Author: Yolanda Young

Business Experian: A Comprehensive List of Everything You Need to Know

Many business owners do not understand their business credit score. What is it? How is it generated? What can I do to make it higher? Individual consumers normally find that much of their lending life rests on the FICO score, but what about businesses? Which scores do business owners need to worry about?  

There are many options for business credit reports.  Why worry about Experian? Business Experian is one of the main three busing credit reporting agencies.  The other two are Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax. 

Everything You Need to Know About Business Experian: From Profile to Improving Your Score

You need to know what your business Experian reports say.  Honestly, knowing what information lenders are getting from this report is necessary to help you determine your business fundability.  To understand completely, you need to know where the information on the report comes from, of course. But that’s not all. You also need to know how they calculate the business credit score.   

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring. 

Business Experian: How Do They Get Your Information?

Experian keeps business credit profiles on 99.9% of all United States businesses. According to them, they hold the credit industry’s most inclusive database on small businesses. As a result, if your business is already operating, it probably already has a business Experian file.

Their information comes from third party sourcing. Consequently, you cannot add anything to your business credit profile yourself. You can, however, still review your profile.  Then, you can tell them about any mistakes and have those mistakes corrected.

Business Owner Profile

For smaller companies, Experian will add a business owner profile.  This is to show the relationships between you and your business. Experian’s Business Owner Link automatically links the credit history of more than 5 million business owners to their business credit history. This makes things easier for creditors to find a Business Owner Profile on small business accounts. It also makes it easier for them to determine overall creditworthiness.

business Experian Credit Suite

What’s on Your Business Experian Report?  

Experian sells different products and reports that keep track of a business’s credit.

Business Credit Advantage Plan

This is presently $149 monthly and incorporates mobile-friendly alerts and score improvement pointers.

Profile Plus Report

This report is currently priced at $49.95 and it includes financial payment details and predictive information on payment behavior.

Credit Score Report

The least costly of the available reports, it is currently $39.95. This fundamental report features detailed company and credit information.  It also shows summary financial payment information.

Valuation Report

At $99, this report is a middle of the road option in terms of cost.  It shows the value of your business and features Key Performance Indicators. It also shows the fair market value of the business.

Premium Corporate Profiles

For an additional charge, Experian also offers premium corporate profiles. They enhance these profiles by adding extra information.  Additional data includes sales figures, size, contact details, products and operations, credit summary, any Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings, fictitious business names, plus payment and collections history. In addition, these premium profiles have information on credit inquiries made in the last nine months.  UCC specifics and financial details from Standard & Poor’s round out the information on this report.

What Does Your Business Experian Report Tell Lenders? 

A business Experian report is set up in several different sections.  We break it down below. 

Identifying Information

This report is split within itself. First, you get the standard identifying data and details of ownership. This area also lists major personnel, company type, and length of time in business.  Number of employees and annual sales are on this report as well.

Payment Information at a Glance

After that, there is a section noting delinquent payments.  It also shows those payments they expect to go delinquent. Additionally, you can see the lowest and highest balances for the past six months and the current balance. By showing the highest credit limits, there is an idea of the highest credit utilization rate.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring. 

In addition, this segment contains the number of tradelines a business holds.  Also, it has the number of credit inquiries in the past. Uniform Commercial Code filings are on this list too.

Next, there is a relative percentage showing the percent of businesses doing worse than the one in the report.  Lastly, you can see the number of bankruptcies, liens, and judgments.

Credit Summary

After that is the credit summary. This shows the company’s Experian credit score.  It also has links to information about what enters into the score and tips on exactly how to improve it.

Payment Summary

The next area is the payment summary. It shows line graphs for monthly and quarterly payment trends.  It also shows where those numbers originated from. The monthly payment trend is even graphed against the industry average.

Just below this pair of graphs are three bar charts showing continuous payment trends. The first includes tradelines that have been reported for over 6 months.  The next includes tradelines that have been reporting for 6 months. At the end, there is a chart that shows these payment trends in combination. 

Trade Payment Information

How has the business done with making payments?  This section will tell you. It breaks payments into credit card and leasing accounts.  Then, it further breaks them down by supplier category. Lastly, payment trends are at the bottom. 

Inquiries

This part is pretty self-explanatory.  This is where the inquiries into the company’s credit are listed.

Collection Filings

If a business has any collection filings, they’ll be in this section in date order.  It will also list collection agency name, status, amounts contested and collected, and the closed date.  

Commercial Banking, Insurance, Leasing

This portion shows what Experian knows about your company in relation to banking, insurance, and leasing.  For example, what was credit extended for? How much credit was extended? When did the loan start? Is there any remaining balance? If so, how much? 

