Tag: Recession

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession?

Do you know? How hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession?

It’s a brilliant question. How hard is it to establish business credit in a recession? Is business credit building impossible? Or is it just some nightmare? And what happens in an economic downturn?

I assure you it is not only possible, it is downright sure-fire. And business credit is all but recession-proof!

Business credit is credit in a business’s name. It doesn’t link to an owner’s personal credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the corporation. Because of this, an entrepreneur’s business and consumer credit scores can be very different.

The Advantages

Because business credit is distinct from individual, it helps to safeguard a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business insolvency. Also, with two separate credit scores, an entrepreneur can get two separate cards from the same merchant.

This effectively doubles buying power.

Another benefit is that even startups can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building small business credit, when done right, is a plan for success.

Individual credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional considerations like credit usage percentages. But for small business credit, the scores actually merely depend on whether a corporation pays its invoices timely.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: The Process

Establishing business credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A corporation will need to proactively work to build business credit. Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much swifter than developing individual credit scores.

Merchants are a big component of this process.

Doing the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive rejections. No one can start at the top with company credit. For instance, you can’t start with store or cash credit from your bank. If you do you’ll get a rejection 100% of the time.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Company Fundability

A business has to be authentic to lenders and vendors. As a result, a company will need a professional-looking website and email address, with website hosting from a company like GoDaddy. Additionally business phone and fax numbers need to have a listing on ListYourself.net.

At the same time the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the like).

A company will also need a bank account dedicated strictly to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for running. These licenses all must be in the accurate, accurate name of the company, with the same business address and phone numbers.

Keep in mind that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the IRS web site and obtain an EIN for the small business. They’re free of charge. Select a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A small business can start off as a sole proprietor. But will most likely wish to switch to a form of corporation or partnership to decrease risk and maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it concerns tax obligations and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the owner is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. No one else is responsible.

If you run a company as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA (‘doing business as’) status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. Therefore, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all company debts.

And also, per the IRS, with this structure there is a 1 in 7 probability of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 chance for corporations! Prevent confusion and drastically lower the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit as well.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Starting off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Begin at the D&B website and obtain a cost-free DUNS number. A DUNS number is how D&B gets a corporation into their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no DUNS number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the company. You can do this at https://www.creditsuite.com/reports/. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness.

If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process. By doing this, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Trade Lines

First you must build trade lines that report. This is also known as vendor accounts. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start obtaining revolving store and cash credit.

These kinds of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time, like shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are oftentimes Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid in full within 60 days. Compared to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To begin your business credit profile the right way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. As soon as that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with very little effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

And Continue…

So get 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is revolving store credit.

1. Uline Shipping Supplies

Uline Shipping Supplies is a true starter vendor. Find them online at https://www.uline.com/. They offer shipping, packing, and industrial supplies, and they report to D&B and Experian.

You need to have a DUNS number. They will ask for 2 references and a bank reference. The initial few orders may need to be paid in advance to initially get approval for Net 30 terms. Also, you may need to buy some things you do not need.

2. Crown Office Supplies

Crown Office Supplies is another true starter vendor. Find them online at https://crownofficesupplies.com.

They sell a variety of office supplies and take helping clients seriously. They say, “just starting your business, or maybe have an existing business, but you have a question regarding office supplies… we are here to help!” And they report to Dun and Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax.

There is a $99.00 yearly fee, though they do report that fee to the business credit reporting agencies. For other purchases to report, the purchase must be at least $30.00. Terms are Net 30.

3. Grainger Industrial Supply

Grainger Industrial Supply is also a true starter vendor. Find them online at https://www.grainger.com/. They sell safety equipment, plumbing supplies, and more, and they report to D&B. You will need a business license, EIN, and a DUNS number.

For less than $1000 credit limit they will approve virtually anybody with a business license.

Accounts That Don’t Report

Non-Reporting Trade Accounts can also be helpful. While you do want trade accounts to report to at the very least one of the CRAs, a trade account which does not report can yet be of some worth. You can always ask non-reporting accounts for trade references.

Also credit accounts of any sort will help you to better even out business expenditures, consequently making financial planning simpler. These are companies like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.

Revolving Store Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs move to revolving store credit.

Use the corporation’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then progress to fleet credit. These are companies like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy, repair, and take care of vehicles. Make certain to apply using the business’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move onto more universal cash credit. These are service providers such as Visa and MasterCard. Keep your SSN off these applications; use your EIN instead.

These are typically MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and fix any inaccuracies ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports. Dig into the specifics, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for $90 less. Update the relevant information if there are errors or the details is incomplete.

Disputing Mistakes

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any mistakes in your records. Errors in your credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs typically want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputing credit report inaccuracies usually means you send a paper letter with copies of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always send copies and retain the originals.

Disputing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically detail any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: A Word about Business Credit Building

So always use credit sensibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Monitor balances and deadlines for payments. Paying on time and fully will do more to boost business credit scores than virtually anything else.

Establishing corporate credit pays. Good business credit scores help a company get loans. Your credit issuer knows the corporation can pay its financial obligations.

They know the corporation is authentic. And the business’s EIN connects to high scores, and credit issuers won’t feel the need to require a personal guarantee.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Takeaway

Business credit is an asset which can help your small business for years to come.

Obtaining merchant accounts for business credit means that you are on your way to getting good business credit.

These three should conveniently get you going. How hard is it to establish business credit in a recession? Pretty easy! So go out there and clobber it! Learn more here and get started toward establishing business credit.

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Equity Crowdfunding: Recession Investing is a Legitimate Option

The long predicted impending recession is here.  Now it’s time to figure out how to survive.  Equity crowdfunding recession investing could be a viable option.

How Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing Could Be Your Ticket Out

I am sure you are thinking, “Your ticket out of what?” The answer is, “Your ticket out of the recession.”  Everyone hopes to escape unharmed, and few will. Even if you get out with a few bumps and bruises, equity crowdfunding recession investing can offer just enough padding to help you avoid any broken bones.  

The number of US banks has been decreasing slowly for a quarter of a century, as is seen from consolidation in the market.  Also, deregulation in the 1990s decreased barriers to interstate banking. See: https://www.fundera.com/blog/happened-americas-small-businesses-financial-crisis-six-years-start-crisis-look-back-10-charts.

Too many assets in larger financial institutions is a problem for local business owners. Big banks are less likely to make small loans. During recessions, financial institutions end up being more cautious with financing.

In short, recessions are a fact of life, and when that time comes, as it now had, banks hold on to their money much more tightly.  This is why equity crowdfunding recession investing is not only a legitimate option, but maybe even a necessary option.

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

Why Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding has become all the rage and it’s no wonder. It’s pretty much free money that you don’t have to repay, and you can get these funds without having to give up any ownership or control over your startup company. In addition, there is less hassle than with traditional financing.

Real Estate crowdfunding is different from startup crowdfunding.  It’s the same general idea, but there are a few tweaks for the industry.  You need to know more about real estate investing first however, before you can start to think about equity crowdfunding recession investing. 

Types of Real Estate Investments

There are a couple of different types of real estate investments.  Which one works best for you will be an individual decision, but when it comes to equity crowdfunding recession investing, here is what you need to know about each. 

Residential Real Estate

There are two types of residential real estate investments. You can invest in property to re-sell for a profit, or you can invest in rental property. 

Property for resale typically refers to house flipping, which is tricky. You have to find a home in a location that will sell. There has to be a balance between the work that needs doing and the resale price. A lot of things have to fall into place. Still, many people make a successful living flipping houses. 

Rental investments include either single family homes, apartment buildings, or duplexes. Improvements may be necessary depending on the situation. It is important to be sure any improvements actually add value however. There is a point where you will not be able to get the cost of improvements back through rental income. 

Commercial Real Estate

These are commercial real estate investors that purchase property for commercial use. These are the people building shopping centers, strip malls, and buildings for businesses. Most often they are companies rather than individuals.

