Tag: personal

Haunted by Bad Personal Credit? You Can Get Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit

Bad personal credit doesn’t have to keep you from successfully starting and running a business.  Your business can build its own credit, known as business credit. You can get business credit with bad personal credit. There is a very specific process you have to follow however.  It isn’t hard, but it doesn’t happen on its own, either. You have to be intentional. We’ll show you how.

4 Rules for Surviving Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit: Don’t Let Bad Personal Credit Scare You Out of Business

You know that feeling you get when you are watching a spooky movie?  Even if everyone on the screen looks happy, you know that something bad is lurking just around the corner.  Trying to run a business with bad personal credit can feel the same way. Even if things are going well, you know that eventually you may need to borrow money. You also know that your bad personal credit score is going to choose that exact moment to jump out at you.  Just like that, the good times could be over. 

It doesn’t have to be a blood bath though.  There can be a happy ending. We are going to show you how to survive to the end, just like those characters that are still alive at the end of the movie.  It’s called business credit, and you can build business credit even with bad personal credit. Your past personal financial issues can’t stop you. Whatever point you are at in your business, now is the time to get started.  The enemy is lurking. It’s time to start fighting back.

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

Light the Fire to Forge Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit

The first that happens in any movie when a weapon is being forged is they light a fire.  Here is how you light the fire of business credit. You have to make your business appear to lenders as a fundable entity separate from yourself.  You want them to see your business on its own merits, separate from your personal credit history. 

Separating your business from yourself if the first essential step in building business credit with bad personal credit. It is easiest to do this when you set up your business initially, but it is never too late.  If you are already operating, do it now. Here’s how you start. 

The Rules of Surviving Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit

According to the popular 90s movie “Scream,” there are rules for surviving to the end of a scary movie.  For example, don’t drink or do drugs, and never say “I’ll be right back.” Those people are the first to die.   When it comes to separating your business from yourself for building business credit, even with bad personal credit, there are rules as well. 

First Rule of Getting Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit: You Have to Incorporate

Formal incorporation is non-negotiable.  If you operate as a sole proprietorship or a partnership, your personal credit will always find you.  It is not possible to have the separation you need to get business credit with bad personal credit without incorporating.  Not only that, but it will also help with liability protection.  

What is negotiable, however, is the form of incorporation you choose.  They all offer differing levels of protection, and the costs associated with each option varies.  For the purposes of building business credit, they all work the same. Choose the option that works best for your needs and budget. Here’s a little about each one.

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Corporation

 This is the most expensive option, but it also offers the most protection from liability. There is a double taxation caveat with this option that is a turn off for most. Owners pay tax at both the business level and the shareholder level. In some cases, this is the best option anyway. 

 S-Corp 

S-Corps are very similar to corporations, but double taxation isn’t an issue. There are also limits on the number of shareholders allowed among other restrictions set forth by the IRS. 

 LLC 

An LLC, or a limited liability corporation, is the least expensive option. It still offers some liability protection, and has fewer restrictions than an S-corp. 

 Each of these options serves the purpose of further separating the business from the owner when you are looking to start a business credit profile. The option you choose should be the one that best suits your needs for tax purposes. 

The Second Rule of Getting Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit: You Must Have Separate Contact Information

Do not let your business share an address or a phone number with you.  Your personal address and telephone number are like a neon sign pointing to your personal credit.  That is exactly what you do not want.  

Even if you run your business out of your own home, it needs its own address.  You can accomplish this by using a virtual office address. Virtual offices operate almost exclusively online.  They offer a physical mailing address and at times, a host of other services such as receptionist options, meeting rooms, and video conferencing. 

You also need a dedicated business phone number.  You can either get a business landline, or there are a number of VoIP options available.  Some will even forward calls to your existing landline or cell phone so you do not even have to get a new phone.

Make sure your business information is listed in the business 411 directory.  You can do that here.

The Third Rule of Getting Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit: Get a Business Bank Account

This accomplishes a number of things.  First, it shows lenders that your business is serious enough to have its own account. Also, many vendors and lenders require a business bank account with a minimum balance before they will approve credit.  Lastly, a separate bank account for your business makes it much easier to keep business expenses separate from personal ones for tax purposes. 

The Fourth Rule of Getting Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit: Website and Email Address

There is so much to this.  First, you have to have both a website and an email address that are dedicated to your business.  If you don’t have an online presence in today’s world, do you even exist? It’s a question to consider.  Don’t let this be a question about your business. A strong online presence is important. 

