Don’t pay for an expensive credit repair service to increase your business credit score before trying these easy credit-building programs. Whether you need to access your business credit report, get approval for business credit cards, or obtain credit and cash loans, using these tools will help.
Credit Builders
Below we list the best business credit builders that help small business owners get the credit reporting they need to secure business loans and high-limit credit cards. Some options like Business Credit Builders and Credit Suite offer one-on-one business credit coaching to help guide you step-by-step through the business credit building process.
Need help getting a fast loan?
Do you need startup financing, working capital for your business, funding for equipment or real estate? Would you like to get approval in as little as 48 – 72 hours, and your funds released within days?
Various lending products ranging are available for most business owners, including those with limited history or bad credit.
Nav Business
Business Credit Builder
A subscription-based service that monitors business credit, Nav provides easy access to some of the most important business credit scores like the D&B Paydex, Equifax Business Delinquency, and Experian Intelliscore Plus. As a member, you’ll also be able to download your full business credit reports from D&B, Experian, and Equifax once a month. The credit reports from these business credit reporting agencies are the same ones that lenders and suppliers use to evaluate your credibility.
With a $30 per month subscription, Nav members get full consumer credit reports from Experian Personal and Transunion. You’ll also get access to your VantageScore 3.0 personal credit scores from both of these consumer credit bureaus. On top of that, you’ll get 24/7 credit score change alerts, $1M identify theft protection, lost wallet replacement coverage, and free identity restoration services.
If you upgrade to a $40 account, your Nav Business Boost membership will turn into a tradeline that reports monthly to three major commercial credit bureaus in D&B, Experian Small Business, and Equifax Business. So, you can start building business credit just by paying your Nav Boost membership bill on time.
For companies that need an SBA loan or a business loan from a major bank, then you’ll want to review the $50 per month, Nav Builder account. This upgrade will provide access to your FICO SBSS, where a score of 155 will get your application noticed by banks and the Small Business Administration.
Lastly, no matter which membership you choose. Nav guarantees that they will never report any negative payment history, even if your payment is late.
Divvy
Corporate Charge Card
This revered expense management company offers two ways to build business credit history. If your business has not yet established credit, the Divvy Credit Builder program is a great place to start. There is no minimum balance to get started, but you will need pre-fund your to use. To help you build credit, your secured Divvy card transaction history will get reported to the Small Business Financial Exchange, as well as the Dun & Bradstreet business credit bureau.
Divvy also has an unsecured line of credit that can also help you obtain a good business credit score as they will report account transactions to your SBFE business credit profile.
Since there is no personal guarantee required, your personal credit score is not much of a concern to them. Divvy’s approval process focuses more on your monthly spending habits, debt-to-income ratio, and if you have a positive cash flow in your business bank account. Small businesses will typically receive credit limits up to $50,000 while the credit lines for large corporations can go as high as $15 million.
Whether you get approved for a secured or unsecured business credit card, you’ll earn Divvy rewards up to 7x points on restaurants, 5x on hotels, and 1.5x on all our other purchases. The sooner you pay your bills, the more rewards point you can qualify for.
You can easily create an unlimited number of employee cards, as well as virtual cards, and one-time usage cards. As Divvy a member, you’ll also get full access to budgeting tools and their expanse management system that easily tracks and categorizes business expenses.
eCredable
Payment Reporting Service
A bill reporting service, eCredable is a great business credit builder for startups that allows you to report your utility bill payments with multiple business credit bureaus.
Their monthly business subscription package has an initial setup fee of $50, and then $10 per month thereafter. After registering, you can add up to eight business utility bills, such as electricity, gas, phone, and internet. eCredable will then retrieve up to 24 months of payment history and then add it to your business credit file at Equifax, Creditsafe, and Ansonia.
As long as you stay a member, all new payments made on the utility accounts you’ve connected to eCredable will get reported every month. Your monthly subscription payment also will get reported as an active tradeline to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian.
For a one-time cost of $25 per submission, you can also manually add up to 2 years of business rent, lease, credit cards, loans, insurance, or legal service payments. You can also manually submit payments made to net 30 vendor accounts that do not report positive your payment history.