The companies still need funding for their real estate projects. Thanks to the JOBS Act of 2012, they have a new way of getting that funding. It not only helps them, but it also lets individuals enjoy the benefits of commercial real estate investing. It may not sound like much, but previous to this it was very difficult for individuals to break into commercial real estate investing.  The problem was the high cost. What is this awesome new dream come true you ask? That would be equity crowdfunding for real estate investors. 

How to Choose Your Real Estate Investments

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

Location Not Only Matters, it is VITAL

You have to consider the location of the property when making your investment decision. Flipping a house that is in an area no one is buying in is not a good idea. Even the most amazing house in the world won’t sell if it is in a bad area.  Locations high in crime, in the floodplain, or some other less than desirable area are not good ideas. Even if it does sell, the price will likely have to be so low you see a loss.

Be Consistent

To make real estate investing work for you, find your niche and stick to it. If you are going to flip houses, flip houses. If you are going to be a landlord, do that. Commercial property investment your thing? Stick with it. 

It is almost always impossible to do everything, and it is impossible to do everything well. Pick one area of real estate investment and stick to it. 

Know Your Options

While equity crowdfunding recession investing is a legitimate option, you can’t know if it is right for you without knowing all the options.

What are your funding options? You can self-fund, which isn’t possible for most. In the past, the only other option was financing. There are plenty of real estate lending products available from various sources. 

Thanks to the JOBS ACT of 2012 however, there is now a new possibility on the list. That is equity crowdfunding recession investing for real estate. 

How Does Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing for Real Estate Work?

To understand how this funding option works, you need to understand how crowdfunding itself works. With the JOBS Act of 2012, small businesses gained relief from a lot of requirements in place by the SEC. These requirements held many businesses back. 

The official title is “Jump Start Our Businesses Act of 2012.” By design, it relieves small businesses of many of the strict requirements put forth by the SEC. President Obama signed it on April 5, 2012. Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing Credit Suite2

It releases some restrictions on raising capital, including allowing small businesses to go public with less than $1,000,000 in annual revenue. It also increases the validity of crowdfunding for both startup and real estate investing.

 The Act allows for open investing options that do not require investors to register with the SEC. This is true as long as they meet certain guidelines. Thus, crowdfunding platforms were born. For entrepreneurs looking to “kick start” their business idea, you now see sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. 

These sites allow individuals to post a business idea and accept investments.  These can go as low as $5 and as high as, well, the sky ‘s the limit. In return, investors receive some sort of reward. It may be a some of the profits, a free product, or any number of things. It is often a reflection of the level of investment. Today there are tons of crowdfunding platforms all over the internet. 

Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing for Real Estate

Though similar to crowdfunding for small businesses, it isn’t exactly the same. There isn’t a need for perks or rewards for investing usually.  Additionally, there isn’t usually a lot of campaigning. Most of those that list on real estate crowdfunding sites are commercial real estate businesses. They are seeking funding for their projects.  Investors choose the ones that they feel will offer the greatest returns for their budget.

Anyone can invest in a commercial real estate portfolio.  It is similar to investing in a stock market portfolio. Then they can enjoy the returns without actually buying an entire piece of commercial property. 

This is how commercial real estate investors can raise equity and avoid a loan. At the same time, individuals can enjoy the benefits of commercial real estate investing for as little as $500. 

Top Sites to Find Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing for Real Estate

There are many sites that offer equity crowdfunding for real estate investors, even in a recession. These are just a few. It will take some research to figure out which one will work best. When deciding, be sure to take into account ease of use and the lowest possible investment level.  If they do not offer an investment option that will fit your budget, there is no need to waste your time.  

Crowdstreet

 The options and training with Crowdstreet are what make it top notch. You can choose from portfolio or direct investing.  It is easy to make decisions with confidence because they offer a lot of training material for investors.

 The lowest investment for portfolios are $25,000, but the minimum for direct investing varies.  

RealCrowd

The best part about RealCrowd is that you can browse offerings before you sign up. The information includes minimum investment and average returns. This allows for a lot of the decision making to happen before you even log in. You can know before you even create an account if this site is for you, or not. 

Fundrise

Fundrise is a great starter site to break into the world of equity crowdfunding for real estate investors. The number one advantage of this site is that the minimum investment is $500. They also have lower fees than many other sites. 

 There are a lot more sites that have a wide range of options and advantages. It would definitely be worth it to take some time to look at them and see which one will work best for you. This is true whether you are a company seeking funds or an individual looking to invest. 

Remember, individual crowdfunding sites can change terms and details without notice.  Be sure to go to the site directly for the most up-to-the-minute information.

Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing Offers Plenty of Benefits

On the property owner’s side, there are many benefits. The top one is the ability to raise funds without debt. This is the same reason crowdfunding is a popular way to fund a small business startup. It isn’t free money. There are fees and profit sharing involved, but it is often substantially cheaper than debt.

For individual investors, it is a great alternative option to stock market investing. The returns are typically larger and more consistent. The minimum investment can be very manageable. Those sites that have a higher minimum investment are options for investors looking to cash out current investments or retirement funds. They can try out a new option. 

More Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing Tips

Be Honest

Always be honest. Lying and cheating never pays. Much of real estate investing depends on referrals. You will not get referrals if you do not practice integrity in your business. 

 If you are a landlord, be a good one. If you build commercial property, don’t cut corners. The same thing applies if you are flipping houses. Do not accept bad work to save money. Make sure your contractors do the best work they can so that buyers, investors, and renters get what they pay for. 

Keep Up with the Industry

Ignorance is not an excuse. Continue to educate yourself on real estate market trends, housing trends, and more. 

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

Do Market Research

Speaking of the market, you need to know it inside and out at all times. You should be intimate with it. Read articles, watch videos, and do whatever you can to keep up with  your corner of the market. 

A Legitimate Option

Equity crowdfunding recession investing can open up a whole new world for many. Pretty much anyone can earn a nice passive income. Real estate investors have an alternative funding option, and it is often more manageable than financing. 

If there is a gap, there are plenty of other options still available. Many lenders offer real estate investment loan products with credit score requirements as low as 600. Interest rates vary, and due to the nature of the industry, terms are typically 13 months to two years. 

 If you are looking for financing to supplement your equity crowdfunding recession investing, be sure to shop around, the same as you would shop around for a crowdfunding site. Do your research so you can choose the best option or combination of options for your needs.

The post Equity Crowdfunding: Recession Investing is a Legitimate Option appeared first on Credit Suite.

Equity Crowdfunding: Recession Investing is a Legitimate Option

The long predicted impending recession is here.  Now it’s time to figure out how to survive.  Equity crowdfunding recession investing could be a viable option. How Equity Crowdfunding Recession Investing Could Be Your Ticket Out I am sure you are thinking, “Your ticket out of what?” The answer is, “Your ticket out of the recession.”  … Continue reading Equity Crowdfunding: Recession Investing is a Legitimate Option

Do Nothing till You Check Out Our Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review

Check Out Our Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review and Look at Pearl Capital Business Financing

Pearl Financing is a lender in the online space. However, there are two similarly-named players. This blog post will cover both: Pearl Capital Business Financing and Pearl Financing. So it’s more than just a Pearl Financing recession funding review.

Recession Period Financing

The number of United States financial institutions and also thrifts has been decreasing slowly for 25 years. This is from consolidation in the marketplace in addition to deregulation in the 1990s, lowering barriers to interstate banking. See: fundera.com/blog/happened-americas-small-businesses-financial-crisis-six-years-start-crisis-look-back-10-charts. Assets focused in ever‐larger financial institutions is troublesome for small business owners. Big financial institutions are a lot less likely to make small loans. Economic declines imply banks end up being much more mindful with financing. Luckily, business credit does not count on financial institutions.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review

Pearl Financing is a lending company in the online space. They provide various loans and forms of financing to businesses.

Pearl Financing currently only handles real estate funding.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Background

Pearl Financing is located online here: www.pearlfinancing.com.