Your website needs to be user friendly and professional.  If you aren’t someone who does this for a living, it is probably a really good idea to pay someone to design and launch your site.  Pay for hosting with someone like GoDaddy. Do not use a free hosting service. Make sure you get a business email address with the same URL as your website.  A free email service like Yahoo or Gmail will not work well.

 Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

It’s Not Over ‘Till It’s Over: Build Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit

You know that moment when you think the movie is over and everything is going to be okay, and then the  bad guy jumps into the frame and scares you to death. That’s where you are at this point. You can’t walk away and think everything is okay.  Make sure it is really over.  

Separating your business from yourself isn’t the whole game.  This is just how you protect your business. Once you have it separated, you can rest knowing that your business credit will reap the benefits of all your hard work and grow big and strong.  Your personal credit shouldn’t come into the picture much at all. 

However, you still have to do the work to get business credit with bad personal credit.  Even though it’s best to not run up the stairs in a scary movie, you have to climb a different type of staircase to get business credit.  We like to call these tiers instead of stairs. Credit tiers, if you will.  

Once you have your business set up as a separate, fundable entity, you can get accounts reporting to your business credit report. You have to do this without any credit though, because you do not yet have business credit, and your personal credit is bad.  How does that work? 

The Hero that Will Rescue You: The Vendor Credit Tier

The vendor credit tier is how you are going to begin to build business credit without your personal credit coming into play.  This tier is made of starter vendors that will offer net terms on invoices without a credit check. They will look at things like length of time in business, annual income, and the balance in your business bank account instead.

They will also report these payments to the business credit reporting agencies.  Once this happens, your business credit report will be open. Your score will begin to grow.  It takes 10 or more of these types of accounts reporting before your score will be strong enough for the next credit tier. 

The Other Credit Tiers: The Next Steps

After you have an initial credit score from using the vendor credit tier, you can move on to apply for cards in the other tiers. You have to do it in order.  First is the retail credit tier. These are cards that you can only use in the stores that issue them. For example, a Best Buy card can only be used at Best Buy.  An Office Depot card can only be used at Office Depot.

Once you have several of these reporting positive payment history, your score should be strong enough to apply for cards in the fleet credit tier.  These are cards from companies like WEX and Fuelman that you can only use for fuel or auto repair and maintenance. 

After you get enough accounts reporting from the fleet credit tier, it will be time for the top tier.  This is the cash credit tier. Here you find cards that are not limited by location or type of purchase.  You can use them wherever and for whatever. They typically have better rates, higher limits, and sometimes pretty great rewards.  

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

Keep an Eye on the Bad Guy

After you do the hard work of getting business credit with bad personal credit, you’ll want to keep your eyes open.  You never know when personal credit or some other bad guy may try to creep in and spoil the happy ending. This is one time when you for sure do not want a sequel.  This is where credit monitoring comes in.

Unlike your personal credit score, you can’t really get a free copy of your business credit report.  You can pay for copies however, and this isn’t a bad idea to do once a year. You want to make sure there are no mistakes, all information is up to date and only business accounts are being reported. 

We can help you monitor your business credit for a fraction of what you would pay the credit reporting agencies.  Go here to get started.

Survive to the End: It is Possible to have Strong Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit

Don’t let bad personal credit haunt your business.  You don’t have to be afraid if you follow the rules, just like in a scary movie.  To separate your business credit from your personal credit, you must: 

  • Incorporate
  • Have separate contact information for your business
  • Get a dedicated business bank account
  • Have a professional website and email address with the same URL as the website

If you do these things, the chances that your personal credit will find your business credit and cause trouble is greatly reduced. Your business can continue to thrive amidst any personal carnage.  Remember however, you must follow the rules. Business credit doesn’t build passively like personal credit does. You have to be intentional and build it on purpose, with purpose. Climb the credit tiers, and once you make it to the top, your business will be able to survive whatever comes its way.

 

The post Haunted by Bad Personal Credit? You Can Get Business Credit with Bad Personal Credit appeared first on Credit Suite.

Does Your Business Credit Card Show on Your Personal Credit Profile? It Might!

How to Get Your Business Credit Card Off Your Personal Credit Profile

If you have a business credit card, you probably think it isn’t affecting your personal credit profile.  While ideally this would absolutely be the case, the fact it, it could be.  There are ways to keep your business debt off your personal credit report, but it isn’t something that happens automatically.  There is a very specific process that actually takes some time.

