling you from my personal experienceThat not ALL business credit via MasterCard/visa is associated with personal, I HAVE seen people place personal profiles with 000-00-0000 social because they do not have a personal account with the bank BUT have a business profile with a business tax ID with only a business credit cardCan someone use their personal social security number to open a business cc? Yes, as I've stated beforeI'm just disputing that someone is personally liable in terms of their credit, when it comes to business credit

[wingy03]

Not sure why, when I type on iPad despite having paragraphs it all comes out like..^that

[dconawa]

Hello wingy03,

Nobody on this board cares about a random, isolated case. If you have seen it done then do it yourself then talk about it. Because other than what you can show and prove it really does not matter. I can tell you it USED to be that way with some credit cards because I had them ..... not any more.

Here is my bet with you ... You WILL NOT get one business credit card (Mastercard/Visa) without some type of personal guarantee. NOT EVEN ONE! The game has changed and you will be responsible personally for the credit. I posted about this a while ago that the banks will eventually get to the point that you personally sign for all credit lines. That time is here.

Now, you (if you are an entrepreneur/business person) establish your own internal banking system where YOUR company earns the interest and fees and you can continually go back to the well to borrow again and again.

Good Luck

[wingy03]

I'm not sure you understand where I am coming from. I am not talking about what USED to be. I am talking about here and NOW. It is not some random isolated incident, it is a FACT. If you go to a business banker and ask them what you would need to start a business cc they would ask how long your business has been established, the type of collateral your business has (equipment, auto, even property owned) and IF you wish you can use your personal credit but business bankers who are ethic does not recommend. // In fact if you were to transfer from business to personal or vice versa you cannot because it is NOT recommended to mix the two, now if you were to withdraw from business only to turn around and place in personal whose to say.. // you sound like you are talking about your experience and that is not even a recent one. I do not mean to do anything other then let people know you should not place your personal ss for business and you can get credit via mc/visa without placing your own personal credit score on the line.