Michael Lockwood, President of TEQlease Capital, wrote an article for Up and Running Blog that was published today titled “8 Ways to Clean Up Your Business Credit Report”. We are including an excerpt from that article below.
A complete and accurate business credit report is like a gourmet meal to a loan underwriter. Your business credit report is important for your company getting a business loan, because it tends to verify the information provided in your credit application and business plan. Much like a personal credit report, unless it is managed the business credit report is often inaccurate, incomplete and it presents your company in a poorer light than it should. If you want to maximize your chances of getting your business approved for a business loan or equipment lease, ensuring that the get a copy of your business credit report is accurate and complete should be done very early in the process. In fact, why not do it now?
Business credit reports are sold to the credit underwriters employed by lenders and equipment lessors. Dun & Bradstreet is the largest supplier of business credit reports, but it is by no means the only one. The data that goes into the business credit report comes from a lot of different public and non-public sources: lenders pool business credit information on a voluntary basis and public information is obtained and synthesized from sources like the State Secretary of State or the Division of Corporations. But don’t trust that the available information is accurate – take the responsibility to verify the information, and then add as much information as possible.
The first step of course is to get a copy of your business credit report. No need to pay for the report – you can get one for free from any provider, and you can modify the information (within limits) either online or over the phone. We recommend doing it online. Once you have the business credit report, verify it or correct it, following these tips:
- Make sure the business credit report accurately shows the business name, and any trade styles (DBA’s)
- Verify the physical business address, and include your website address
- Look at the payments score in detail. Is it accurate? Does it accurately show payment promptness? If not you can challenge an entry that shows the payment was paid later than it was, but be prepared to be able to prove the details.
- Is ownership of the business accurately explained, and does the business credit report properly show the business entity type (partnership, LLC, corporation), and time in business?
- The business credit report allows you to add the name of the officers of the company, the title and business function, and some work experience.
- It also provides for entries for the history of the company, and any recent company events, such as a move to a new location, a change in ownership, etc.
- You can decide whether to add financial information about the company, but remember that you will be making sometimes sensitive information available to everyone
- The business credit report will show liens, lawsuits, and loans. Make sure this information is accurate.
Managing your business credit report is a good practice. Calendar a follow up in a year to revisit the business credit report to check any changes and add new information.
Please contact us if you have any questions.