My mother once told me, "If you are having to look over your shoulder to see if you're about to get caught doing something wrong, you're doing something wrong." While using a shelf corporation is technically legal, they become illegal if they’re used to deceive creditors. Not only are these so-called 'shortcuts' expensive, but how you choose to use that shelf corporation could cost you more than money. Reach out if you want to achieve actual business credit (without looking o

The internet is flush with companies who are still promising small business owners they can get "EIN-based" credit. It may take months and thousands of dollars before the business owner realizes he's been rooked. In reality, they are just trying to sell a "golden unicorn" service the only way they can: with misinformation. Reach out to me directly if you want to boost your business credit scores and ratings before you apply.

I tend to monitor my clients' corporate credit even more closely than my own, so imagine my surprise when I accidentally discovered that D&B had created a duplicate DUNS number for my own company! Fortunately, I know the drill, so a hastily submitted support ticket was enough to fix the problem. So this post is just a reminder to all of you to take a few minutes to complete your annual business credit checkup.

When it comes to business credit however, piggybacking or "partnering" is not just considered extremely dangerous, in some cases, it's also illegal. There have recently been a lot of cases where the piggybacker crosses the line between questionable credit-building practices and out-right bank fraud when they use false pretenses to obtain business-based credit cards or commercial loans. Reach out to me directly if you want to boost your business credit scores and ratings.

I have worked with lots of business owners who had struggled to achieve credit approvals. I've see the same patterns in behavior over and over again, so it was easy to understand how updating certain information or making a few simple changes to their business practices could have an unbelievable impact and turn things around for them. That's why I outlined five key issues that any business owner can address on their own time, and every single one of them is free!

If there is even the slightest possibility your business credit application's approval could render access to cash (hard currency), lenders are now required to perform certain processes to validate the identity of the principal whose name appears on the application. While the goal is to separate your personal CREDIT from your business, when it comes to identity verification, you don't have the option of separating your personal IDENTITY from your business.

D&B's primary focus is NOT on making your business more credible or creditworthy, but rather to protect the financial interests of THEIR customers — the banks, credit card companies, major retailers, insurance carriers, and high-value suppliers who spend millions of dollars each year pulling credit reports on your business. Boosting your business credit scores and ratings is your job. Reach out to me directly if you would like help reaching that goal.

Hindsight is always 20/20, which is why most successful small business owners say their biggest mistake was using personal credit to support their company's financial needs. If you are struggling to achieve business credit for your small business, you may want to see if you are guilty of making any of these most common mistakes. Sometimes you need to ask yourself the hardest question: Are you hurting your company's credibility?

Manually added payment history stays in your D&B report for 24-28 months, but history that flows in from auto-reporters can drop out of your report in half that time if you don't re-use the accounts at least once per year. Making a new purchase from your existing vendors once per year is good business, and for more reasons than you think. Reach out to me directly if you want to boost your business credit scores and ratings.

You are going to spend money this time of year, so why not make sure your company gets credit for that spending? And while lots of people tend to focus on getting Net 30 accounts (the forest), they completely miss out on all the other opportunities for growing their business credit (the trees). But having a variety of payment types is just as important as having a variety of vendor accounts, and BOTH can benefit your business. After all — 'tis the season to boost business cre

He called in for a free consultation late on Friday afternoon. I could tell right away that he was trying to pull a fast one, wanting me to help him "buy trade lines" for his "aged business entity" so he could get payment history into a D&B report he had created for a shelf corporation, but I wasn't buying it. So I asked him point blank — "Does your company actually sell smoke and mirrors? Or does it just look that way?"

If you don't know by now, the single, most-impacting step a business owner can take to boost their potential for credit approvals is to add positive payment habits. Unfortunately, some people fall prey to some shady characters who promote even shadier strategies that do more harm than good. So... instead of letting you fall into some common traps, I've outlined ten common trade line trip-ups to help keep you on a straighter path to success.

You probably already know the best way to build up your business credit is to add payment history. If you don't have any vendors or suppliers, you may try to use some of the more familiar trade lines offered up online. Unfortunately, this can lead to "cookie-cutter" credit where you end up with the same generic payment history as everyone else and nothing of substance that proves your creditworthiness. Believe it or not, using generic suppliers can actually do more harm than

Whether they're hawking shelf corporations, credit privacy numbers, or credit partnerships, the vultures are sweeping in to feed off desperate business owners. So I thought I would take this time to make sure all my subscribers are aware of these three current half-baked schemes so you have your guard up in advance and save yourself some heartbreak (and some dough) because what they don't tell you can hurt you.

Check out these 5 free things you can do today to boost your corporate credit scores and ratings. Most of them are simple enough that you can do them on your own right now!

When a caller asks the question, "Why was my credit application denied?" we want to make sure the business owner understands how some of the smallest details can cause the biggest headaches when your company is applying for business credit. We assisted many clients through the process of applying for credit. Along with lots of approvals, there have been some who were declined. When navigating the reasons for denials, we’ve found a few that seem to stand out, possibly because

At some point back in time, some so-called credit guru recommended business owners put their EIN number or DUNS number in the slot where the social security number is supposed to go when applying for credit. Little could he have known what absolute havoc he was going to wreak far into the future for those who were innocent (or desperate) enough to follow his advice about "Oh! Those nine little numbers!"

Business owners often submit trade references to be included in their business credit file only to later find they were not accepted or the data is not being included. This can be especially frustrating after paying for a service intended to do just that. Unfortunately, one never knows when purchasing the service or uploading their vendors whether they will get accepted or not. When asked why a trade reference is declined, D&B representatives are only permitted to reveal fiv

Many small business owners, especially those with home-based businesses, do not maintain a a separate bank account and banking relationship for their business. While being very careful to legally separate their business assets from their personal assets, they neglect to separate the financial elements, often paying for business expenses with their personal checking account or credit cards. They fail to realize how much a good bank relationship can benefit their company’s cr

Although a legal CPN can be used when applying for credit cards and obtaining financing that is not government related, the practice has garnished a negative stigma due to some less-than-desirable techniques practiced and the frauds being perpetrated by an unsuspecting public. Oftentimes the new CPN will match a SSN belonging to underage minor children or deceased individuals. If you use those numbers, it could open you up to being investigated for fraud or identity theft.