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Whether it’s to generate working capital, buy new equipment, or hire some help, many small business owners need financing, especially in their early days. Unfortunately, they often lack the business credit necessary to meet lender qualification requirements.
If you’re struggling to qualify for the small business loan you want, here’s a list of the 11 best companies that help build business credit in 2022.
FairFigure: The New Business Credit Monitoring & Tradeline Company
We consider FairFigure to be one of the most robust, innovative companies on this list because they help you build credit in three different ways.
First, FairFigure offers top-of-the-line business credit monitoring, which provides detailed reports and scores that give you a close-up look at what your current business credit health is and any potential issues or discrepancies there may be.
At the moment of this writing, their paid product provides business credit reports and scores for Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Creditsafe. It also provides access to FairFigure’s own Foundation Report & Score.
Their freemium credit monitoring product provides access to a Creditsafe credit report and score.
This is important because you can be proactive about business credit monitoring and resolve any issues before they have a chance to impact your business credit score negatively.
Next, FairFigure’s subscription payments are reported as a tradeline. Making on-time payments to FairFigure helps boost your business credit score just as it would with a net-30 vendor or supplier because payments are reported to major business credit bureaus.
Third, this company offers a business credit builder account called FairFigure Lift, which deposits funds straight into your business bank account. It’s EIN-only and doesn’t require a personal credit check, which lets you keep your business and personal credit separate.
FairFigure Lift provides easy-to-get financing. This allows you to get financing and build your business credit at the same time.
And you can make repayments through weekly installments for maximum flexibility. These payments are reported as an additional tradeline on your credit reports.
When you combine the business credit monitoring, built-in tradeline, and business credit builder, FairFigure can be an excellent resource for building a stronger business credit profile.
Nav: Business Credit Monitoring & Vendor Tradeline
When you’re trying to build good credit, you’ll need to check your scores and reports frequently to monitor your progress. Fortunately, Nav offers a subscription service that gives business owners access to their:
- Business credit scores and reports from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), Experian, and Equifax
- Personal credit scores and reports from Experian and TransUnion
Nav’s service has four tiers. The entry-level tier is completely free. The free service gives you limited (but still useful) access to your business credit reports and scores
You’ll need to pay for the $29.99 per month option to access your full credit data. In addition, for only $10 more per month, Nav will throw in tradeline reporting services to help you build business credit.
They’ll share your monthly payment activity with the business credit bureaus, including D&B, Experian, and Equifax. In addition, they promise never to report negative history, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally hurting your score by missing a payment.
Because Nav’s service includes so many valuable benefits in addition to adding a vendor account to your business credit reports, it’s well worth the monthly fee. If you’d like to know more check out our full Nav Review.
CreditStrong: Business Credit Builder Loan
CreditStrong offers a unique product known as a credit builder loan. While they have competitors that provide something similar to consumers, they’re the only company that offers these accounts to businesses.
Think of a credit builder loan as an inverted installment loan. Once you sign up, CreditStrong puts your proceeds into a locked savings account. They serve as collateral, much like the cash deposit for a secured credit card.
Next, you make monthly payments, which CreditStrong reports to Equifax, PayNet, and the SBFE. The account then shows up as a financial tradeline in each business credit report.
Finally, you can cancel the account at no cost once you feel you’ve built enough credit history or have paid off the entire balance.
CreditStrong is another great financial tradeline for businesses that lack credit history. Because they use your loan proceeds as collateral, they don’t even need to check your business or personal credit score when you sign up.
All you need to qualify is an Employer Identification Number (EIN), three months of business activity, and a legal entity structure other than a sole proprietorship, such as a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC). Also read our full CreditStrong Business review for more information about this.
Credit Suite: Business Credit Coaching
Credit Suite doesn’t extend credit to businesses directly, so you can’t use them to acquire a vendor or financial tradeline. Instead, they provide a program that walks you through the process of building credit