Where do I go from here?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

So our LLC opened in December of 2016 in January/February/March we applied and were approved for 3 Business Credit Cards one with BofA, Amex, and Chase (Chase was harder but have 6 years personal history with Credit with them so they opened one).

Also opened a Business Checking account.

Other than that no Net30 accounts we do Wholesale, meaning we supply stores with products in Bulk, which they in turn resell to the general public at vastly increased prices.

We have no Net30 accounts, we haven't found a need for them at this point. And we just got our DUNS number today.

Where do I go from here? We want to have a top notch business credit report and would love some guidance from pros.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what type of biz you have.  Once the biz has seasoned most financeing can be done by the commeercial loan officer of the real friendly bank. Or if its large a/r you carry from a commercial factoring co.  Some will want cross colleratal of biz and personal and pg. I know dw and I have rented our office condo for the past four years and want to   buy an older house int the historic district (zoned commerical) in small town and had informal talk  the real friendly bank; they will loan us 90% of the purchase price but -0- on renovation  so we just rent and wait til we can fund the renovaion without taking a loan out against our house.  If we were willing to do that they would cross colleteralize and loan 100% of cost and 100 % of renovation. 

[Anonymous]

For us we have an LLC. We are small, family owned and operated. Annual Sales estimated $40-80k so far we're still in the red from startup/inventory etc.

Only have 2 employees, my fiancée and I. We at this point don't really need a commercial loan, we have our business credit cards. We tried for a Business LOC with WF and they approved us for 15k which comes with a $100 AF, then we asked them to change it to to 9k which comes with no AF and they denied our request which makes no sense since we're asking for LESS money.

But we would like to have a great business credit report should we need financing or anything in the future. Apparently BofA and Amex don't report to your Business Credit Reports which is strange. So for now only Chase is reporting. Currently have a 7k/12k balance, don't plan on using it again for a bit still in 0% apr until March.

So what can we do to make our business credit report look like the equivalent of a 750+ FICO on a personal report? I know the Business 101 post says get Net 30 accounts and pay them 15-20 days ahead of time, but we don't really need anything from those companies and if we did it would be for $100 max.

Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Bump

[jc2]

I would suggest a shell business card, Exxon, Home depot commercial card, sears commercial acct, etc...these are just a few of many and these can all be had with no personal gaurantee and no personal credit pull which is nice. Even just a minor purchase, fuel, etc allowing the balance to report and then and then paying in full to report 0 the next month can help. It is a nice way to build business credit without additional inquiries on personal.

BTW-I would stay away from 3rd party "fleet" cards. Just MHO

[jc2]

Something to keep in mind when building business credit is: not all accounts report to all bureaus. i.e. all Citi backed business accounts (Home depot, Shell, Best Buy etc) report to Experian Business but (at least in my experience) they do not report to Equifax Business. Synchrony backed businessa app's pull Equifax Business so you may have several great accounts but be declined if none of them are reporting on the business bureau being pulled by the bank you are applying with. Lots of good info available to help sort out a good strategy

[Anonymous]

Hmm, looking at those cards there doesn't seem to be any perks to having them. (Ex: 3-5% back in Gas, of 6% back on office supplies, etc).

So our current business credit cards are more beneficial.

We get 5% on office supplies, 1.5% on Gas, actually a lot of the time ends up being 5% because I buy Gas Gift Cards from Office Supply stores earning the 5%.

Are there any that would Match or exceed the current discounts/rewards we are getting just by using the business credit cards or not really?

Like looking at Shell's Business Card they offer only 3 cents back per gallon, with a minimum $300 monthly spend to earn that. That's about 1.25% where I'm at which is very low.

[BootStraps]

Sometimes the perk that you need is 'it builds your business credit.'

[iph38]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hmm, looking at those cards there doesn't seem to be any perks to having them. (Ex: 3-5% back in Gas, of 6% back on office supplies, etc).

So our current business credit cards are more beneficial.

We get 5% on office supplies, 1.5% on Gas, actually a lot of the time ends up being 5% because I buy Gas Gift Cards from Office Supply stores earning the 5%.

Are there any that would Match or exceed the current discounts/rewards we are getting just by using the business credit cards or not really?

Like looking at Shell's Business Card they offer only 3 cents back per gallon, with a minimum $300 monthly spend to earn that. That's about 1.25% where I'm at which is very low.

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Lowes Contractor card which is a net30 no PG card, offers 5% off at the time of purchase, it's backed by Sync and should be easy to get...