Business Credit When You Need It Most

In order to be in business you have to have the trust of your suppliers that they will get paid when they provide you with goods or services. You may not always have the cash on hand to make these payments while you are waiting for your customers or clients to pay you. That's why you need business credit. To provide for the gap period that keeps your suppliers happy while you continue to work on behalf of your clients.

You may also need business credit in the form of a loan or line of credit from your bank or financial institution in order to get your business concept off the paper and into action. Most business people are willing to invest their own time and money to see their business dreams become reality, but also require outside financial start up support in order to become successful in their chosen field of endeavor. It is always a better situation both for your personal finances and for solid business principles to be using other people's money to generate business income.

Before you risk using up and even losing your own financial credibility it's much wiser to seek out business loans or credit and build your business financial credibility. You bring your own personal credit capacity into the business world with you and you can use this capacity to create good business credit as well. So the first step to getting good business credit is ensuring that your personal finances are in good shape and up to date.

You can request your personal credit rating and score from a number of credit reporting agencies online. The credit report will tell you in a matter of minutes any information that may hinder your capacity to borrow money for your personal or business needs. If there are any items on your credit report that are outdated or show you as a risk to your lending institution you will need to get them removed or altered before you go to see the bank for a business loan in order to improve your likelihood of getting the loan. Next you need to determine what your real business credit needs may be. If you do not request enough you may find yourself having to return to the bank sooner than you planned.

If you request too much then you will end up paying for business credit with monies that could be better spent invested in your enterprise. Make a budget with revenue and expense projections so that you can speak to the bank in confidence about your needs. If you do a good job of cleaning up your personal finances and prepare a solid plan for the bank then they will usually be more than happy to meet your business credit needs.

David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes a weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com You can sign up for their free newsletter by visiting http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com