Establishing credit for your biz... have you done it?

I was reading a tip on another forum from a straight content producer who said that you should always establish a credit account just for your business, keeping it separate from your personal credit record. He said you can register with Dunn and Bradstreet for a number, then you should start opening accounts at Staples, Office Depot, etc. and make small purchases, then pay them off on time to build up your business credit score.

I must admit that in reading tips and suggestions from adult webmasters/producers all these years I've never heard of this one. I was wondering if anyone here has any opinions on this.

Maybe if you're Donald Trump, but the rest of us pay cash, because credit decisions for small businesses are still based on you and you alone..

You should try to establish credit for your business however, it depends on the *type* of credit you get established.

For example, going after 'Tier 1' credit, pretty much anyone can do, through banks, credit cards, store cards, small biz loans, etc which is a good thing however, it doesn't really do much to help the 'business' establish its credit worthiness because for the most part it is still secured by the principle business owner/owners.

What the poster on the other board was talking about is called 'Tier 2' credit and, is what a 'business' develops its credit worthiness on and it is much, much harder to establish. Tier 2 credit, also allows you to take out larger lines of business credit, over longer periods of time and it is *only* secured by the business itself, *not* the principles/owners.

We're currently working on establishing our Tier 2 credit levels at the moment and have been doing so for the past 12-18 months, its difficult but the potential rewards at the end of the process will be well worth it :)

Regards,

Lee

Oh and incidentally, to actually get a decent Tier 2 credit rating, its going to cost you $5000 right off the bat which is one of the reasons not many know about tier two credit, especially when store cards are a much easier way of building a credit score.

Regards,

Lee

Lee,

HOW are you building up the reputation for a Tier 2 credit?

I have 2 credit cards for my business.
The first was a mastercard that I got for opening my business acount at my bank the second is a Chase card that was sent pre approved. Both have small limits, $1,000 and $500 but they come in handy for buying supplies, tape, software, or anything else I plan to business expense at tax time. Being on the business card makes it easier to track that stuff and like what was previously said, I pay them off every month to avoid interest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DEVELISH

Lee,

HOW are you building up the reputation for a Tier 2 credit?

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Taking out NET-30 biz related cards, Office Depot, for example, and paying them off within the 30 days payment is due, not weeks earlier, not a day late, just on time.

Also you have to be incorporated, it can't be done on a sole proprietorship or DBA.

Regards,

Lee

It took a few years for us, but we were able to secure 2 different credit lines of the years one with American Express Small Business (not the pay off every month sort of them) it was a business line of credit. And the same with Bank Of America, we were able to secure with them a Business Express Line of Credit as well.

It was not easy, but they all know what we do and were good with it. However bofa will still not process our credit card transactions for our hard goods.