For just $25 per year, eCredable will allow you to have your personal utility bill payments including your mobile phone and cable TV bill reported to your TransUnion credit file. This can help increase your VantageScore 3.0 score, along with your FICO 8 score.
Building personal credit is also important very important for small business owners, as other than no PG credit cards, most banks require good personal credit to get approval. Many alternative lenders will also approve your startup business loan application based on a good FICO score alone. The better your personal credit the more funding options you will have.
Building credit with Ohana is so easy!
No membership fees, an initial $2,000 credit limited being reported, and a $1,000 limit increase with each $80 invoice paid makes Ohana the best office supply company to start building business credit with.CreditStrong
Business Credit Builder
This business credit builder system from CreditStrong lets you establish business credit by purchasing a business tradeline that reports your monthly payments to Equifax, the SBFE, and the PayNet business credit reporting agency.
While they call it an installment loan, CreditStrong will not actually lend you any money. Even though they also mention it helps you save money, they will actually charge you an administration fee for helping you do it. That being said, as long you understand that is a credit builder account, you can then determine if it’s worth paying for.
The main cost you will pay for credit reporting is their upfront administration fee, along with a cash flow loss until your term is up. CreditStrong fees start at $350 to have them report a $100 monthly payment to three credit bureaus with a $2,500 credit limit. You can see the true cost of their so-called small business loan in the table below.
| Loan Amount | Months | Payment | Fee | Interest | Total Payment | Tradeline Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ 2,500 | 25 | $100 | $349 | $0 | $2,849 | 349 |
| $2,500 | 25 | $115 | $149 | $375 | $3,024 | 524 |
| $5,000 | 25 | $200 | $549 | $0 | $5,549 | 549 |
| $5,000 | 25 | $220 | $199 | $500 | $5,699 | 699 |
| $10,000 | 25 | $400 | $749 | $0 | $10,749 | 749 |
| $10,000 | 25 | $440 | $299 | $1,000 | $11,299 | $1,299 |
A secondary benefit to using Creditstrong is that it will force you to save money over your two-year term. Once you’ve made your final payment, you can withdraw the entire installment loan amount money and have the money back in your bank account within 6 business days.
While we would not recommend CreditStrong as a primary option to build your business credit, having a $2,500 tradeline that gets reported to Equifax for 25 straight months is useful. Payment consistency and relationship length of your trade lines and vendor accounts are two common factors in many business credit scoring systems. If you’re able to pay early rather than just on time, you can get also boost your Equifax Payment Index and Dun & Bradstreet Paydex.
To build a strong business credit profile, however, you can’t just use CreditStrong and hope it will be enough to you get bank loans, lines of credit, or a business credit card. You’ll have to use numerous business credit builders to do that. Before trying to obtain business credit using CreditStong, be sure you understand all the rules and costs.
- Your upfront administration is non-refundable, so make sure you’re willing and able to commit to the full loan term before applying.
- If you can’t make your monthly payments on time in the future, it will hurt your business’s credit rating rather than improve it.
- To cancel your CreditStrong loan and withdraw your past payments, you will have to pay off your loan amount in full, as well as, any interest still owed. Then you’ll still have to wait a week before you withdraw your fund into your business bank account.
While there is no soft or hard pull on the business owner’s personal credit scores do note the CreditStrong Business Credit Builder application requirements below:
- Be 18 years of age and have a physical business address in the United States. No business phone number is mentioned.
- Have a legal business entity (LLC, Partnership, or Corporation) that is at least 3 months old. A sole proprietorship will not work.
- Have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) issued by the IRS
- Have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).
- Have a valid Identification document such as a driver’s license, State ID, passport, or Permanent Resident Card.
Tax refund up to $26k per employee!
Through the Employee Retention Tax Credit, the IRS grants eligible employers a credit equal to 70% of qualifying wages per W2 employee, PER quarter.
If your business experienced a significant decline in gross receipts or was impacted by government shutdowns due to COVID-19, then let us help you solve the IRS’s refund application puzzle. You can prequalify today, just by answering 8 simple Yes or No questions.