Their physical address is:

11010 Lake Grove Blvd
Suite 100 PMB 119
Morrisville, NC 27560.

You can also call them at: (866) 865-0121. Their contact page is here: www.pearlfinancing.com/contact-us. Also, you can email them at: info@pearlfinancing.com.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Bridge Loans and Hard Money

Pearl Financing partners with private investment firms for this typical form of real estate financing. There are no fees listed on their website for this form of funding.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Commercial Real Estate Financing

Pearl Financing offers several forms of financing. These include SBA 7(a) loans, CMBS Conduit loans, HUD, equity, and conventional loans. There are no fees listed on their website for these forms of funding.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: CMBS Conduit Loans

This is a type of commercial real estate loan secured by a first position mortgage on a commercial property. These loans are packaged and sold by conduit lenders, commercial banks, investment banks, or syndicates of banks.

Terms are five, seven, or ten years. 25 – 30 year amortization. 75% loan to value/80% with Mezzanine Loan Combo. Rates are fixed but otherwise not specified.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Mezzanine Financing

This is a hybrid of debt and equity financing. It gives the lender the right to convert to an equity interest in the company in case of default. This is often after venture capital companies and other senior lenders are paid. There are no fees listed on their website for this form of funding.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Advantages

Advantages include a variety of choices for real estate funding. House flippers will do well to work with a specialist, which is what Pearl Financing brings to the table.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Disadvantages

So the chief disadvantage is no listing of fees anywhere, not even a range. This lack of transparency should be troubling to any entrepreneur. In addition, the company needs to distinguish themselves better from a similar company with a nearly identical name. As a result, borrowers can easily end up on the wrong site.

Pearl Capital Business Funding

Pearl Capital Business Financing is a lending company in the online space. So it is evidently unrelated to Pearl Financing.

They work with Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) and merchants only. This online lender helps ISOs find more merchants to sign on with credit card payments or create merchant cash advances. There is no listing for their fees on their website.

Background

Pearl Capital Business Financing is located online here: https://pearlcapital.com. Their physical address is in New York, NY. You can also call them at: (800) 888-9959.

A Fantastic Alternative to Both – Building Business Credit

Company credit is credit in a company’s name. It doesn’t link to a business owner’s consumer credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the business.

Therefore, a business owner’s business and individual credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Considering that business credit is independent from consumer, it helps to safeguard an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in case of court action or business insolvency.

Also, with two distinct credit scores, an entrepreneur can get two separate cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles buying power.

Another benefit is that even startup companies can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building small business credit, when done the right way, is a plan for success.

Individual credit scores depend upon payments but also various other considerations like credit use percentages.

But for business credit, the scores really just hinge on if a business pays its bills punctually.

The Process

Building business credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A small business has to proactively work to build business credit.

Nevertheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much more rapid than developing personal credit scores.

Vendors are a big part of this process.

Performing the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with small business credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Recession Funding Review Credit Suite

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Small Business Fundability

A business has to be fundable to lenders and merchants.

Due to this fact, a company will need a professional-looking web site and e-mail address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a supplier like GoDaddy.

And also, company telephone and fax numbers must have a listing on ListYourself.net.

Likewise, the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the equivalent).

A company will also need a bank account dedicated purely to it, and it has to have every one of the licenses necessary for operation.

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the correct, correct name of the company. And they need to have the same small business address and phone numbers.

So keep in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

Working with the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and acquire an EIN for the business. They’re free. Pick a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A business can begin as a sole proprietor. But they will probably want to change to a sort of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to limit risk. And it will make the most of tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it comes to taxes and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and taxes. No one else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a business as a sole proprietor, then at the very least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. Because of this, you can wind up being personally responsible for all small business financial obligations.

And also, according to the IRS, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 possibility of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for corporations! Steer clear of confusion and significantly lower the chances of an IRS audit at the same time.

Kicking Off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B website and obtain a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a company in their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s web sites for the small business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

By doing so, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Recession Funding Review Credit Suite

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Vendor Credit

First you should establish trade lines that report. This is also called vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start to get retail and cash credit.

These types of accounts often tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first off, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are typically Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence, if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you must pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid in full within 60 days. In contrast to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To begin your business credit profile properly, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. As soon as that’s done, you can then use the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants that will grant an approval with marginal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move onto retail credit. These are companies like Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the business’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then move to fleet credit. These are companies like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to fix and take care of vehicles. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make sure to apply using the company’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move to more universal cash credit. These are businesses like Visa and MasterCard. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are typically MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are feasible.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and take care of any mistakes ASAP. Get in the practice of taking a look at credit reports. Dig into the particulars, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less than it would cost you at the CRAs.

Recession Funding Review Credit Suite

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Update Your Information

Update the data if there are inaccuracies or the info is incomplete.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to contest any errors in your records. Errors in your credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs generally want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes commonly means you mail a paper letter with copies of any evidence of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always send copies and retain the original copies.

Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically detail any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as crystal clear as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Track balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying on schedule and completely will do more to raise business credit scores than pretty much anything else.

Building small business credit pays. Great business credit scores help a company get loans. Your credit issuer knows the small business can pay its financial obligations. They know the company is for real.

The small business’s EIN links to high scores and lenders won’t feel the need to demand a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your small business for years to come.

Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review: Takeaways

The businesses which will do the best with Pearl Financing are going to be the ones with high financing needs but the companies themselves are currently not very large. Therefore, these are companies which are expected to grow quickly and meteorically. However, companies which need less funding have other options. Such businesses should make sure to compare offerings closely.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with a degree of care.

Only you can decide if this option will be good for you and your company. In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond lending. These include building business credit, in order to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow. Business credit building is useful as it becomes a company asset.

Today, we want to hear from our audience! Share your voice with us about your experiences with online lenders.

The post Do Nothing till You Check Out Our Pearl Financing Recession Funding Review appeared first on Credit Suite.

How to Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession

As the novel coronavirus changes our economy, you may be wondering if you even can establish business credit for the first time in a recession. You most certainly can! And here’s how.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession

Establishing small business credit means that your company gets opportunities you never knew you would. You can get all-new equipment, bid on realty, and cover the company payroll, even when times are a bit lean. This is specifically helpful in seasonal companies, where you can go for calendar months with solely hardly any sales. It’s time to establish business credit for the first time in a recession.

Yes, this can even happen during a bleak economy.

Given this, you should really work on developing your company credit. Improve and maintain your scores and you will have these chances. Do not, and either you do not get these chances, or they will set you back you a lot more. And no company owner wants that. You ought to recognize what affects your company credit before you can make it better.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: Business Credit Building

Small business credit is credit in a business’s name. It doesn’t tie to an owner’s consumer credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the business.

Thus, an entrepreneur’s business and individual credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Considering that business credit is independent from personal, it helps to secure a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of litigation or business insolvency.

Also, with two distinct credit scores, an entrepreneur can get two separate cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles buying power.

Another benefit is that even startup businesses can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building small business credit, when done correctly, is a plan for success.

Consumer credit scores depend on payments but also additional components like credit usage percentages.

But for business credit, the scores truly just hinge on whether a company pays its bills on a timely basis.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: The Process

Building small business credit is a process, and it does not happen automatically. A company has to actively work to develop business credit.

That being said, it can be done easily and quickly, and it is much speedier than developing consumer credit scores.

Vendors are a big component of this process.

Performing the steps out of order will lead to repetitive rejections. Nobody can start at the top with company credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: Company Fundability

A company must be fundable to lending institutions and merchants.

For this reason, a company will need a professional-looking web site and email address. And it needs to have website hosting bought from a company such as GoDaddy.

Plus, business telephone and fax numbers ought to have a listing on ListYourself.com.

In addition, the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the equivalent).

A company will also need a bank account devoted strictly to it, and it has to have every one of the licenses necessary for running.

Licenses

These licenses all must be in the accurate, correct name of the small business. And they must have the same small business address and phone numbers.

So bear in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the IRS website and get an EIN for the business. They’re free of charge. Pick a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.

A company can begin as a sole proprietor. But they will more than likely want to switch to a variety of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to lessen risk. And it will take full advantage of tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it pertains to tax obligations and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the owner is it when it comes to liability and taxes. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you operate a business as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the company name. Therefore, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all company financial obligations.