It also has to be intentional.  A business owner must be active about building business credit. It doesn’t happen passively. The idea is to set up your business in a way that it easily exists in the eyes of credit reporting agencies (CRAs) and lenders as an entity separate from yourself.  How do you do that?  After you do, how do you get accounts that will report to the CRAs before you have a business credit score?

We can answer all these questions and more.  We can walk you through the process and show you not only how to establish business credit that will not show up on your personal credit profile, but how to build it so that it is strong enough to qualify for any financing you may need.

One Business Credit Misunderstanding

One major misunderstanding when it comes to business credit is that if you have a business credit card, it isn’t on your personal credit profile.  While this can be true, if you haven’t actively built business credit and you did not apply for the credit card with your business information, it likely is not true.  The fact is, that card is a personal credit card that has a few extra perks due to its business designation.  It is not actually a credit card that is based on the merits of your business credit profile. If a business credit card is in the owner’s name, it is on the owner’s personal credit profile.

Share our foolproof business credit building checklist and tell your friends about how you’re building business credit the quick and easy way.

How to Establish Your Business as Separate from Yourself

The question then becomes how do you separate your business from yourself.  Many new small business owners operate as a sole proprietorship because it is just easier.  They simply use their own contact information as their business contact information, and business finances mingle with personal finances.

When it comes to establishing business credit however, this just will not work.  Here is what you need to do.

Get Incorporated

The first step is to incorporate.  There are three options for this.

  • C Corp– This is the most definitive separation, but it is also the most complicated and expensive. Before choosing this option, be certain there are reasons other than establishing business credit that it needs to be done.  If it isn’t necessary for some other reason, there are other, simpler, less expensive options.
  • S Corp– This option basically offers the same separation as the C Corp, but taxes are paid at the personal level, rather than requiring the business to be taxed as well, resulting in double taxation. It is also cheaper than incorporating as a C Corp.  If you aren’t required to file as a C corp, this is a good alternative.
  • LLC– forming a Limited Liability Corporation results in less liability, thus the name, and offers enough separation to serve the purpose of establishing business credit. If you are not required to be a C Corp or S Corp, this is the easiest and most cost-effective way to create the separation of business and personal credit needed.

The option you choose will depend on your specific tax and liability needs, as they each offer different levels of protection and expenses.

Get an EIN to Keep Accounts off Your Personal Credit Profile

You need to apply for an EIN. Stop using your Social Security Number as the identifying number for your business.  Your SSN is a direct link to you personally.  It is virtually guaranteed that anything connected to it credit wise will end up on your personal credit reports.

In fact, even if you follow all the other steps for establishing business credit but skip this one, accounts could end up on both reports.  You don’t want that.

The process of applying for and EIN is easy.  The IRS has an online form, and as soon as they verify all the information, you receive your number.  It typically happens almost immediately.

Don’t Forget to Get a D-U-N-S Number

Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) is the most widely used business credit reporting agency.  They issue each business on file a 9-digit D-U-N-S number.  Application is easy and free, and once you have that number, you will be even closer to establishing credit for your business separate from your own.

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Get Shiny New Contact Information

Your business needs its own phone number and address.  This way, when you apply for credit, you can enter contact information that is separate from your own.  When information is reported to agencies, sometimes the phone number and address are used as identifying factors.  If you and your business share a number and address, that just decreases the level of separation.

Be sure you get your contact information listed in the directory under your business name.

Get a Dedicated Business Bank Account

If you don’t have one already, you need a dedicated business bank account in the business name.  Make sure all business expenses run through this account.  Not only does this help separate you from your business, but it will keep business expenses separate from personal expenses for tax purposes as well.

Business Website and Email Address

A lot of business owners do not realize how important this is.  Truly, these days if you do not have a website, you do not exist.  However, your business website needs to be professionally built and hosted on a paid service such as GoDaddy.  The email address needs to have the same URL as the website.  Free web hosting and free email services such as Gmail and Yahoo do not work well.

These things make your business look fundable to lenders.  This is the first step to building business credit.

Establish Credit Lines with Vendors

If you are a new business and just starting with vendors, look for those that will extend credit and report to the top credit agencies.  We call this the vendor credit tier.

Share our foolproof business credit building checklist and tell your friends about how you’re building business credit the quick and easy way.

