The Worst Advice We Have Ever Heard About Business Credit Scores
It is really important for small business owners to have a circle of like-minded individuals to socialize and share information with. No matter how much they try, an employee of a large corporation will never fully understand what it means to be in your shoes. You have a lot of worries that they do not have – will you be able to make payroll this month? How do you increase sales without overspending on marketing? How do you improve your business credit score?
While sharing information with your business friends can be a great way to generate new ideas for your business, and get some much-needed social support, please be aware of one critical issue. Not only is a lot of great information shared this way, but unfortunately, also a lot of MISinformation. It is important that you do your research on any advice you get before acting on it.
Without further ado, here is some of the worst advice we have ever heard about business credit scores!
Just pay all your bills on time and your business credit score will be great.
WRONG. You can do everything right – pay all of your bills on time, and have a wildly successful and profitable business. However, there are lots of other things that could negatively impact your business credit score and business credit report, that you would not be aware of unless you check them.
The credit bureau could have misinformation about your credit in its file. They may not have enough information about you – for instance, not all of your trade suppliers may have reported your on-time payments. You may be carrying credit card balances that are too high of a percentage of your total credit available, even if you pay them off in full each month.
Do not worry about your business credit score until your business is big enough to need a loan.
WRONG. You should definitely worry about your business credit score before needing a loan. The first reason for this is simple: when you need a loan, you may no longer have time to improve your business credit score. It is important to work on your business credit score far in advance of needing a loan.
The second reason for worrying about your business credit score before needing a loan is that banks are not the only parties that will be interested in your business credit score. Trade partners, and anyone else who is interested, may also check your reports before deciding to do business with you.
Do not share any private information online, ever, under any circumstances.
SOMETIMES WRONG. Generally speaking, it is wise to be careful about sharing private information online. Do your research to find out if there is a legitimate reason for requesting the private information, and if the requestor is trustworthy. However, there are many financial service providers that will have a legitimate reason for requesting private information, and who can provide you with many valuable benefits.
For instance, at CreditPush, we ask you to connect your favorite banking and business apps to our business health dashboard. We use this data to help you boost your business credit score, better understand your business finances, get data-driven and actionable insights to build your business, and apply credit products tailored to your needs. We do not sell your data. We do not share your data without your explicit permission. For instance, with your permission, we share it with credit bureaus so that they can increase your credit score if appropriate. Sharing your data with credit bureaus through this platform never decreases your business credit score.
So there you have it. Some of the worst business credit advice we have ever received. What is the worst business credit advice that you have ever received?