Judgment Filings

Next the report shows basic legal information.  For example, the court where a judgment was filed, the day, and what amount it was for.

Tax Lien Filings

Tax lien filing data is similar to judgment filings, except that there is a listing for a filing location, rather than a court.

UCC Filings

This only displays the date, filing number, jurisdiction, name of the secured party, and activity on the filing.

Business Experian Credit Monitoring

Obviously, you can register for business credit alerts. Experian’s Business Credit Advantage program operates as a self-monitoring service. You get unrestricted access to your company’s business credit report and score. You can use this resource for proactively managing your company credit. Alerts are sent for:

  • Company address changes
  • Changes in your business credit score
  • Credit inquiries on your business profile
  • Newly-opened credit tradelines
  • Any kind of USS filings
  • Collection filings and
  • Any public record filings, such as liens, bankruptcies, and judgments

However, we can help you monitor your credit with business Experian for a fraction of the cost.  Go here to find out more. 

Business Experian: Intelliscore Plus

You need to understand this score and how it works.  You may not be able to change it much, but by understanding the score, what it tells lenders, and how it is calculated, you can work to mitigate any negative issues with positivity.

What is the Intelliscore Plus Credit Score?

The Intelliscore Plus credit score is credit-risk analysis. The primary function of Intelliscore Plus is to help businesses, investors, and prospective lenders make well educated judgments about who they should or should not do business with.

Intelliscore Plus Credit Score Range

The Intelliscore scores range from 1 to 100.  The higher the score, the lower the risk class. In contrast, the lower the score, the higher the risk class. It breaks down like this: 

Score Range Risk Class

  • 76 – 100 Low
  • 51 – 75 Low – Medium
  • 26 – 50 Medium
  • 11 – 25 High – Medium
  • 1 – 10 High

How Does Business Experian Calculate Intelliscore Plus?

In the credit world, Intelliscore Plus is regarded as one of the most reliable tools for determining credit risk. Here’s why.  They use over 800 variables to calculate the score. That’s a lot, but they all fit into these three general categories. 

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring. 

Payment History

This features the number of times accounts have become delinquent, the percent of accounts that are currently delinquent, and your overall trade balance. 

Frequency

Frequency is related to payment history.  It takes into account how many times your accounts have been sent to collections, liens and judgements, and any bankruptcies on both business and personal accounts.  

This also relates to payment patterns.  Were you regularly slow or late with payment? Did you begin by paying bills late but now you are doing better? This is all taken into account.

Monetary

This detail focuses on how you make use of credit. For example, how much of your available credit is currently being used? Do you have a high ratio of delinquent balances in relation to your credit limits?

If you’re about to start a small business or are relatively new to this game, the list above may seem a bit overwhelming. Furthermore, how will you rate if you have a short time in business? 

This is where the blended model comes into play. This means that they take your personal credit score into consideration when calculating your business’s credit score.

Can You Do Anything to Improve Your Business Experian Score?

While you may not be able to do anything to make a big score increase happen all at once, you can definitely do some things that will make a positive difference over time. 

Pay on Time

This is number one.  Over time, paying your bills punctually will help establish your company as one that satisfies their debts. This will definitely help push your score up and show other firms that you are a low credit risk.

Make Wise Credit Choices

The more debt you have on your plate, the more monthly bills you have.  Consequently, the less disposable income you have. If your overall debt is close to or even over your income, your business with appear to be a high credit risk.

Keep your debts in check and consistently pay them down or off. So this is to keep a healthy balance between what you make and what you owe.

Use the Credit You Have

Keeping your debts low remains solid advice. But you have to make use of the business credit accounts you have.  You have to be making payments on accounts for your score to grow. Having a ton of credit and not using it at all doesn’t really help.  This, again, is where balance comes into play.

There is no need to buy things you do not need however.  Even if you can pay cash, use credit for the things you would be buying regularly for your business anyway.  Then, use the cash to pay the credit account. 

Watch Your Personal Credit

By now, you’re aware that personal credit is fair game when it comes to your Intelliscore Plus score. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your personal credit doesn’t matter.  If it is bad, there are options for working around it. However, it is much better to just keep it healthy. Making certain you stay on top of your monthly bills is the number one way to keep your personal score strong. Avoid unneeded credit inquiries, and refrain from compromising your personal credit for business demands.

Make Use of Monitoring Options

No matter what your credit score is, it is crucial that you continue to be diligent. Sod review your personal and business credit reports. This can help you spot possible errors and stay educated on your own credit profile.   

Business Experian Credit Scores Make a Difference When it Comes to Funding

It’s important to understand your business Experian score.  It can affect your ability to get funding. So you need to know what it is, what it tells lenders, and what affects it.  Once you know these things, you can work from your end to keep it as high as possible. In turn, this will greatly improve your ability to fund your business. 

