5 Secured Business Credit Cards That Report to D&B

There aren’t very many secured business credit card options out there. Of those that exist, they don’t always report payments to Dun & Bradstreet.

In fact, only 7% of companies that offer credit to businesses, including credit card issuers, actually report positive history. So, finding those that do isn’t easy. 

In fact, one of the largest obstacles to building business credit is finding accounts that will report positive history. Most only report missed payments.

Update 03/16/2023: We made significant changes to this article to only provide relevant options. We removed Ramp, Wells Fargo, and Brex. 

Wells Fargo no longer offers its secured business credit card to new customers. Brex no longer works with companies that don’t have venture capital funding: 99%+ of small businesses. 

We removed Ramp because it requires large cash reserves to qualify for their expense platform and charge card. This makes it a difficult option for small businesses. 

We’ve seen a substantial number of Digital Honey readers successfully apply for and receive the Tillful Secured Business Credit card. For this reason, we promoted it from “Promising Newcomer” to “Best Overall”. 

But watch out: there’s a new card option in the business credit-building scene. Business credit company Nav just announced its new business credit builder card, and it’s only available to existing Business Boost (paid) subscribers. Read on to find out more details.

5 Secured Business Credit Cards That Report to D&B:

• Tillful: Best Overall
• Divvy: Best Card + Expense Management Platform Combo
• Nav: No Deposit Charge Card
• First Bank: Traditional Bank Option
• Bank Of America: Traditional Bank Option

The 5 Best Secured Business Credit Cards That Report to D&B

Brand	Qualifications	Reports to	Rewards
Tillful	Easy	D&B, Experian, Equifax	1.5% rate
Divvy	Medium	D&B, SBFE	Up to 7%
Nav	Easy	D&B, Experian, Equifax	None
First Bank	Hard	D&B, Experian, Equifax	None
Bank of America	Hard	D&B, Experian, Equifax	1.5% cash back

Tillful: Best Overall

Pros:

• No personal guarantee
• No personal credit check
• Doesn’t report to personal credit
• Reports to D&B, Experian and Equifax
• Has 0% APR

Cons:

• It’s new

Tillful is a new company that aims to make it easier to build business credit. Their secured business credit card is officially open to the public. (It waitlisted new customers until recently.)

Enough Digital Honey website visitors have been approved for Tillful that we now feel confident in awarding it with the “Best Overall” in the secured business credit card category.

(Previously, we designated it as the “promising newcomer”.)

You can earn rewards on business purchases and there is no personal guarantee requirement. They report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, and Equifax Business.

Here are some of the highlights: 

• Earn a 1.5% rate with rewards on your business purchases
• No personal guarantee required
• No bank balance minimum required
• No annual fee
• 0% APR
• Doesn’t affect your personal credit

To qualify for a Tillful card a business must: 

• Be incorporated in the US for a minimum of 3 months
• Have a valid EIN 
• Not be in any of the restricted industries specified by Sutton Bank
• Have a Tillful credit account 
• Be in compliance with their terms and conditions

What exactly is a Tillful credit account? At its core, Tillful is a business credit monitoring app. You must have an account with them for business credit monitoring before you can get a secured business credit card. 

So, a bonus is you can see your business credit score and know what you are working toward. You can also tell if using the card is helping. Tillful works with Experian and offers a free view of your Experian Intelliscore+ score.

We really like what Tillful is doing here – the business credit industry has needed a simple secured card for awhile! This new card has a lot to offer.

Try Tilfull

Divvy: Best Card + Expense Management Platform

Pros:

• No personal guarantee
• No personal credit check
• Doesn’t report to personal credit
• No minimum deposit amount
• Reports to D&B and the SBFE
• Graduates to an unsecured line of credit
• Offers great rewards

Cons:

• Requires signing up for the platform (can be a pro for many businesses)

Divvy is an expense management system that was recently acquired by Bill.com. It is designed to help a business owner manage their business expenses by integrating with accounting systems and helping them control spending in a streamlined manner.

Divvy found that many small businesses have solid revenue, but don’t have the business credit needed to qualify for a corporate credit card. So they created Divvy’s Corporate Card. 

It is basically a secured credit card option that will help you build your credit history and strengthen your business credit report and scores. It reports payments to D&B and the SBFE. There is no personal guarantee requirement for the owner(s).

It’s secured with your Divvy account, so the balance in the account is your credit limit. There is no minimum required – you can deposit as little as you want. 

To be clear, Divvy’s card is a charge card. That means that your full balance is due and payable on your due date, not payable over time like a normal credit card.

It is definitely useful for getting a business credit account reporting and building your business credit score. Divvy also makes it really easy to create (or take away) employee expense accounts with pre-defined limits.

In that way, Divvy has the same benefits as a normal business credit card. 

The whole Divvy system can help a business owner take control of spending and streamline money management.

If you don’t want to jump through the hoops of setting up a new expense management platform, Divvy might not be the card for you.

But other than that, we don’t see much of a downside to Divvy’s card. 

Update 3/16/23 – Divvy no longer offers it’s Business Credit Builder program. That means that you need to meet the basic qualifications for the expense management platform in order to qualify for the card.

Since they report payments to Dun & Bradstreet and the SBFE, it’s still a good option to build your business credit.

If your business is big enough to have employees, then Divvy is worth looking into. If you’re a solo or partnership operation, then there are easier ways to build business credit.

Try Divvy

Nav’s Business Boost Plan & NEW Charge Card

Nav’s Business Boost is a subscription program that allows access to a number of tools to help you manage your business finances. Pricing starts at $49.99 per month, and there is a 20% discount if your pay quarterly. 

