How to immediately get setup with Dun & Bradstreet and start accessing cash and
credit for your business.
Dun & Bradstreet often called D&B is the biggest business credit reporting agency,
they provide information on business and corporations for use in credit
decisions worldwide, publically traded company D&B on New York Stock
Exchange, headquarters are in short hills New Jersey. D&B roots track all the way
back to 1841 with the formation of the mercantile agency in New York. This was
50 years before the first consumer agency Equifax was born. In 1933
the Mercantile agency joined with R. G. Dun & Company and became known as Dun
& Bradstreet. In 1963 the introduction of the Data Universal Numbering System or
DUNS helped bring business information into the computer age. Today D&B
maintain a database of over 213 million companies globally.
An interesting fact is that four US Presidents were former employees of
Mercantile agency which later became D&B, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover
Cleveland, William McKinley, all worked as credit reporters. The very first step
with getting setup with D&B is to setup your entity, you can build credit with
D&B with any entity, but you’ll want to consider either a corporation or LLC to
help reduce your liability in the business, with these entities you in the
business are separate from each other, making it easier to also separate your
liability. You can setup your entity by visiting your secretary of state website,
search for your name you want to ensure it’s not already taken, then follow this
steps to setup a new for profit or non-profit business. Fees vary by state,
but the setup process usually only takes 15 minutes or less to complete. Next
visit the IRS website to get your employer ID number or EIN, do not pay for
your EIN it’s totally free,
there are companies who try to look official and help you get your EIN, but
at the end of the process they charge you a fee,
you don’t need to pay.
Your next step is to get your D&B DUNS number,
this can also be obtained for free from D&B directly or you can use this shortcut.
The Data Universal Numbering System DUNS is a business identifier code
provided by Dun & Bradstreet,
the DUNS number is a 9 digit number issued by Dun & Bradstreet and assigned
to each business location in the D&B database each having a unique separate
and distinct operation for the purpose. Every business must first have a DUNS
number before Dun & Bradstreet will assign a Paydex business credit score.
The DUNS number is the preferred method worldwide of identifying businesses,
unlike National Employment Identification Number or EIN, a DUNS
number may be issued to any business worldwide, it is used by many foreign
governments including the US and Australia, European Commission and even
the United Nations, more than 50 global industry and trade associations
recognize, recommend, or requires DUNS.
When you actually start applying for credit you should consider using some
type of business address or virtual address, but setting up your entity and
your DUNS will require a physical address of some kind, you can’t use a
virtual address and even though you can obtain real business credit without
supplying your Social Security Number,
most business bank accounts may require one to be opened.
Make sure you have all you need to go to the next step,
business entity setup cost varies $50 to $650 EIN number
obtained from IRS free, business bank account open 25 to $50
deposit, DUNS obtained from Dun & Bradstreet free.
Credit issuers and lenders have a secret set of requirements you must meet to
get approved, these requirements are to determine if your business is legit and
credible, you must ensure you meet these requirements before applying for any
type of credit.
You must have a website and professional email address, not a Gmail, or AOL type
email, you must have a business phone number not a mobile or home phone,
you should have a toll-free number and fax number your phone needs to be listed
with 411, you should be listed online and all of your listings the same.
You need a real business address or virtual address not a home address P.O.
Box or UPS address
make sure you obtain all necessary licensing needed for your industry and
state, you should be listed online and all of your listings the same.
With Dun & Bradstreet there are a couple of ways to start building your business
credit. The first way is by using their credit builder program, this runs a
$139 a monthly that was in June 2016, or they’ll
also often offer you a one-time fee, you can also pay.
They will offer to setup your DUNS for you if you purchase, without you needing
to wait 30 days to get it by mail, with Credit Builder you also get access to
your D&B scores and rating, can add positive payments experiences to your
report,
get alerts when others inquire into your business, see how your company compares
to others in your industry.
With credit builder D&B allows you to add trade account you already have that
aren’t currently reporting to your D&B reports, these accounts then show
as trade lines helping you build your profile and score. This might be
something to consider if you have a lot of accounts you pay now that can qualify
and aren’t currently reporting.