Also, according to the Internal Revenue Service, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for corporations! Steer clear of confusion and drastically lower the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit simultaneously.

But don’t look at a DBA filing as being anything beyond a steppingstone to incorporating.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: Kicking Off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B website and obtain a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a company in their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

In this way, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you need to build trade lines that report. This is also called vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start to get retail and cash credit.

These kinds of accounts often tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are usually Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you must pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid completely within 60 days. In contrast to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To launch your business credit profile properly, you ought to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. As soon as that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Makes Sense

Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are merchants that will grant an approval with very little effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

Store Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move to store credit. These are service providers such as Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the business’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then move onto fleet credit. These are service providers such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to fix and maintain vehicles. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the small business’s EIN.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Cash Credit

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move to more universal cash credit. These are service providers such as Visa and MasterCard. Just use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are often MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are in reach.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and take care of any mistakes ASAP. Get in the habit of taking a look at credit reports. Dig into the details, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for a lot less.

Update Your Information

Update the details if there are inaccuracies or the information is incomplete.Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession Credit Suite

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to dispute any errors in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs normally want you to dispute in a particular way.

Get your small business’s PAYDEX report at: www.dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html. Get your company’s Experian report at: www.businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm. And get your Equifax business credit report at: www.equifax.com/business/credit-information.

Disputes

Disputing credit report inaccuracies typically means you send a paper letter with copies of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never send the originals. Always send copies and keep the originals.

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically detail any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Track balances and deadlines for payments. Paying off promptly and completely will do more to increase business credit scores than just about anything else.

Establishing company credit pays off. Excellent business credit scores help a business get loans. Your loan provider knows the company can pay its debts. They understand the company is for real.

The company’s EIN links to high scores and loan providers won’t feel the need to call for a personal guarantee.

Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession: Takeaway

Business credit is an asset which can help your business for years to come. It’s time to get started on how to establish business credit for the first time in a recession. Or at any other time! The COVID-19 situation will not last forever.

The post How to Establish Business Credit for the First Time in a Recession appeared first on Credit Suite.

Get the Skinny with Our Behalf Recession Funding Review

What Can Behalf Recession Funding Do for Your Business?

Behalf is an online lending company, among several other lending companies online. They offer purchase financing, and also have a virtual MasterCard in order to facilitate financing your purchases. We look at the specifics and drill down into the details of Behalf recession funding.

As of 8/24/2020 Behalf no longer reports. For more information on how to find accounts that report give us a call at 877-600-2487.

Behalf Recession Funding: Background

Behalf is located online here: https://www.behalf.com/.

Their physical address is:

126 5th Avenue

New York, New York 10011.

Behalf keeps their headquarters in New York City with offices in Tel Aviv. You can call them at: (877) 943-9962. Their contact page is here: https://www.behalf.com/help-center/. They have been in business since their founding in 2012. Behalf is backed by venture capital funds from Viola Growth, Spark Capital, Sequoia Capital, MissionOG, Victory Park, and Vintage.

Behalf Recession Funding: Purchase Financing

Behalf’s fees are based on the terms offered to customers. Their fees rise as the number of days to pay rise, with an apparent cap at 3%. This lender offers products to both merchants and their business customers. For business customers, you select the amount to finance, the amount of time to pay it back, and whether you will pay on a monthly or a weekly basis.

Since the end of 2017, all funding from Behalf is through FinWise, a Utah-chartered bank which is located in Sandy, Utah.

This online lender will make a hard inquiry on your personal credit when you first apply for financing.

There is a maximum line size of $50,000. It can extend this in instant purchase capacity to any business customer. Their minimum transaction size is $300. Plus there is no upper limit on individual purchase transactions.

Behalf Recession Funding: Fees

Monthly fees start at 1%, and there is a fixed monthly rate. There are no origination fees and no maintenance fees. You can save 10% on finance fees by choosing a weekly plan.

Behalf Recession Funding: Advantages

Advantages to online lender Behalf include a fixed monthly rate to make your budgeting easier. In addition, there is a discounted rate option if you select weekly payments.

Behalf Recession Funding: Disadvantages

Disadvantages include higher fees if you give your clients longer payment terms. As a result, your company will be penalized for providing better payment terms to your customers.

An Alternative to Behalf Recession Funding – Building Business Credit

Small business credit is credit in a company’s name. It doesn’t connect to an owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the business.

As a result, a business owner’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Due to the fact that small business credit is separate from consumer, it helps to safeguard an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business insolvency.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another benefit is that even start-ups can do this. Heading to a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building company credit, when done properly, is a plan for success.

Consumer credit scores rely on payments but also various other considerations like credit utilization percentages.

But for business credit, the scores truly only depend on whether a company pays its invoices in a timely manner.

Behalf Recession Funding Review Credit Suite

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

The Process

Growing company credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A small business needs to proactively work to build company credit.

Having said that, it can be done easily and quickly, and it is much quicker than establishing personal credit scores.

Merchants are a big part of this process.

Undertaking the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a rejection 100% of the time.

Company Fundability

A business has to be fundable to credit issuers and vendors.

Due to this fact, a small business will need a professional-looking website and email address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a vendor like GoDaddy.

In addition, business phone and fax numbers should have a listing on ListYourself.net.

Additionally, the company phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).

A business will also need a bank account devoted purely to it, and it has to have all of the licenses essential for running.

Licenses

These licenses all must be in the particular, appropriate name of the small business. And they need to have the same small business address and telephone numbers.

So note, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Working with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the Internal Revenue Service website and acquire an EIN for the small business. They’re totally free. Select a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.

A company can begin as a sole proprietor. But they will probably wish to change to a form of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to limit risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it involves taxes and liability in case of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and taxes. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you operate a business as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the business name. Therefore, you can find yourself being directly accountable for all small business financial obligations.

Also, according to the Internal Revenue Service, using this arrangement there is a 1 in 7 possibility of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 possibility for corporations! Prevent confusion and noticeably lower the chances of an Internal Revenue Service audit as well.

But keep in mind, any DBA filing should just be a steppingstone to incorporating.

Starting Off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B website and get a totally free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a company into their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the company. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

By doing so, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you need to establish trade lines that report. This is also known as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to get even more credit.

These sorts of accounts tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are frequently Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Behalf Recession Funding Review Credit Suite

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

Details

Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid fully within 60 days. Compared to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To kick off your business credit profile properly, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit  – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants that will grant an approval with minimal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit. But you may need to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to confirm you are dependable and will pay punctually.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move to retail credit. These are service providers such as Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the business’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then move onto fleet credit. These are companies like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to repair, and take care of vehicles. Just use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the business’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move to more universal cash credit. These are companies such as Visa and MasterCard. Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are attainable.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and deal with any errors ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports and digging into the details, and not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less.

At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business.

Update Your Records

Update the data if there are errors or the relevant information is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. And for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to contest any errors in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs typically want you to dispute in a particular way.

Get your company’s PAYDEX report at: www.dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html. Get your company’s Experian report at: www.businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm. And get your Equifax business credit report at: www.equifax.com/business/credit-information.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes commonly means you send a paper letter with duplicates of any evidence of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never send the originals. Always send copies and keep the originals.

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically itemize any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the concerns with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you sent in your dispute.

Dispute your or your small business’s Equifax report by following the instructions here: www.equifax.com/small-business-faqs/#Dispute-FAQs.

You can dispute mistakes on your or your small business’s Experian report by following the instructions here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp.

And D&B’s PAYDEX Customer Service telephone number is here: www.dandb.com/glossary/paydex.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit sensibly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay back. Keep track of balances and deadlines for payments. Paying off in a timely manner and completely will do more to increase business credit scores than nearly anything else.

Growing company credit pays off. Great business credit scores help a business get loans. Your credit issuer knows the business can pay its debts. They understand the company is bona fide.

The company’s EIN attaches to high scores and lending institutions won’t feel the need to require a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your company for many years to come. Learn more here and get started toward building company credit.

