How To Build Business Credit
Building business credit means creating a payment history that lenders and suppliers can trust. In seven practical steps—starting with registering your company and ending with active score monitoring—you can move from “no file” to a strong credit profile—sometimes in a matter of months. This guide explains each step and answers common questions about timelines, bureaus and score ranges.
7 Steps to Establishing Business Credit
- Build your business foundation
- Get a D-U-N-S® Number & EIN
- Get business tradelines that report
- Open a business credit card or charge card
- Pay on time or early
- Get additional tradelines
- Check and monitor your business credit reports and scores
Step 1. Build your business foundation
Strong business credit starts with properly setting up your business. Lenders and vendors want to see that your business is legitimate and professional before extending credit.
Choose a legal structure
Creating an LLC or corporation helps separate your personal and business finances and can be very helpful for building credit. Some suppliers and lenders will not work with sole proprietorships.
Plus, if you start building business credit as a sole prop (which is possible, but not ideal) but then later form a business entity, you may have to open new credit accounts to build credit under the new business name.
Register with state and local agencies
Most businesses should be officially registered with their state. If you form a business entity such as an LLC or S-Corp, you'll complete this step when you form your entity.
If you operate as a sole proprietorship or independent contractor and have not registered your business, you can file a fictitious business name with your state. (This is sometimes referred to as a "DBA".)
In addition to state registration, many localities require business licenses or permits. These requirements vary by location and industry. Check with local government offices.
Separate business and personal finances
Choose your business address and use it consistently. Keep in mind that not all banks or suppliers will accept virtual addresses. Consistency is key for credit bureaus.
Get a dedicated business phone number and, if possible, get it listed in directory assistance. Services such as Google Voice or GoDaddy Conversations can give you a phone number that rings separately on your cell and adds legitimacy to your business profile.
Get a business checking account. A dedicated business bank account helps separate your finances and is often required when applying for business credit. Many small business lenders require business bank statements when evaluating loan applications.
Why this matters: Many lenders and business credit bureaus gather information from public records like state filings. Consistent business information across all platforms helps create a professional image and establish the foundation for your business credit profile.
Get Nav's Step-by-Step checklist to make your business legit.
2. Get a D-U-N-S number and EIN
A D-U-N-S® Number is your business identifier with the commercial credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). If your business doesn’t already have one, you can get one for free.
Creditsafe, Equifax and Experian all have separate identifiers to identify your business in their systems but you can’t initiate that request.
An EIN is the business equivalent of a Social Security number. You can get a free same-day Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. It’s not required to establish a business credit file, but it may be required to apply for some types of business loans or financing.
Why this matters: A D-U-N-S number ensures your business is visible to Dun & Bradstreet. An EIN can help match your business to its business credit profiles when lenders report account information to the bureaus.
3. Get business tradelines that report
The most important part of any credit report is information about how you’ve paid your bills. Past payment history is used to help predict how likely your business is to pay on time in the future. That means you need accounts that will report to business credit bureaus, and not all do. You can start with two to three credit accounts with companies that report and add additional references as you continue to build your credit and grow your business.
The most important part of any credit report is information about how you’ve paid your bills. To establish business credit, you must get accounts that report payments to business credit bureaus, and not all do.
You may start with two to three accounts that report and add additional references as you continue to build your credit.
Net-30 accounts
Supplier and vendor net-30 accounts are popular starter accounts. Net-30 terms give you thirty days to pay your invoice.
Many net-30 accounts do not check personal credit, or require good personal credit scores. However, if your business is new, you may have to pay for several purchases upfront before you can access payment terms.
Use Nav's list of net-30 vendors to get accounts that report to business credit.
Nav Prime
Yes, we recognize that we are recommending our product here, but Nav Prime was designed for business owners to make it easier to build business credit. You don’t have to spend time trying to figure out what accounts to open. Nav will give you clear visibility into your business credit, along with alerts and actionable insights.
With Nav Prime, you can get up to two active tradelines — one from your Nav Prime payment and another from regular use of the optional Nav Prime Card.* These tradelines are submitted to the major business credit bureaus to help build your business credit history.
Start your business credit journey
Build business credit, monitor credit health, and accelerate growth — all with Nav Prime.
Credit builder accounts
With credit builder accounts, you put money toward a savings account, and those payments are reported to major credit bureaus. Once you save the target amount, the savings account is yours to spend.
Why this matters: If you don’t have any accounts reporting payment history, your business credit report will likely have no business credit report or a report with a low credit score.
4. Open a business credit card or charge card
Opening a business credit card or charge card that reports to major commercial credit reporting agencies can be another great way to establish business credit, and to separate your business and personal finances.
Business credit cards may be reported as financial accounts to multiple business credit bureaus or to the Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE). Financial accounts are in a different category than supplier tradelines, and can complement those accounts.
Most small business credit card issuers will use the owner’s personal credit scores and income from all sources to evaluate an application. That means they are available to startups as well as established businesses.
The Nav Prime Card* features no credit check and no personal guarantee, and it submits payment history to major business credit bureaus.