Keep in mind, this service is only to add accounts to your D&B reports not Equifax
or Experian which many credit issuers and lenders use, also D&B isn’t helping
you access new credit only helping you add existing credit to your reports.
Also keep in mind many types of accounts cannot be added to your D&B using this
credit builder service
D&B Credit Builder,
this quote is directly from Dun & Bradstreet. D&B works together with
thousands of nationwide vendors that report payment experiences on a regular
basis. These data providers have requested to remain anonymous and cannot
be added by a customer for trade reference. Some types of companies do not
respond to D&B requests for information within a reasonable time frame D&B will
make six attempts to contact a company that has been selected to provide trade
reference and will accept inbound references at any time,
however a customer may resubmit references at any time after which D&B
will make six more attempts. Certain companies have proven overtime to be
less trustworthy, accordingly D&B has identified certain characteristics
associated with companies and maintains policies related to the eligibility of
that company to provide a reference.
The following kinds of trade references are amongst those that are not accepted
by D&B, payments that have not yet been made bit are anticipated. Payments to
businesses that have shared principles or some other type of legal ownership
relationship, financial services, banks, credit unions, and insurance,
bank references, utilities and gas companies, credit card companies,
landlords, virtual offices, credit counseling or registered agents,
international companies, businesses with an unknown SIC.
So before you buy think about the accounts you may have who might report
such as your CRM or other types of software or other accounts that aren’t
restricted, also keep in mind getting D&B on the phone with your service provider
isn’t always easy and very well can take time.
You can also get new credit, and use that to build your profile and score with D&B,
you can do this quickly if you have good personal credit by obtaining accounts
that can give you money now, and also report to D&B.
Another way to build business credit is by starting your profile and score with
vendor accounts, these are companies who will offer you credit, even if you have
none now, and report to the business reporting agencies, they will offer you
net 30 terms usually, meaning you have 30 days to pay off what you borrow in full.
Some vendors to start with who report to the D&B and will approve you with no
existing credit include, Seton, Quill, Gemplers, Uline, for real business
credit linked to your EIN and not your SSN, don’t put your SSN on the application.
D&B will want you to have 2-3 types of accounts to give you a profile
and score,
you do not need to pay D&B to have these added to your report you just need to
find items you want to buy, apply for credit use that credit pay the bill
timely.
The main credit score used in the business world is known as a Paydex score,
provided by Dun & Bradstreet, from D&B the D&B Paydex score is D&B unique
dollars weighted numerical indicator of how a firm paid its bill over the past year
based on trade experiences reported to D&B by various vendors.
The Paydex score ranges from 0-100 with 100 being the best score a business can
obtain, a score of 80 or higher is considered good or healthy credit, a
business can obtain a good business Paydex credit score by ensuring payments
are made promptly to suppliers and vendors.
Business credit scores are based only on whether the business pays its bills on
time,
expect payment may come early 100,
payment comes with an early discount period 90,
payment is prompt 80,
payment comes 14 days beyond terms 70,
payment comes 21 days beyond terms 60,
payment comes 30 days beyond terms 50,
payment comes 60 days beyond terms 40,
payment comes 90 days beyond terms 30,
payment comes 120 days beyond terms 20,
unavailable is UN.
You should have 5 payment experiences to start applying for store credit,
most major retail stores offer EIN only business credit including Staples and
Office Depot, Lowes and Home Depot, BP and Chevron, Best Buy, Apple, and Dell, Walmart,
Costco, and Sam’s Club, and most others.
With 10 total payment experiences you can start to secure fleet and cash
credit cards based on your EIN only, and you’ll have a much better chance of
getting loans and credit lines in some cases you can even obtain lending such
as auto leasing without a personal guarantee,
just like with consumer credit, building your business credit is a never ending
process. The more credit you apply for the more you get and the more you use
that credit that higher your limits become, also keep in mind, all lenders
review business credit when applying for business loans even high-risk lenders,
and anyone who want to can see your reports, which is one more reason
business credit is so important. We can do an Experian review with you
as well.
Contact us today to learn more