Behalf Recession Funding Review Credit Suite

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

Behalf Recession Funding: Upshot

For companies just starting out, allowing for longer payment terms for customers can help to convert one-time customers into regulars. Because Behalf effectively penalizes a company for providing longer terms, this is a strike against using them if your company is a startup trying to build a reputation with your clients.

However, for a not so new company which can readily make payments, the discounted weekly payment plan (and rate) could be an attractive option, although companies with regular revenue and enough time in business tend to qualify for more traditional financing, including loans from the Small Business Administration.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with a fine-toothed comb, and decide whether this option will be good for you and your company. In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond lending, including building business credit, in order to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.

Maybe you won’t need Behalf recession funding after all.

 

 

The post Get the Skinny with Our Behalf Recession Funding Review appeared first on Credit Suite.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession?

Do you know? How hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession?

It’s a brilliant question. How hard is it to establish business credit in a recession? Is business credit building impossible? Or is it just some nightmare? And what happens in an economic downturn?

I assure you it is not only possible, it is downright sure-fire. And business credit is all but recession-proof!

Business credit is credit in a business’s name. It doesn’t link to an owner’s personal credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the corporation. Because of this, an entrepreneur’s business and consumer credit scores can be very different.

The Advantages

Because business credit is distinct from individual, it helps to safeguard a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business insolvency. Also, with two separate credit scores, an entrepreneur can get two separate cards from the same merchant.

This effectively doubles buying power.

Another benefit is that even startups can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building small business credit, when done right, is a plan for success.

Individual credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional considerations like credit usage percentages. But for small business credit, the scores actually merely depend on whether a corporation pays its invoices timely.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: The Process

Establishing business credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A corporation will need to proactively work to build business credit. Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much swifter than developing individual credit scores.

Merchants are a big component of this process.

Doing the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive rejections. No one can start at the top with company credit. For instance, you can’t start with store or cash credit from your bank. If you do you’ll get a rejection 100% of the time.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Company Fundability

A business has to be authentic to lenders and vendors. As a result, a company will need a professional-looking website and email address, with website hosting from a company like GoDaddy. Additionally business phone and fax numbers need to have a listing on ListYourself.net.

At the same time the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the like).

A company will also need a bank account dedicated strictly to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for running. These licenses all must be in the accurate, accurate name of the company, with the same business address and phone numbers.

Keep in mind that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the IRS web site and obtain an EIN for the small business. They’re free of charge. Select a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A small business can start off as a sole proprietor. But will most likely wish to switch to a form of corporation or partnership to decrease risk and maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it concerns tax obligations and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the owner is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. No one else is responsible.

If you run a company as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA (‘doing business as’) status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. Therefore, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all company debts.

And also, per the IRS, with this structure there is a 1 in 7 probability of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 chance for corporations! Prevent confusion and drastically lower the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit as well.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Starting off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Begin at the D&B website and obtain a cost-free DUNS number. A DUNS number is how D&B gets a corporation into their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no DUNS number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the company. You can do this at https://www.creditsuite.com/reports/. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness.

If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process. By doing this, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Trade Lines

First you must build trade lines that report. This is also known as vendor accounts. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start obtaining revolving store and cash credit.

These kinds of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time, like shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are oftentimes Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid in full within 60 days. Compared to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To begin your business credit profile the right way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. As soon as that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with very little effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

And Continue…

So get 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is revolving store credit.

1. Uline Shipping Supplies

Uline Shipping Supplies is a true starter vendor. Find them online at https://www.uline.com/. They offer shipping, packing, and industrial supplies, and they report to D&B and Experian.

You need to have a DUNS number. They will ask for 2 references and a bank reference. The initial few orders may need to be paid in advance to initially get approval for Net 30 terms. Also, you may need to buy some things you do not need.

2. Crown Office Supplies

Crown Office Supplies is another true starter vendor. Find them online at https://crownofficesupplies.com.

They sell a variety of office supplies and take helping clients seriously. They say, “just starting your business, or maybe have an existing business, but you have a question regarding office supplies… we are here to help!” And they report to Dun and Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax.

There is a $99.00 yearly fee, though they do report that fee to the business credit reporting agencies. For other purchases to report, the purchase must be at least $30.00. Terms are Net 30.Fundability in a Recession Credit Suite

3. Grainger Industrial Supply

Grainger Industrial Supply is also a true starter vendor. Find them online at https://www.grainger.com/. They sell safety equipment, plumbing supplies, and more, and they report to D&B. You will need a business license, EIN, and a DUNS number.

For less than $1000 credit limit they will approve virtually anybody with a business license.

Accounts That Don’t Report

Non-Reporting Trade Accounts can also be helpful. While you do want trade accounts to report to at the very least one of the CRAs, a trade account which does not report can yet be of some worth. You can always ask non-reporting accounts for trade references.

Also credit accounts of any sort will help you to better even out business expenditures, consequently making financial planning simpler. These are companies like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.

Revolving Store Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs move to revolving store credit.

Use the corporation’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then progress to fleet credit. These are companies like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy, repair, and take care of vehicles. Make certain to apply using the business’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move onto more universal cash credit. These are service providers such as Visa and MasterCard. Keep your SSN off these applications; use your EIN instead.

These are typically MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and fix any inaccuracies ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports. Dig into the specifics, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for $90 less. Update the relevant information if there are errors or the details is incomplete.

Disputing Mistakes

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any mistakes in your records. Errors in your credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs typically want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputing credit report inaccuracies usually means you send a paper letter with copies of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always send copies and retain the originals.

Disputing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically detail any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: A Word about Business Credit Building

So always use credit sensibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Monitor balances and deadlines for payments. Paying on time and fully will do more to boost business credit scores than virtually anything else.

Establishing corporate credit pays. Good business credit scores help a company get loans. Your credit issuer knows the corporation can pay its financial obligations.

They know the corporation is authentic. And the business’s EIN connects to high scores, and credit issuers won’t feel the need to require a personal guarantee.

How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession: Takeaway

Business credit is an asset which can help your small business for years to come.

Obtaining merchant accounts for business credit means that you are on your way to getting good business credit.

These three should conveniently get you going. How hard is it to establish business credit in a recession? Pretty easy! So go out there and clobber it! Learn more here and get started toward establishing business credit.

The post How Hard is it to Establish Business Credit in a Recession? appeared first on Credit Suite.

Establishing Corporate Credit in a Recession

Do you know about establishing corporate credit during a recession? And what about for a startup? As a brand-new company, by definition, you have no or little commercial credit history, so it can be hard. When you ask: What is the credit score of a new company? The answer is– it’s usually not so great. But don’t worry! Here are some ideas which will work – even as COVID-19 keeps changing our economy.

The good news is, business credit does not rely upon financial institutions. Or economies, or viruses.

Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Establishing Corporate Credit

Corporate credit is credit in a corporation’s name. It doesn’t attach to an owner’s individual credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the corporation. 

As a result, a business owner’s business and consumer credit scores can be very different.

The Advantages When Establishing Corporate Credit

Because corporate credit is distinct from personal, it helps to secure an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in case of litigation or corporate insolvency.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a business owner can get two different cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another benefit is that even startups can do this. Heading to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for frustration. But establishing corporate credit, when done right, is a plan for success.

Personal credit scores depend on payments but also other elements like credit usage percentages. 

But for corporate credit, the scores truly only hinge on if a company pays its bills in a timely manner.

The Process

It’s a process  when you’re establishing corporate credit. It does not occur automatically. An entrepreneur must actively work on establishing corporate credit during a recession or any type of economic conditions.

Having said that, it can be done easily and quickly, and it is much more rapid than establishing consumer credit scores. 

Merchants are a big component of this process.

Doing the steps out of sequence results in repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with corporate credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a rejection 100% of the time.

Corporate Fundability

A corporation must be fundable to credit issuers and vendors. 

Hence, a corporation needs a professional-looking web site and email address. And it needs to have website hosting bought from a merchant such as GoDaddy. 

Also, company phone and fax numbers should have a listing on 411. You can do that here: http://www.listyourself.net. 

Likewise, the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the like).

A corporation also needs a bank account devoted only to it, and it needs to have all of the licenses necessary for operating. 