The post Business Experian: A Comprehensive List of Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Credit Suite.

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Check Out This Great Question from Residential Real Estate Agents: How Do I Build My Business Credit?

How Do I Build My Business Credit? Residential Real Estate Agents Ask This Question All the Time

Every entrepreneur asks this same question: how do I build my business credit?

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

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

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Get The Advantages?

Due to the fact that business credit is separate from individual, it helps to safeguard a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of a lawsuit or business insolvency.

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

Another advantage is that even new ventures can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building small business credit, when done properly, is a plan for success.

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

But for company credit, the scores actually only hinge on if a business pays its invoices on time.

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Start The Process?

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

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

Merchants are a big part of this process.

Doing 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 rejection 100% of the time.

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Get Started with Small Business Fundability?

A small business needs to be fundable to lenders and vendors.

Hence, a business will need a professional-looking website and e-mail address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a supplier like GoDaddy.

And also, company phone and fax numbers ought to have a listing on 411.com.

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

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

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the particular, accurate name of the small business. And they must 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.

Learn more here and get started toward establishing small business credit.

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Start Credibly Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service?

Visit the IRS web site and acquire an EIN for the small business. They’re totally free. Choose a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.

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

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

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

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a company 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. Consequently, you can end up being directly accountable for all small business debts.

In addition, according to the Internal Revenue Service, by having this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 possibility for corporations! Prevent confusion and significantly reduce the odds of an IRS audit at the same time.

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Set off the Business Credit Reporting Process?

Start at the D&B web site and obtain a totally 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 sites 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.

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

Vendor Credit Tier

First you must establish trade lines that report. This is also called the vendor credit tier. 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 obtain credit in the retail and cash credit tiers.

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. This furniture could be particularly helpful to residential real estate agents.

But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you preliminary credit when you have none now. Terms are usually 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.

Details

Net 30 accounts need to 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 launch your business credit profile the right way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting bureaus. Once 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.

Business Credit for Residential Real Estate Agents Credit Suite

Vendor Credit Tier – It Helps

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

You want 5 to 8 of these to move onto the next step, which is the retail credit tier. But you may need to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to demonstrate you are responsible and will pay timely. Here are some stellar choices from us: https://www.creditsuite.com/blog/5-vendor-accounts-that-build-your-business-credit/

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Get Benefits from 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. And credit accounts of any sort will help you to better even out business expenditures, thereby making budgeting simpler. These are companies like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.

Retail Credit Tier

Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move onto the retail credit tier. These are companies like Office Depot and Staples, both of which have plenty of goods for sale which will help residential real estate agents.

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

One instance is Lowe’s. They report to D&B, Equifax and Business Experian. They want to see a D-U-N-S and a PAYDEX score of 78 or more.

Fleet Credit Tier

Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then move to the fleet credit tier. These are companies such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to fix, and maintain 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 company’s EIN.

One such example is Shell. They report to D&B and Business Experian. They need to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or more and a 411 business phone listing.

Shell might say they want a specific amount of time in business or profits. But if you already have adequate vendor accounts, that won’t be necessary. And you can still get an approval.

Learn more here and get started toward establishing small business credit.

Cash Credit Tier

Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move to the cash credit tier. These are companies 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.

One example is the Fuelman MasterCard. They report to D&B and Equifax Business. They need to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or higher. And they also want you to have 10 trade lines reporting on your D&B report.

Plus, they want to see a $10,000 high credit limit reporting on your D&B report (other account reporting).

Also, they want you to have an established business.

These are businesses such as Walmart and Dell, and also Home Depot, BP, and Racetrac. These are commonly MasterCard credit cards. If you have 14 trade accounts reporting, then these are in reach.

And there are tons of ways the business credit cards in the cash credit tier can help residential real estate agents.

Learn more here and get started toward establishing small business credit.

How Do I Build My Business Credit and Monitor My 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 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 than it would cost you at the CRAs. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring.

At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business. Equifax costs about $19.99.

Update Your Data

Update the relevant information if there are inaccuracies or the 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. So for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

How Do I Build My Business Credit  and Fix My Business Credit?

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

Disputes

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

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically itemize any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as crystal clear 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.

How Do I Build My Business Credit? A Word to the Wise

Always use credit smartly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay back. Keep track of balances and deadlines for payments. Paying off on schedule and fully will do more to elevate business credit scores than nearly anything else.

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

The business’s EIN attaches to high scores and credit issuers won’t feel the need to demand a personal guarantee.

How Do I Build My Business Credit: Takeaways

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



 

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