If you have been around for a while and do not have credit with your existing vendors, ask for it.  If they comply, ask if they currently report to the credit agencies, or if they will.  Not all vendors do because it is not required.  Not all are willing either.  If your current vendors do not want to cooperate in this endeavor, consider switching to vendors that will.

Here are some of the starter vendors that are the easiest to get started with.

o Use Quill to order supplies you use every day, including pens, pencils, folders, printer ink, copy paper, and even cleaning supplies.

o Order shipping supplies, janitorial equipment, and more through Uline.

o Grainger offers industrial supplies as well as tools that you will need in the course of regular business.

It may be necessary to place a few initial orders with each of these before you can get net terms. There is no need to order anything you do not need however. They each sell things that business owners need in the everyday operations of a business. Once you make your on-time invoice payments and they begin reporting those payments to the credit agencies, your credit score will start to grow.

Talk to the Utility Companies

Sometimes utility companies are willing to report payments to credit agencies.  However, you almost always have to ask.  The worst they can do is refuse.  If they do, no damage is done.  If they agree, you will only establish your business credit faster.

Talk to them all, including telephone, electric, gas, and even internet.  Before you do this, be certain that all of these utilities are in your business name with your business contact information.

Topsy Turvy: Your Personal Credit Profile Still Matters for Your Business

Taking these steps will help you establish separate credit for your business.  That means your business credit cards and other business credit accounts will not show up on your personal credit profile.  However, it is virtually impossible for the reverse of this to hold true all the time.

It’s true, your personal credit accounts will not show up on your business credit report. However, your personal credit can still affect your ability to get a loan even if you are using business credit.  It doesn’t always, but it can.  Here’s how.

First, some lenders insist on checking personal credit even if you have business credit.  The thing is, if your personal credit isn’t up to par but you have strong business credit, you are more likely to get the loan anyway.  That not so great personal credit score can affect your terms and rates however.

The other way that your personal credit profile can affect your business credit is this.  Some CRAs actually use your personal credit in the calculation of your business credit score.  While not all of them do this, there is really no way to know which of the CRAs your lender will choose to use.

The moral of this story is that you cannot ignore your personal credit profile while you are building business credit.  You have to stay on top of your complete credit history.

Why Does it Matter if Business Credit Cards are on Your Personal Credit Profile?

You may be wondering why it matters.  If your personal credit can affect things anyway, wouldn’t it be easier to just have everything in one place?  The answer is a resounding no.  In the long term, not having separate business credit is a bad idea.

The thing is, even if you make all your payments on time, your personal credit cannot handle the level of spending that running a business requires.  Business credit cards that you get on your business credit have higher spending limits.  These higher limits are designed to handle the larger spending amounts necessary to run a business.

Why does that matter?  Well, when you carry balances at or near your credit limit, your debt-to-credit ratio goes up.  A high debt-to-credit ratio has a negative impact on your personal credit score. With the level of monthly spending that most businesses require regularly, it is all but impossible to keep a low debt-to-credit ratio with business accounts on your personal credit profile, even with an immaculate credit history. This can impede your ability to get personal financing for things such as houses, home renovation, automobiles, and more.

Share our foolproof business credit building checklist and tell your friends about how you’re building business credit the quick and easy way.

Are Your Business Credit Cards Affecting Your Personal Credit Profile?

How can you know if your business cards are affecting your personal credit?  Well, if you have not taken the steps necessary to separate your business credit from your personal credit, you can  bet for sure this is happening.  To know for certain, get a free copy of your personal credit report from each of the main personal credit CRAs.  These include Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.  You should be able to see them on there.

If you have strong business credit, call the credit card company and inquire about shutting down the card on your personal account and switching to a card on your business credit. If you do not yet have strong business credit, start building it now.  When you have a high enough business credit score, take the steps necessary to remove the card that is on your personal credit and open new ones using your business credit.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

If you aren’t sure if this is happening to you, or if you didn’t even know it was possible, find out now.  Get copies of your personal credit profile and see what is on there.  At the same time, start building business credit if you do not have it already.  Then you can access all the funding you need to ensure your business is able to continue to grow and thrive.

 

 

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An Unsecured Business Loan Can Help A Startup Grow. Personal Loans Won’t

How an Unsecured Business Loan Can Be the Dynamite that Helps Your Business Explode

When you are trying to grow a business, you have plenty of funding options.  The first one most think of is a loan. What most don’t realize is that there are many different types of loans.  The most basic options are secured loans and unsecured loans.  However, you also have to choose between business loans and personal loans.  For helping a business grow, you are better off to choose business loans every time.  Securing a business loan will help your business grow long term, even if it is an unsecured business loan.  Personal loans do not carry the same advantage.