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the identical, accurate name of the corporation. And they need to have the same company address and telephone numbers. 

So note, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Recession Business Cash Today Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started with establishing corporate credit. Get money even in a recession! 

Working with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the IRS website and get an EIN for the business. They’re free. Choose the type of corporation which works best, i.e. LLC, C-corp, or S-corp. 

A corporate business entity is best to limit risk. And it will make the best use of tax benefits.

A business entity matters when it involves tax obligations and liability in case of litigation.

Establishing Corporate Credit by Starting the Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets any business in their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for the business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process. 

This way, Experian and Equifax have something to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you should establish trade lines that report. This is also called vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a corporate credit score. 

And with an established corporate credit profile and score you can begin to acquire retail and cash credit.

These sorts of accounts often tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are often Net 30, versus revolving. 

Hence, if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you need to pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid fully within 60 days. Compared to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used. 

To begin your corporate credit profile the right way, you ought to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. As soon as that’s done, you can then make use of the credit. 

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants that grant an approval with nominal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit. Here are some stellar choices from us: https://www.creditsuite.com/blog/5-vendor-accounts-that-build-your-business-credit/ 

 Accounts That Don’t Report

Non-reporting trade accounts can also be helpful. While you do want trade accounts to report to a minimum of one of the CRAs, a trade account which does not report can still be of some worth. 

You can always ask non-reporting accounts for trade references. Also credit accounts of any sort ought to help you to better even out business expenditures, consequently making budgeting simpler. These are providers like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.

In particular, during a recession, it can only help you more, the faster you build corporate credit. Adding trade references will help to speed along the process.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move onto retail credit. These are companies like Office Depot and Staples. 

Just use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the business’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then progress to fleet credit. These are businesses such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to repair, and take care of vehicles. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the company’s EIN.Get Recession Money Now Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started with establishing corporate credit. Get money even in a recession!

Cash Credit

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move to more universal cash credit. These are businesses such as Visa and MasterCard. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are usually MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are in reach.

Establishing Business Credit in Recession Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started with establishing corporate credit. Get money even in a recession!

Monitor Your Corporate Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and address any errors as soon as possible. Get in the habit of taking a look at credit reports. Dig into the particulars, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor corporate credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less than it would cost you at the CRAs.

At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business.

Update Your Record

Update the details if there are mistakes or the details is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. So for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Corporate Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any problems in your records. Errors in your credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs normally want you to dispute in a particular way.

Get your business’s PAYDEX report at: www.dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html. Get your company’s Experian report at: www.businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm. And get your Equifax corporate credit report at: www.equifax.com/business/credit-information.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes typically means you send a paper letter with duplicates of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never send the original copies. Always send copies and keep the originals.

Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically detail any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail to have proof that you sent in your dispute.

Dispute your or your company’s Equifax report by following the instructions here: www.equifax.com/small-business-faqs/#Dispute-FAQs. 

You can dispute inaccuracies on your or your business’s Experian report by following the directions here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. 

And D&B’s PAYDEX Customer Service telephone number is here: www.dandb.com/glossary/paydex.

A Word about Establishing Corporate Credit

Always use credit sensibly! Never borrow beyond what you can pay off. Keep an eye on balances and deadlines for payments. Paying on schedule and fully does more to boost corporate credit scores than just about anything else.

Growing corporate credit pays. Good corporate credit scores help you get loans. Your lender knows the company can pay its financial obligations. They understand the corporation is authentic. 

The corporate EIN attaches to high scores and lending institutions won’t feel the need to require a personal guarantee.

Takeaways for Establishing Corporate Credit in a Recession

Corporate credit is an asset which can help your corporation for many years to come.

The post Establishing Corporate Credit in a Recession appeared first on Credit Suite.

Can You Get Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession?

Is  There Any Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession?

Kabbage is one of several lending companies online. It provides small business funding in the form of loans and lines of credit. We look at the specifics and drill down into the details about the online lending option.

Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession: Background

Kabbage is located online here: https://www.kabbage.com/. Their physical address is:

925B Peachtree Street NE

Suite 1688

Atlanta, GA 30309.

You can call them here: (888) 986-8263. You can email them at: support@kabbage.com. Their contact page is here: https://www.kabbage.com/support/contact/. They have been in business since 2009, which is longer than most of the players in this space.

Kabbage is one of several lending companies online. It provides small business funding in the form of a line of credit.

Kabbage is a venture funded company. They are backed by investors which include SoftBank Capital, Thomvest Ventures, Reverence Capital Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, ING, BlueRun Ventures, Santander InnoVentures, Scotiabank, and TCW/Craton.

The company offers perks for its customers. These include specials from Dun & Bradstreet, UPS, Vonage, and Adobe Creative Cloud. See: https://www.kabbage.com/customer-perks/.

Loans and Lines of Credit

First, they offer lines of credit.  This means it is revolving credit you can use as needed.  For most, amounts of up to $250,000 are available. You can qualify in as little as 10 minutes. Furthermore, terms are 6, 12, or 18 months. You have to be in business for more than one year, and your business revenue has to be $50,000 annually or $4200 per month over the last 3 months.

Kabbage Review: Credit Reporting and Score Requirements

In the course of this Kabbage review, I could not find anything concrete about a credit score requirement or credit reporting.  I did find other reviewers that had contradicting information. For example, one claimed there was no minimum interest rate requirement.  In contrast, another claimed that the minimum interest rate for application approval is 500. Another put the minimum at 560. Whatever the case, it appears that their minimum required credit score is much lower than others in the field. In addition, one reviewer stated that they do not report on-time payments to the credit agencies, but they may report late or missed payments.

The only thing concrete I could find from Kabbage themselves is that they do a one-time hard credit pull.  A hard credit check will affect your credit score. Also I found this information in the FAQs on the Kabbage website. It wasn’t just out there on a top page.

Kabbage Review: Approval and Receipt of Funds

Kabbage links to your bank or merchant accounts to understand your cash flow and decide what amount you can afford to borrow. Their lines of credit range from $1,000 to $250,000.

For lines of credit up to $200,000, if they are able to automatically get business information and verify your bank account, they can approve a loan in minutes.  Amounts over $200,000 must have a manual review. Sometimes, mistakes happen during the sign-up process. Also, they may send small deposits to help confirm your banking information for security purposes. In these cases, it may take longer to get access to funds.

Once everything is settled, they send funds to the account of your choice. If you choose to have your funds deposited to a PayPal account, it takes just a few minutes. However, loans that go to a business checking account can take up to three days to be deposited.  It just depends on your bank.

They retain access to your account.  This means they can review your revenue faster than other lenders.  Still, it also means they have access to your account for the duration and beyond unless you take action.

If you make a draw using the dashboard or app, you have to take a minimum of $500.  In contrast, if you use your Kabbage card there is no minimum draw.

Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession: Advantages

Advantages include fairly low fees. Kabbage perks are a nice touch not found with other online lenders.

Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession: Disadvantages

Disadvantages include how hard it is to find the actual, correct requirements to qualify for their loans.

Demolish your funding problems with our rock-solid guide about 27 killer ways to get cash for your business. You might turn out to not need Kabbage business funding in a recession.

A Viable Alternative to Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession – Building Business Credit

This is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t link to an entrepreneur’s consumer credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the only employee of the small business.

Thus, an entrepreneur’s business and consumer credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Due to the fact that small business credit is separate from individual, it helps to secure a small business owner’s personal assets, in the event of litigation or business bankruptcy.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a business owner can get two different cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles buying power.

Another benefit is that even start-ups can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building small business credit, when done correctly, is a plan for success.

Consumer credit scores depend upon payments but also additional factors like credit usage percentages.

But for small business credit, the scores actually merely hinge on if a company pays its bills timely.

The Process

Establishing business credit is a process, and it does not occur without effort. A business must proactively work to establish business credit.

Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much quicker than establishing consumer credit scores.

Vendors are a big aspect of this process.

Doing the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. No one can start at the top with company credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Business Fundability

A small business must be fundable to loan providers and merchants.

