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Business credit, from the first EIN to the first loan
Pick where your company is. You get three steps, the catch nobody advertises, and the rule behind it. General information, never advice, and every page lists its sources.
Where is your business?
Pick the rung you are on.
Free calculators
- Early payment discount calculatorTerms like 2/10 net 30, turned into the yearly rate you pay by skipping the discount, and the dollars taking it keeps.
- Debt service coverage calculatorCan the business carry the payment? What it earns for its debts in a year, divided by what those debts cost, before and after a new loan.
Business credit
- How to build business credit, in orderForm the company, get the free EIN, open a business account, then let a few suppliers and one card report your payments. Expect your personal credit to carry you until then.
- EIN-only business credit: what is real and what is a scamCredit on the company's record alone is something a business grows into, not something you buy. And using an EIN in place of your Social Security number is a federal crime.
- Business credit scores, explainedThey are built from what suppliers and lenders report about how the company pays, plus public records. There is more than one, and they do not use your personal score's scale.
- Why a business bank account comes firstIt keeps the company's money apart from yours, which protects you and gives the business somewhere for its own credit to start. Here is what the bank will ask for.
- Personal guarantees on business creditSigning one means you pay if the business does not, LLC or no LLC. Lenders ask for it early. A lender may not insist that your spouse be the one who signs.
- Business credit denied: how to get the reasonsThe Equal Credit Opportunity Act covers business credit too. A business with revenue of $1 million or less must be told, and can get the reasons; a larger one, or a trade credit applicant, can ask for them in writing within 60 days.
- Checking and correcting your business credit reportThe Fair Credit Reporting Act protects individuals, not companies, so a business file comes without the free reports and dispute rights you have personally. Here is what you can still do.
- Business credit cards: what you sign and what the CARD Act doesn't coverFederal card rules mostly stop at business purpose. A business card runs largely on its agreement, often comes with your personal guarantee, and never makes an EIN a stand-in for your Social Security number.
Suppliers and trade credit
- Net 30 vendors and trade creditPayment terms from a supplier are the first credit most businesses get. They build a file only if the supplier reports, and only if you pay early. Skip anyone selling access.
- ToolEarly payment discount calculatorTerms like 2/10 net 30, turned into the yearly rate you pay by skipping the discount, and the dollars taking it keeps.
- Fake invoices and other scams aimed at small businessesBills for directory listings nobody ordered, supplies that just show up, renewals that are not renewals. The FTC's advice: one point person, a list of real vendors, and a show me attitude.
SBA loans
- SBA loan requirements: how 7(a), 504 and microloans workThe SBA mostly does not lend; it backs loans that approved lenders make. Up to $5 million on a 7(a), $5.5 million on a 504, $50,000 on a microloan, and what each can pay for.
- ToolDebt service coverage calculatorCan the business carry the payment? What it earns for its debts in a year, divided by what those debts cost, before and after a new loan.
- How a business line of credit worksA line lets the business borrow, repay and borrow again up to a limit, instead of taking one lump sum. How draws and repayment work, what lenders ask for, and the SBA's own working capital lines.
Is it your personal credit that is holding the business back? Credit Help has the first steps for errors, collections and disputes.