Here’s why.  Payments on personal loans, whether secured or unsecured, are going to be reported to your personal credit. That is great for your personal finances, but it doesn’t really help your business credit at all.  If you have business loans, even an unsecured business loan, those payments will be reported on your business credit report.  When this happens, your business credit grows, which will absolutely help you grow your business in the future.

Hit the jackpot with our best webinar and its trustworthy list of seven vendors who can help you build business credit.

Why Personal Loans Aren’t a Good Idea

If you finance your business on personal loans, a number of things can happen.  The first is that you can completely mess up your debt-to-credit ratio.  This is a problem regardless of whether you are making your payments on time.

The debt-to-credit ratio shows how much of your available credit you are using. As a general rule of thumb, personal credit limits are lower than business credit limits.  Conversely, business expenses are typically much higher than personal expenses.  This is the perfect recipe for balances that stay at or near limits, even when you are making payments.

The other reason it isn’t a good idea to use your personal credit to finance your business is this.  If your business finances hit hard times, your personal finances will go down too.  There would be no protection.

What is an Unsecured Loan?

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Now that we’ve established why you need to use business credit for your business and not personal credit, let’s talk about business financing.  Specifically, let’s talk about an unsecured business loan. It is important to understand what an unsecured business loan is before you can understand how it can help you grow your business.

Basically, this is a loan that you get solely on the merits of your business credit.  There is no collateral or personal security put up to help you get the loan. The only risk mitigation by the lender is the reliance on your business credit score. While some may check your personal credit score also, applying with your business information ensures that the payment history will be on your business credit report.

As you can imagine, this means that you need  a pretty stellar business score to get an unsecured business loan. The thing is, once you are there, you can use the funds to do whatever you need to to grow your business without having to worry about using any part of your business as security.

The question then becomes, how on earth do you get the strong business credit you need to qualify for an unsecured business loan?

How to Get Business Credit

Business credit is vastly different from personal credit in many ways.  Perhaps the most glaring difference is that while personal credit kind of just happens based on your spending and paying habits, business credit has to be initiated and built intentionally.  How do you start?

  • Incorporate your business as a corporation, S-corp, or LLC
  • List separate business contact information in directories
  • Obtain an EIN and a DUNS number
  • Open a bank account in your business’s name and run all business expenses through that account.

These steps will help you establish your business as an entity with finances separate from your own. That means vendors will report credit information in your business name. Thus, your business credit will be born.

What’s the Next Step?

Next, you have to do business with starter vendors from the vendor credit tier.  They are vendors that will offer net 30 or higher invoices and report your payments to the business credit reporting agencies. As this continues, your business credit score will grow to the point that you can apply for credit cards from the retail credit tier.

The retail credit tier includes those credit cards that are linked to a specific retail store.  This might include, for example, Staples, Lowes, or Best Buy credit cards.  You need several of these reporting positive payment history.  When that happens, you can begin to apply for cards in the fleet credit tier.

Fleet cards are those that can be used for fuel and automobile maintenance from companies such as Fuelman and Shell.  After enough of these are reporting you can apply for cards in the retail credit tier.

The retail credit tier is the top tier.  Once you are here, you can apply for those standard Mastercards and Visa cards that are not linked to a specific retail store or fuel company.  Get a few of these reporting and handle the credit responsibly.  Then, you will have a strong business score that should allow you to qualify for an unsecured business loan.  This means, you will not have to put up collateral or personal security, and your personal credit should not be affected by your business credit.

Other Types of Small Business Financing

It’s probably wise at this point to discuss the various types of small business financing available.  There are options between business credit cards and unsecured small business loans.  It isn’t all or nothing, and each one can play a part in helping your business grow.

Hit the jackpot with our best webinar and its trustworthy list of seven vendors who can help you build business credit.

Types of Loans

There are various types of loans including:

●        Traditional

These are the standard loans that disperse a set amount of funds, with the borrower repaying over a certain period of time.  The payment is the same each month, and they can be either secured or unsecured.  Unsecured small business loan options usually have higher interest rates.

●        Line of Credit

This is revolving debt similar to credit cards.  Borrowers are given a maximum limit of the amount of funds they can use, but only pay back the amount that they actually use.  For example, a borrower may have a $5,000 line of credit and use $2,000 to buy a new printer.  They will only pay back to $2,000, until the time comes that they choose to use more. Lines of credit can also be secured or unsecured.

