As a small business owner, it’s important to have a firm handle on your business credit score. Establishing good credit is an integral part of a company’s overall health, but for many owners, the process of discovering what your score is – or why it’s important – can often be unclear.
To start, the data included in your credit report is made available to lenders, potential business partners and other professionals. When you’re researching a business, evaluating your own, or applying for financing, one of the first things looked at is your organization’s credit score. Each business credit score report includes key facts about the organization at hand, a credit summary, corporate contact information, details regarding collections and payments made, bankruptcy filings, judgment filings, tax lien filings and more.
To find out what your business credit score is:
- Check to see if your business already has a credit score on file – you can get started through Experian here.
- If your business doesn’t have a credit score on file, you may need to verify information about your business with one of the major credit reporting agencies in the the U.S.
- Start regularly monitoring your score – Experian offers business credit reports for many companies, and at a low cost, too.
No matter where you seek out your business’s credit score, it’s important to do so often. Monitoring and maintaining it is necessary as you expand your business and start applying for financing.
OnDeck is a Google Ventures-backed company with an A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau. The company offers small business loans nationwide to over 725 different industries. To learn more about OnDeck, click here.