Gas credit cards can be another good option if your business needs to spend money on fuel.
Why this matters: Business credit cards can be an important business credit reference when paid on time.
100+ business credit cards in one click
Business credit cards can help you when your business needs access to cash right away. Browse your top business credit card options and apply in minutes.
5. Pay on time or early
On-time payments are the most important way to build credit, and especially business credit.
Business credit reports use “Days Beyond Terms” (DBT) to describe how many days beyond the due date a payment was made. For example, if you have net-30 terms with a vendor “net-30,” and you pay on day 32, the account will be reported as 2 DBT. (Yes, that means business credit reports can note payments made just a day or two late.)
The D&B PAYDEX® Score ranges from 0-100 and paying early can result in higher scores (90-100 range) compared to paying exactly on the due date (80-89 range).
Pay on time, or or even early if you can, and you may build your business credit history more quickly.
Why this matters: Payment history is the top factor that goes into business credit scores.
6. Get additional tradelines
It may take 30—60 days or more for new accounts to appear on your business credit reports. You can start with three tradelines, but as you build credit you may want to add more accounts to help boost your credit reports and credit scores.
Sometimes in business credit you’ll hear these referred to as “tier 2” tradelines, which refers to tradelines that require stronger qualifications. In other words, most businesses won’t start out with these accounts, but as you build credit, you can expand to these options.
Consider getting at least one business card if you qualify, but more than one may be beneficial. In addition to another account reported on your credit reports, you may be able to access a higher credit limit to manage cash flow.
Be sure to use accounts carefully, though, so you don’t end up with debt you can’t pay and missed payments that hurt your business credit scores.
Why this matters: A robust credit report contains different types of accounts, paid on time over time.
Monitor your business credit scores
There are three major business credit bureaus: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian. Monitoring your business credit on a regular basis with multiple bureaus can help you see whether you are making progress, as well as spot mistakes. If you find an error, file a dispute with the credit bureau reporting the mistake.
Nav Prime offers an affordable and comprehensive way to check, monitor and manage your business credit—as well as a tool to help build your credit history.
Why this matters: Monitoring your business credit can help you adjust your approach and can alert you to problems so you can investigate further.
Get the credit your business deserves
Join 300,000+ small business owners who built business credit history with Nav Prime — without the big bank barriers.
Business Credit vs. Personal Credit
When it comes to small business loans, both personal credit and business credit are important. Some lenders check personal credit, some check business credit, and some check both.
While both types of credit evaluate your ability to repay debts or to meet other financial obligations, they operate somewhat differently.
Metric | Personal | Business |
Score Ranges | 300-850 (FICO/VantageScore) | Varies: 0-100 D&B PAYDEX and Experian Intelliscore; Equifax Business Delinquency Score® for Others 224-580; |
Major credit bureaus | Equifax, Experian, TransUnion | Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax (Business), Experian (Business) |
Privacy | Access restricted by law | Can be purchased by anyone |
Free credit reports | Free annual credit reports required by law; free scores provided when denied credit or charged more | No requirement for free annual business credit reports or business credit scores |
Possible identifiers | Name, address, Social Security number | Name of business, address, D-U-N-S Number, Equifax ID, Experian BIN, EIN |
Guarantees | Personal liability | May or may not require personal guarantees |
How Long Does It Take to Establish Business Credit?
It may take a few weeks, or even a month or more, before new accounts appear on your business credit reports. Once they do, you’ll need several months of on-time payments to establish a good business credit score.
It's a process that takes time. Whether you have a new business or one that is well-established, if you take the steps above, you may be able to start establishing a good business credit rating in several months.
Business Credit Timeline
Weeks 1-4: Setup phase
- Form business entity and get EIN
- Open business bank account
- Secure tradelines that report to business credit bureaus
- Make first purchases and pay on time
Months 1-3: Reporting phase
- Vendors report first invoices to credit bureaus (can take days to weeks)
- New accounts begin appearing on business credit reports
- Make on-time payments to establish positive payment history
Months 4-12: Score growth phase
- Scores start to appear when sufficient tradelines report (days 90-120, varies)
- Credit scores can improve with consistent on-time payments
- Add additional tradelines to strengthen credit profile
Not all lenders or vendors report to all the major business credit bureaus. You’ll need to choose vendors that report. Nav’s net-30 list can help you get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
*DISCLAIMER: Nav Technologies, Inc. is a financial technology company and not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. The Nav Visa® Business Debit Card and the Nav Prime Charge Card are issued by Thread Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa cards are accepted. See Cardholder Terms for additional details. FDIC insurance is available for funds on deposit through Thread Bank, Member FDIC. All other features of the Nav Prime membership are not associated with Thread Bank.
Build your foundation with Nav Prime
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Gerri Detweiler
Education Consultant, Nav
Gerri Detweiler, a financing and credit expert, has been featured in 4,500+ news stories and answered 10,000+ credit and lending questions online. In addition to Nav, her articles have appeared on Forbes, MarketWatch, and Startup Nation. She is the author or co-author of six books, including Finance Your Own Business, and she has also testified before Congress on consumer credit legislation.