That’s why, a company will need a professional-looking website and email address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a supplier such as GoDaddy.

In addition, business phone and fax numbers should have a listing on ListYourself.net.

At the same time, the company phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or comparable).

A business will also need a bank account devoted purely to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for running.

Licenses

These licenses all must be in the accurate, appropriate name of the company. And they must have the same company address and telephone numbers.

So bear in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

Demolish your funding problems with our rock-solid guide about 27 killer ways to get cash for your business. You might turn out to not need Kabbage business funding in a recession.

Working with the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and obtain an EIN for the company. They’re totally free. Pick a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A business can begin as a sole proprietor. But they will more than likely want to change to a variety of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to limit risk. And it will make the most of tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it involves taxes and liability in case of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and taxes. No one else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you operate a company as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. Hence, you can wind up being directly accountable for all small business financial obligations.

Additionally, per the IRS, with this structure there is a 1 in 7 possibility of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 possibility for corporations! Steer clear of confusion and substantially reduce the odds of an IRS audit simultaneously.

Starting the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and obtain a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a small business into their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s web sites for the small business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

In this way, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you must establish trade lines that report. This is also referred to as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to get retail and cash credit.

These kinds of accounts tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are often Net 30, rather than revolving.

Hence, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Demolish your funding problems with our rock-solid guide about 27 killer ways to get cash for your business. You might turn out to not need Kabbage business funding in a recession.

Details

Net 30 accounts have to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid in full within 60 days. In comparison with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To launch your business credit profile the right way, you need to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Once that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit  – It Makes Sense

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants that will grant an approval with very little effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move to retail credit. These are businesses which include Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the company’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then move to fleet credit. These are service providers such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to repair and take care of vehicles. Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the small business’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly handling the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move to more universal cash credit. These are businesses like Visa and MasterCard. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession Credit SuiteThese are normally MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are in reach.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and take care of any inaccuracies ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports. Dig into the particulars, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less.

Update Your Record

Update the relevant information if there are mistakes or the data is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. And for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any mistakes in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be corrected. But the CRAs typically want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes typically means you send a paper letter with copies of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never send the original copies. Always mail copies and retain the originals.

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you precisely spell out any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

A Word about Business Credit Building

Always use credit sensibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Keep an eye on balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying on schedule and in full will do more to increase business credit scores than pretty much anything else.

Building small business credit pays off. Excellent business credit scores help a company get loans. Your loan provider knows the small business can pay its debts. They know the small business is for real.

The small business’s EIN attaches to high scores and lenders won’t feel the need to request a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your company for years to come. Learn more here and get started toward establishing business credit.

Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession: Upshot

Companies which will do best with this particular lender are already somewhat successful. Most businesses would be able to take advantage of the perks which Kabbage offers. However, smaller companies which are less successful would do well to look elsewhere. In particular, for a company looking for a lower end line of credit would more likely be better served getting a microloan.

So while you can probably get Kabbage business funding in a recession, there are other options out there.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with a fine-toothed comb, and decide whether this option will be good for you and your company. In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond lending, including building business credit, in order to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.

The post Can You Get Kabbage Business Funding in a Recession? appeared first on Credit Suite.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession

Check Out These Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession

Crowdfunding can seem to be a bit of a mystery. Why are people willing to part with their cash in this particular manner? There are a lot of crowdfunding terms you should know in a recession. They are thrown around all the time and they can sometimes get confusing. So consider this your primer on some basic crowdfunding terminology.

Because even if you do not think you will use this method of fundraising, you will probably encounter it all the same.

But before going any further, does crowdfunding ever actually, you know, work?

Crowdfunding Success, in a Nutshell

For some companies which crowdfund, the rewards are great. According to Crowdfunding Blog, the single most successful crowdfunding campaign was for the Pebble Time Smartwatch. And that was as of November of 2018. But before you run out and buy one, note that they are now a  part of FitBit.

As in, they went out of business in July of 2018. And this is a business which raised over $20 million in 2015. That is no typo. And in point of fact, Pebble holds three of the top six spots in the biggest crowdfunding successes of all time. Together, these three crowdfunding campaigns took in a staggering $43.39 million. This is about $8 million more than the town of Huntington, New York (population 203,264) budgeted for highways in 2018.

Hence there is one thing that should be clear to all. Runaway crowdfunding success is no guarantee whatsoever of actual success.

But now it is time to get to the crowdfunding terms themselves.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Project

A project is what you are asking for money for. Projects can take a few months or even years. The more complex your project, then (usually) the longer it will take. The person starting the project is generally called the project runner or the project creator.

Projects can be for goods or for services.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Donors

The people who donate to the project are called donors. Or sometimes they are referred to as contributors or backers.

On rare occasions, they may even be called investors. However, such a word connotes a far different relationship. Many crowdfunding platforms shy away from such a term. And this is for good reason. It is because investors and investments may come under the purview of the SEC. The Securities and Exchange Commission exists in order to protect investors. This is in ways not current available to donors 0r other contributors to the success of businesses.

Hence, unless the crowdfunding platform is specifically for investing in companies, more like angel investing, you are not too terribly likely to see the investor.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Campaign

The act of requesting money on a crowdfunding platform is called a campaign. This is the soup to nuts of crowdfunding. So it covers everything from the first pitch to the final collection or perk distribution.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Donor Levels

In general, donor levels refer to the amount of rewards which are on offer for a particular size donation. Note: I will get to rewards in a moment. Your donor levels might look something like this:

  • $10 fountain pen (100 available)
  • $20 includes $10 level plus a tee shirt (50 available)
  • $50 includes $20 level plus a framed picture (30 available)
  • $100 includes $50 level plus dinner with the project runner (10 available)
  • $500 includes all other perk levels plus a new car (2 available)

Donor levels are limited by your imagination and your capacity for handling complexity. After all, five separate donor levels mean you are keeping five separate lists. If you are well-organized, then this is possible. But it is not easy. Five separate donor levels are plenty, particularly for people running their first campaigns.

Truthfully, you will be a far happier person if you cut the number of donor levels to no more than three.

Of course, time and budget should be considerations for anyone. But that is not just the case for crowdfunding.

What frustrates you the most about funding your business in a recession? Tell us in the comments.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Rewards (Also Known as Perks)

One basic about crowdfunding for creative projects is that you will need to provide incentives for your donors to open up their wallet. Crowdfunding to help someone with their medical expenses is a different animal. So let us get back to crowdfunding for business funds.

This is where perks come in.

Your rewards can be nearly anything. But it can quite literally pay to have them relate directly to your project.

For example, if you are crowdfunding to get enough money to back your new smart phone invention, then your rewards probably should not be your grandmother’s blueberry muffin recipe. And this is no matter how wonderful it may be. Instead, you could base your rewards around your invention. So this could be everything from offering a case to an extra battery or charger. Or you might even offer an app which only your donors can download.

A Word to the Wise about Rewards

Rewards are a very real part of crowdfunding and they can often be a part which project creators do not take into consideration. Sometimes, we think a product will go to market in, say, a year. But circumstances change, and now one year turns into two. So be it – this sort of thing happens all the time.

But it is an issue if your perks are dependent on your product going out the door. So if you need to fulfill perk promises to 10,000 people, you will likely find you need to do one of any of these things:

  • Delay your product launch
  • Hire someone to do fulfillment for you
  • Offer alternative perks (if you can)

Reneging is not an option, and it can get you on the wrong end of a lawsuit if you are not careful.

A fourth option is delaying perk fulfillment. Not every donor will go for that.

A For-Instance on Perk Level Complexity

Sending out so many perks is a major task. It can take months to get everything out the door.

Why does it take so long? Consider the degree of complexity. Let’s go with an easy number: 100. So let’s say you have 10 separate perk levels and they each have 10 slots. Once an eleventh person wants a certain perk level, they just plain can’t have it, as it’s gone. Are you with me so far?

Your ten separate perk styles may be of differing weights. So this means they will have different shipping costs. If any of your 100 donors are outside of the United States, then you will have to pay more to ship to them as well. Plus of course you have to make sure all of the addresses are complete and correct.

