Getting started with your business credit file

Your first week

Business credit is built in a specific order, and skipping steps is the usual reason a file never forms.

1. Establish the entity

Register the business and get your EIN from the IRS. Both are free or close to it. A sole proprietorship without an EIN has no separate identity for a bureau to build a file against.

2. Separate the money

Open a business bank account and stop paying business expenses from personal accounts. Commingled finances undermine every later step and are the first thing an underwriter looks for.

3. Make yourself findable

List a business phone number and address. Bureaus corroborate your file against public records; a business they cannot find is a business they cannot score.

4. Get a D-U-N-S number

Dun & Bradstreet issues these free. Many suppliers check for one before offering terms.

5. Open your first trade account

A Net-30 supplier account is the usual first tradeline. Pay it early — commercial scoring weights payment timing heavily, and early beats on-time.

Work the credit checklist in your dashboard; it tracks all of this and awards progress as you go.