How to build business credit, step by step

Personal credit follows you. Business credit follows your company: its legal name, address, phone number, Employer Identification Number (EIN) and any bureau ID such as a D-U-N-S number. Business bureaus collect what vendors and lenders report about how the company pays, plus public records, and some turn that into scores. Our guide to business credit scores explains how those scores differ from one bureau to the next.

Lenders and suppliers use the business file together with the owner’s personal credit, not as a replacement for it, especially in a company’s early years. The personal vs. business credit guide covers how the two connect.

Bureaus match reports to a business by its details, so the first job is making sure those details are settled and identical everywhere.

1. Register the business (opens in a new tab) with your state (and any local registration that applies) under the name you plan to use.
2. Get an EIN from the IRS. The IRS offers an online EIN application (opens in a new tab) at no cost.
3. Set up a business address and phone number and use the same name, address and phone on every account, license and listing.
4. Open a business bank account (opens in a new tab) and run all business money through it. Our separate finances guide and the business banking toolkit go further.

There is no single required order, and timelines vary by business, industry and lender. This is a common general path, not a promise of any result:

1. Get a D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet, which is free, and check whether Experian and Equifax already hold business files on your company and whether the details are right.
2. Open a few vendor accounts on net terms (you buy now and pay the invoice later) for things you already buy, such as supplies, shipping or packaging. Before opening one, ask whether the vendor reports payments to business bureaus, because reporting policies differ and change.
3. Consider a first business credit card. Many card issuers look mainly at the owner’s personal credit at this stage. Using it lightly and paying on time builds a record if the issuer reports to business bureaus, so ask.
4. After a few months of reporting, check your business files for accuracy. The business credit report guide walks through what to look for.
5. Build a relationship with a bank or credit union. A business line of credit at a bank commonly looks for time in business and revenue history; a small or secured line may be possible earlier where you already bank.
6. Larger credit, such as a term loan, an SBA-backed loan or equipment financing, tends to come once financial statements and payment history support it.

• Pay every reporting account on time, or early. Payment timeliness is the main thing several business scores measure.
• Keep balances on cards and lines modest compared with their limits.
• Keep your company details consistent so reports land on the right file.
• Check your files periodically and correct errors with each bureau’s own process.
• Keep good books. The bookkeeping basics guide and the SBA’s page on managing your finances (opens in a new tab) explain the records lenders later ask to see.

• Anyone charging a fee to “get” you a D-U-N-S number. Dun & Bradstreet issues it free; its paid monitoring and credit-builder products are optional.
• Credit privacy numbers (CPNs) or any “new credit identity” offered as a way around your history. The FTC warns about credit repair scams, and using a made-up identity on a credit application can be illegal. See the FTC’s page on avoiding credit repair scams (opens in a new tab).
• Paid “tradeline” packages that claim to add history you did not earn.
• Promises of a specific credit limit or score within a set number of days.

• Do you report payments to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business or Equifax Business? Which ones, and how often?
• Will this account also appear on my personal credit report?
• Do you require a personal guaranty?
• What happens if a payment is late, and when is it reported?

Free one-on-one help is available from SBA resource partners such as SCORE mentors and Small Business Development Centers. The first-year checklist puts these steps in order alongside taxes and bookkeeping.