It becomes even more complex when your perks do not fit into such neat little buckets. This is where you have, say, eight perks. And you might have anywhere from 12 to 1,000 people who are supposed to be getting them. Plus some people may have donated twice and are waiting for two separate perks. Or maybe even more.

See how ugly and difficult this can get – fast?

What frustrates you the most about funding your business in a recession? Tell us in the comments.

Getting Around This Problem

The easiest way to get around these issues is to offer intangible perks. In our smart phone example, the exclusive app would fit the bill nicely. Your best bet is to make the intangible perk good for the largest number of donors possible.

Hence if your lowest level is $10, and you have 100 of those slots, then you could just give 100 people a download code. This is a lot faster than figuring out postage for all of those donors. Plus, with an intangible perk, technically the number of perks is effectively infinite. But scarcity gets people interested, so you might not want to make the downloads never-ending.

For the more tangible perks, leave them for far smaller groups, such as the 25 people who are at your two top donor levels. Mailing to 25 people is far easier than it is to mail to 10,000 people. And this is so even if the mailings are difficult.

But I Don’t Have Intangible Perks!

No? Then what do you call a coupon sent in email? See, there are ways to offer intangible perks even when the entire business operation is very, very tangible. Coupons have been around, seemingly, forever. People will gladly print them off or carry them in their smartphones for scanning.

Or there can be discount codes, which are virtually the same thing, except with no designing of a coupon to be cut out or scanned. Amazon, for example, gives these out all the time. And the vast majority of backers will know exactly how to use them.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Rewards-Based Crowdfunding

Probably the best-known of all crowdfunding platforms is Kickstarter. Kickstarter is, by its own rules, just for project creation. That is, it is not for charitable donations. This puts it squarely in the camp of rewards-based crowdfunding. That is, the project exists for the purpose of getting a new market to product or the setting up of a new business.

This form of crowdfunding offers rewards (perks), which are either physical or intangible. It can also serve as a means of pre-selling a product before even a prototype has been made. However, until there is an actual available product, is it a sale, or not? While it is easy to try to dismiss such a concern as no big deal, well, not so fast.

Whether perk fulfillment is a sale or not just might matter.

Sales and the Law

In the United States, the sales of almost 100% of all goods are covered by the Uniform Commercial Code. This set of laws is identical virtually everywhere in the country except in the state of Louisiana. And even there, it is still rather close.

The UCC covers any number of concerns with products. These include merchantability, which asks if a product can reasonably be sold. And it also includes fitness for a particular purpose. But it does not cover liability in case a product injures a person. Still,  that can be another question, in case something like that happens.

Product Injuries

When a product injures someone (in the law, this is called product liability), it does not matter if the injured party directly bought the product or borrowed it from another or the like. However, at a certain point, it becomes such a tenuous and far-reaching relationship between product creator (that is, the manufacturer) and the final end user that questions as to cause and effect can arise.

While new products sold via crowdfunding are, without a doubt, sales, what about perks?

Are perks sales, or not? They do not seem to be gifts. After all, when was the last time you paid anything for a gift? Is it not the very definition of a gift that there is no cost?

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession Credit Suite

Consideration

In general, in contract law, a sale is an exchange of goods (or services) for a price or fee. This price or fee is referred to as a consideration. A consideration is either a fee or its equivalent, such as through barter. The consideration does not have to be equal in value to the sale price of the goods. That is, the transaction does not stop being a sale just because the buyer got a really good deal, or a really bad one.

Yes, selling your house for $1 is, technically, a sale.

If a perk is worth $1 but is only available at the $10 donation level, what then? But if it is a sale, then the UCC should apply, yes? If the perk injures someone, then the question does not really start to matter until the end user is extremely far-removed from the project creator.

These questions do not seem to have been litigated yet. It will be interesting to see what happens when, inevitably, they are.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Equity-Based Crowdfunding

When businesses look to hand over percentages of ownership in exchange for current financial backing that is called equity-based crowdfunding. Kickstarter, for example, does not allow this. But there are platforms such as AngelList and Crowdfunder which do.

After the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act, smaller companies have more freedom to crowdfund and hand over equity shares. And this is without quite so many Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings as were needed before. This federal law opened up crowdfunding more. And it made it a far more attractive option for startups in particular. The SEC, naturally, has an interest in this particular species of crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Debt-Based Crowdfunding

This form of crowdfunding is also called peer to peer lending. Other names for it are P2P, crowdlending, and marketplace lending. Borrowers will set up campaigns in order to fulfill their financial needs. And then lenders will contribute toward the goal for an interest.

This particular method of online funding may come with other consequences. It could very well become a true “threat to the traditional banking system in the areas of consumer and business loans, as has already been demonstrated by the rapid success of [these] online lending marketplaces.” (Hollas, Corporate Finance Review, Volume 18).

As the United States economy changes over time, peer to peer lending may very well be the only way for some businesses to get funding. But look for regulators to start to step in, particularly if there are instances of fraud or more serious criminal activity.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Litigation Crowdfunding

And speaking of criminal activity, there is also litigation crowdfunding. With litigation crowdfunding, a plaintiff will ask for a monetary donation for the purposes of funding a court case. If the plaintiff prevails, then investors may get more than their initial investment.

Unlike some of the other forms of crowdfunding, there are ethical considerations when it comes to litigation crowdfunding. Ethics problems include the possibility of unlawful interference in an attorney-client contract.

Lawyers and Ethics and Crowdfunding and Money

Another possible issue involves providing information to backers. In other forms of crowdfunding, backers understandably want advance information on a campaign. understandably, they want to know precisely what they are financially getting themselves into. But in the case of the law, such transparency can very well mean violating attorney-client privilege. If privileged communications are necessary to get donors to fork over cash, then this is an ethical violation for the lawyer.

Plus, what happens if the backers push for a greater return on their investments? Could a group of backers – or a crowdfunding platform – push for a settlement for sure money? Or could they push for a trial in the hopes of a big payoff? Either scenario is possible.

And there is even another possibility. What if the crowdfunding platform or backer group pushes to direct the course of discovery, or even motion practice?

And what happens if, somehow, it gets out at trial that a case is crowdfunded? What will a jury think? Will they see the plaintiff as greedy? Or will they see the case as more likely to win? Otherwise, the reasoning could go, why would people put their money on the line for it?

These questions go beyond dilemmas and interesting philosophical exercises. They could, if things go too far, end up being a part of disciplinary proceedings against a lawyer in an ethics investigation.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Donation-Based Crowdfunding

In this form of crowdfunding, a charity solicits donations via a crowdfunding platform. There are either no perks or they are tiny. The best-known of these is probably GoFundMe. This is where project runners can either raise funds for themselves or for charities.

Donation-based crowdfunding also encompasses the far too common crowdfunding pleas we all see cropping up these days. These crowdfunding pleas are for everything from help paying medical or veterinary bills to attempts to get donors to fund dream vacations and honeymoons. Or they can even be to just fix the project runner’s car.

Without perks or presales, there are no UCC considerations. But there can be questions from state governments if a charity raises funds via crowdfunding and then someone just pockets the money. After all, the government wants to know if charities are on the up and up.

What frustrates you the most about funding your business in a recession? Tell us in the comments.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Bootstrapping

In the absence of crowdfunding, startup founders often used bootstrapping to get their projects off the ground.

Bootstrapping is just the use of personal finances to fund a new company. The biggest advantage to bootstrapping is that a business owner does not have to give up any ownership in the company.

The biggest disadvantage, of course, is the loss of a life’s savings is a very real possibility. Crowdfunding in particular is meant as a means of minimizing bootstrapping. But it probably will never eliminate it entirely.

Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know in a Recession: Takeaways

Crowdfunding is an interesting method of raising money for a business. But it has its own rules and methods. There are potential pitfalls along the way. Crowdfunding can, at times, feel like the wild, wild west.

But at least with these crowdfunding terms you should know in a recession, you can be more prepared to handle anything crowdfunding throws at you. And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section of this blog post.

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