5 Secured Business Credit Cards That Report to D&B

Building business credit can feel like an uphill battle at times. There is a vicious cycle of “you need credit to get credit” that can seem almost impossible to break through.

The key is to find accounts that do not require a good business or personal credit score, and that will report positive payment history to the business credit reporting agencies (CRAs.) Not every credit card issuer will do that.

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.

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

• Divvy: The Best Overall
• Tillful: Promising Newcomer
• Ramp: Great for Medium-Sized Businesses
• Wells Fargo: Best Traditional Bank Card
• Brex: Good for Venture-Backed Startups

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

Brand	Qualifications	Reports to	Rewards
Divvy	Easy	D&B, SBFE	Up to 7%
Tillful	Easy	D&B, Experian, Equifax	1.5% rate
Ramp	Medium	D&B	1.5% cash back
Wells Fargo	Easy	SBFE	None
Brex	Hard	D&B, Experian	Up to 7x points

Divvy Credit Builder: The Best Overall

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 Credit Builder. 

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).

(If your business credit is good enough to quality for an unsecured line of credit, they will offer you that instead of the Credit Builder product.)

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. 

What’s even better is that they will graduate your account to an unsecured credit line once your payment history and business credit get built up more.

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. 

Try Divvy

Tillful: Promising Newcomer

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:

• Signing up requires a waitlist
• It’s new

This is a newer card on the market. In fact, it’s so new that you can only get it right now with early access. They have a link on their website where you can get on the list to be notified when it opens back up.

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 (promotional) 
• 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

Ramp: Great for Medium-Sized Businesses

Pros:

• No personal guarantee
• No credit check
• Doesn’t report to the personal credit bureaus
• Reports to D&B
• 1.5% cash back

Cons:

• Must have a minimum of $75,000 in business accounts

Ramp is another option similar to Divvy. It reports to Dun & Bradstreet also.

One unique thing about Ramp’s software is it is designed to help reduce spending. This is in contrast to other cards that often offer rewards for spending more. They offer both unlimited virtual and physical cards. 

Some other unique features the Ramp card offers include: 

• The ability to personalize individual cards with your brand
• The ability to restrict or limit the amount spent with a specific vendor, either on one card or company wide
• Limit or restrict spending in specific categories, like dining, travel, and more
• Set limits on cards to refresh when you want them to, even daily!
• Set restrictions and limits at the transaction level, with the flexibility to ask for approval as needed, to better control spending on big ticket items

To be approved for a Ramp card, a business must meet these qualifications: 

• Be registered in the United States
• Be incorporated, not operating as a sole proprietor or other unregistered business typeCurrently, 
• Have a minimum of $75,000 in cash in a US business bank account 
  • I’ve heard that having $200,000 in the business bank account is an automatic approval, though I couldn’t confirm it
• The majority of operations and corporate spend in the US 

Note: They do support international transactions and will waive all related transaction fees, according to their website. 

Also Read: Ramp vs Brex

Additionally, applicants must have an EIN and provide it on the application. You can apply without an SSN if you do not have one. You’ll need a copy of your foreign passport and documentation to prove your address, such as a utility bill, bank statement, pay stub, etc. 

Also Read: Ramp vs Brex

They do not require a personal guarantee. They consider the financial health of the business using factors such as the cash balance of the company, cash flows, and revenue.

Try Ramp

Wells Fargo Business Secured Card: Best Traditional Bank Card

Pros:

• Doesn’t report to the personal credit bureaus
• Reports to SBFE (which reports to D&B)
• 1.5% cash back or reward points

Cons:

• Must have a Wells Fargo checking or savings account

You can get a $500 to $25,000 credit line, depending on the amount of funds deposited by you as security in a collateral account. There is no annual fee or foreign transaction fee, and you can get up to 10 cards for employees. 

They do offer rewards of up to 1.5% cash back for every $1 spent on net purchases. Receive the cash back as a credit to your account automatically, or to your eligible checking or savings account each quarter.

Rewards points are earned at a rate of 1 point for every $1 spent on net purchases. These can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise, airline tickets and more. 

They do periodic account reviews and consider recent credit history looking for an opportunity to upgrade to an unsecured business credit card. Over time, with responsible use, this upgrade is possible. 

To get this card you must have a Wells Fargo business checking or savings account. Once you get approval, funds transfer from the deposit account to fund the secured credit line. There is no annual fee or foreign transaction fee.

This card does not report to Dun & Bradstreet directly. However, they do report to the Small Business Finance Exchange (SBFE). The SBFE provides Dun & Bradstreet with data on businesses.

Brex

Pros:

• Reports to D&B and Experian
• Can upgrade to an unsecured card
• Does not report to personal credit
• No personal credit check
• Up to 7x rewards points

Cons:

• Only for startups companies with venture capital backing (or big companies)

Brex offers a number of services that can help many small business owners manage business expenses, similar to Divvy. It allows for more streamlining and efficiency, making money management easier.

The system integrates with accounting software and helps the small business owner track expenses.

When you sign up with Brex you open a Brex Cash Account. Everyone that opens a cash account gets a corporate card. This works similar to how a debit card does. When you make a purchase, the total is drawn from your cash balance, daily.

Yet, unlike a debit card, these draws are reported as payments on your account to Dun & Bradstreet. As a result, your business credit score grows.

The card is secured by the balance in your cash account and limited to that balance. That means you do not have to worry about underwriting.

As you build a stronger credit score for your business, they do have an unsecured business credit card option you may qualify for.

Note: As of spring 2022 Brex is repositioning. They are closing all small business accounts except those belonging to businesses with investments backing. 

Try Brex

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. 

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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