Obtain Credit- Expand Your Business
Business credit is built in stages like most things.
The first credit bureau and paramount to building your business is Dun and Bradstreet. A ‘duns number’ can be easily obtained for free on the www.dnb.com website. You will usually receive this number within 30 days. You will be hounded by their marketing department to pay for a ‘credit builder profile’, etc. It is not necessary to pay for this and you will automatically have a profile as you apply for and pay your credit terms with vendors that report to Dun and Bradstreet.
“Think of Your Business Credit Like Applying for Credit out of High School”
Once you have established your Duns Report, you will then need to focus on establishing your Experian Business Credit file, identified by a BIN Number. Again, as before, this is a building strategy. So, each step will build on another. You cannot obtain financing from a creditor that reports to Experian, without a Duns Number.
Lastly, your eventual goal is to obtain financing from Equifax Business Creditors. Equifax primarily is the reporting agency of choice for institutional lenders. This is, of course, the most difficult one to build and grow and requires many creditors reporting to Duns and Experian before an Equifax creditor will entertain doing business with you.
Learn More About Business Credit Scoring Here
Home Run: You have managed to get all 3. What next?
At this stage you have completed Phase One of the Business Consulting and Expansion. You may officially ‘go to town’ and borrow away! You are looking at cash, credit, equipment, vehicles- all based off your company’s ability to repay its debt (as opposed to you, personally).
Of course, although you have these resources available to you, borrow and repay wisely.