Establishing Business Experian

Business Experian is one of the major business credit reporting agencies

How do you establish your business Experian credit report? Your business Experian report is created automatically as your business creditors report.

• Apply for business credit

Make sure you select creditors that report to business Experian. Most business creditors check business credit but many don’t report payment history to build your business credit report

• Make a purchase

Use your new or existing business credit account by making a purchase.

• Pay your bill

Once your invoice or bill is generated it is time to make a payment. It is this payment on your business credit account that is reported to the business credit bureau.

Let’s break this down further.

When applying for business credit with lenders it is important that you select lenders that report to Business Experian. Most lenders do check business credit but most lenders don’t report payment history back to all 3 business credit bureaus. Some creditors only report negative payment history.

Once you have verified that the creditor does report positive payment history it is time to apply for the business credit.

Make sure you fill out the application using correct business information, the same information that is listed on your business records. Creditors will go through an approval process where they verify the supplied information on the application with your business records and / or your existing business credit reports.

Sometimes a creditor doesn’t approve the first time. Remember to follow up with the creditor to find out why the business wasn’t approved. Sometimes a phone call and manual review will turn a decline into an approval. The initial response is typically generated from an automated underwriting process.

Once your account is approved its time to make a purchase using your new business credit account. Keep in mind that you must use the credit account in order to build business credit history. It is the payment that is reported.

After you have made your purchase wait for your invoice or bill to be generated. If you make a payment too soon the creditor may not report the payment because it came in before the credit terms were utilized.

It is important that you pay your bill on time. Late payments can be reported to your business credit report and have a large impact on the credibility of the company.

The creditor typically takes 1 billing cycle (or 30 days) to report your payment to the business credit bureau. The business credit agency then takes up to 30 days to match the received payment history to your specific business credit report. This means it could take around 60 days for your payment experience to show on your business credit report.

Once your business credit history is established with a creditor we recommend applying for increases within their recommended time frame. Some lenders will only let you apply for an increase every 6months. Others as soon as 3 months and some as long as 1 year. Applying for increases builds your business credit history further. Lenders tend to mimic the highest approval amount reported, as you move that needle up you can expect higher approval limits in the future.

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