With that, you get access to full business & personal credit reports, cash flow insights & alerts, one-on-one meetings with credit & lending specialists, restoration services for identity theft, the ability to follow up to 5 business credit reports, and more.

In addition to all of the great features the program has to offer, Nav will report your quarterly payments as a tradeline to your business credit report. 

Even better, Nav just announced the upcoming release of their new business charge card. It’s designed with the purpose of building business credit. While it will not report to the personal credit bureaus, it will report to the Small Business Finance Exchange (SBFE). 

This is important because the SBFE is a source of information for the business credit reporting agencies that issue business credit reports. 

The SBFE reports payments to D&B and other business credit bureaus. So this can help build your business credit with D&B and other business credit bureaus.

There is no security deposit, but once released, it will only be available to Business Boost subscribers. It is a charge card, not exactly a credit card. It connects directly to your bank account and transactions are deducted from that connected account within one business day.

It functions like a cross between a secured credit card and a debit card, and it will help build your business credit score if you handle it responsibly.

The charge card will report as a separate financial tradeline from the Business Boost payments. So if you get Business Boost and the charge card, you’ll be adding two tradelines to your business credit reports. 

Try Nav

First Bank BUSINESS EDITION® SECURED MASTERCARD®

When you apply for the First Bank BUSINESS EDITION® SECURED MASTERCARD®, you will request your own credit limit between $2,000 and $100,000 in multiples of $50. 

Your required security deposit is 110% of your credit limit, meaning you cannot access the entire amount of your deposit. As a result, security deposits range from $2,200 to $110,000. However, you can earn interest on your security deposit. 

The variable interest rate is 22.99% annually, and annual fees go as low as $39. It also offers online management tools and the ability to add authorized users. 

To apply, you must have a valid tax ID or Social Security number, a U.S. mailing address, and a business that has been operating for at least six months. 

In addition, you will have to supply your business and personal financial information, including your credit score and any outstanding debt.  

Online access allows you to manage your account, with the ability to view employee card transaction history, make payments, order more cards, set up alerts, and view statements. 

The high credit limit and ability to earn interest on the security deposit are definitely positive features of this card. However, the fact that your security deposit must be higher than the credit limit can be a deterrent for some. 

This card reports to Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian. 

Try First Bank

Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Credit Card

The Bank of America offers a Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured credit card and it is designed as a way for business owners to establish or rebuild their business credit while earning cash back rewards on their purchases. 

Since this is a secured card, you must provide a security deposit. Your credit limit will be capped off at the amount of that deposit. The minimum deposit is $1,000.

You can earn unlimited cash back on every purchase at the rate of 1.5%. Rewards will not expire as long as the account remains open. There is also no annual fee. The standard interest rate is 26.74%, and there is a balance transfer fee of 4%.

Bank of America does regular account reviews to determine eligibility for a higher credit limit with no additional deposit. 

If you want to allow employees to use the account, you can get additional cards for free. You can earn points on their purchases as well. You’ll be able to set a spending limit for each card. 

You must be a business owner to apply. You also must have a Bank of America business checking account if you do not already have one. 

They report to Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

Try BOA

Building Business Credit With Secured Business Credit Cards

One way to do this is with secured business credit cards that report to at least one of the three main business credit reporting agencies. Those are Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax Business, and Experian. Others include FICO SBSS and Credit Safe.

In contrast to an unsecured card, a secured credit card is often easier for business owners to get without either a personal or business credit check. At the very least, the credit score requirements are likely not as strict.

It’s important to remember however, that this isn’t really new funding. If the card is secured with cash, it will not really be useful as new funding or for something like a balance transfer.

Here are 5 secured small business credit card options that report to D&B, and some of them report to other business CRAs as well.

What Does the SBFE Have to Do With Business Credit and Dun & Bradstreet

This is a not-for-profit agency that collects information on small businesses from its members. They use this data to put together comprehensive credit information. In turn, lenders use this information to make credit decisions.

It’s important to note that The Small Business Finance Exchange does not lend money. Furthermore, it also does not create or distribute credit reports. 

They work on a self- dubbed “give-to-get” model for data exchange. Members provide information about their borrowers. As a result, members can receive information to help them make better lending decisions in the future. 

How Does it Work?

It starts with members. Members report credit data from companies that they do business with. This includes things like payment history, among other things. 

Next, the SBFE normalizes the raw data into usable information. Then, it distributes this data to certified vendors.

Certified Vendors use the information to create credit products. These products are only for distribution to SBFE members. 

Also Read: Startup Business Credit Cards with No Credit

Members request data on any small business to whom they may extend credit, if they wish. Since they gave information, they have information available to them.

In practice, this is what it looks like. A lender reports credit information about its current borrowers to the Small Business Finance Exchange.

When a potential borrower comes along, they request a credit report. This report does not come from the SBFE. 

The request is to one of the credit reporting agencies such as Dun & Bradstreet or Equifax. Because of their membership with the SBFE, they receive an extended report that includes the information received from the SBFE, as well as that from D&B.

When a business is a member of the SBFE and uses one of these Certified Vendors to request a business credit report, they get the benefit of the vendor’s own information plus that from the data received from the Small Business Finance Exchange.

Since Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax are both Certified Vendors of the SBFE, any business that is an SBFE member who requests your credit report from one of those agencies will get information on your business that has been reported to the SBFE from other members.

So, since Wells Fargo reports to the SBFE, that payment information will be on your D&B report if it is requested by another SBFE member.

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