What to Do if the Business Credit Score Changes?

Since business credit scores are calculated based on an aggregate of business data, it can change at any moment. Make sure you understand these 4 things so you can recover from negative impacts to your score:

  1. What to do if you have a low Business Credit Score
    • Current collections, judgement, derogatories, and liens need to be fully satisfied before they can be removed from your business credit report. The status, frequency, and amount of these items will have impacts on your score.
    • Increased trends in slow payment of obligations will cause your score to decrease. Make sure to start paying your bills early if this is the case. LEARN HOW FACTORING CAN HELP INCREASE YOUR CASH FLOW AND HELP PAY BILLS ON TIME.
    • An increased trend in applications for credit initiated by the business owner can cause slight dips in the business credit score. Making long term financial plans can help prevent sporadic credit applications. LEARN HOW.
    • The trend of payment experiences, balances outstanding, payment habits, and credit utilization over time will impact your credit score. LEARN HOW TO USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TO BUILD BUSINESS CREDIT.
    • Years in business, business industry, and Standard Industrial Code also have an impact on your credit score.
  2. Sometimes lenders/vendors can be missing from your credit report. This can be for several reasons:
    • The supplier, vendor, or lender that you are working with does not report to the particular business credit bureaus that you pulled your credit report from. For example "of the more than 500,000 suppliers extending credit, only about 10,000 report." Additionally, some lenders on report to one or two of the business credit bureaus. Make sure you ask each lender you work with which credit bureaus they report to and how often.,
    • Sometimes lenders, suppliers and creditors will report information to the credit bureaus however if you have inaccurate information on your credit report the payment experience will not be reported. 
  3. Only by doing business with lenders, vendors, and suppliers that report to the credit bureaus can you build a strong credit score and report.

LEARN HOW TO BUILD BUSINESS CREDIT

OR

Read Part 7 of The Small Business Credit Blog

Small Business Finance, Small Business CreditOusmane Toure