●        Invoice Factoring

Factoring invoices is an option if you have receivables.   The lender basically buys unpaid invoices from you at a premium.  This means you do not get full value.  You then have immediate cash however, for those open invoices.  The lender collects from the consumer directly at full value.  The older the invoice, the higher the premium. That’s because the likelihood of collecting on the invoice goes down the older the invoice gets.

●        Merchant Cash Advance

If you accept credit card payments, a merchant cash advance can help you out in a pinch.  It is  just what its name says it is.  It’s a cash advance on predicted credit card sales.  They base the amount of the loan off of average daily credit card sales, and then take payment from future credit card sales. This usually happens electronically. Most often, the process is automatic.  The draw is that you get the funds fast, and there are usually more flexible options for repayment terms depending on your eligibility.

Where Can I Find an Unsecured Business Loan and Other Small Business Financing Options?

It really does no good to discuss small business financing if we don’t tell you where to find it.  Here are a few options to consider.  Remember though, even if you are applying based on business credit, some lenders still want to see your personal credit score. Also, these guys aren’t the only game in town.  Be sure to do your research to find the best lender for your needs.

Upstart

Upstart is a fairly new online lender that is using cutting edge technology.  They question whether financial information and FICO alone can really determine the risk associated with a specific borrower.  Rather, they are using a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning to gather alternative data.  They then use this data to aid credit decisions.

Alternative data includes such things as mobile phone bills, rent, deposits, withdrawals, and even other information less directly tied to finances.  Software from the company learns and improves on its own.

They offer various types of financing products to fit a broad range of needs. There is something for everyone.  Debt consolidation and personal loans are included, in addition to business loans.

Quotes are available online in minutes.  Learn more in this comprehensive review.

StreetShares

StreetShares started as a service to veterans.  Now, they offer term loans, lines of credit, and contract financing. They also offer small business loan investment options. The maximum loan amount is $250,000.  Pre Approval only takes a few minutes. They use a soft pull on your credit so it doesn’t affect your score.

To be eligible, you must be in business for at least 12 months with annual revenue of $25,000. Exceptions are possible, with loans to companies in business for at least 6 months but with higher earnings being approved on a case by case basis. The borrower’s credit score must be at least 620. For more on StreetShares, see our in-depth review.

Kabbage

Kabbage is a well know online lender. They offer a small business line of credit that can help businesses accomplish business goals. The minimum loan amount is $500 and the maximum is $250,000. They require you to be in business for at least one year and have $50,000 or more in annual revenue.  They will also accept $4,200 or more in monthly revenue over the most recent three month period.

Kabbage is a great option if you need cash quickly. Also, their non-traditional approach puts less weight on your credit score, so they may work well for borrowers that still have some work to do in that department.

Fundation

Fundation provides both term business loans online and lines of credit. It is most known for its working capital funding options. These are funds meant to help cover the day-to-day costs of running a business rather than larger projects. Typically, funds come in the form of a line-of-credit.

The minimum loan amount is $20,000, while the maximum loan amount they offer is $500,000. They require you to be in business for at least 12 months and have annual revenue of at least $100,000. To be eligible, your personal credit score must be no less than 600. Additionally, you must have at least 3 full time employees, but this can include yourself. Owners that live or operate their business in North Dakota, South Dakota, or Nevada are not eligible.

Hit the jackpot with our best webinar and its trustworthy list of seven vendors who can help you build business credit.

Why is an Unsecured Business Loan Better Than a Personal Loan?

When you take out an unsecured business loan, you not only protect your business from the bank in case of default, but you ensure your personal assets are protected as well.  In addition, as you continue to build your business credit score by making payments on-time, you guarantee yourself the ability to access the funding you need to grow in the future.

Whether you need to add equipment, open a new location, or simply buy more inventory to supply the demand, you can rest easy knowing you will be able to get the funding you need.

An Unsecured Business Loan Can Help Your Business Grow

Many businesses are started on the merits of the owner’s personal credit.  It certainly isn’t unheard of, and in fact, it is likely the norm.  Before your business starts, it can’t exactly have credit, can it? However, once you are up and running, it is important to start building business credit.  Then, when the time comes to grow and expand, you are more likely to have access to an unsecured business loan.  This will be much more effective at helping your business grow than a personal loan ever could be.

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