When you start your own business, there are often a lot of things to think about and consider carefully, and your finances are often the most important of the many things on your mind. This can be particularly true when it comes to understanding how finances work for a business, as opposed to an individual. The good news is that with a little research it can be easy to understand business credit and how it impacts you overall.

What Is Business Credit?

Business credit is what it sounds like, it’s your business’s credit score. In many ways it is similar to your personal credit score, although it is calculated somewhat differently. Some main factors that are involved in determining your business credit score are things like your payment history and the overall amount of your debts. However, when your business in new, you may not have much, or any, credit yet.

When you are first starting out and applying for loans, many lenders will look at your personal credit first, as you may not have had enough time to establish credit for your business yet. Because of this, it can be highly beneficial to make sure that you attend to any issues there might be with your personal credit before applying for loans, as it can impact the amount of funds or types of loans you are able to get.

How To Have Good Business Credit

Sometimes cultivating good business credit is as simple as waiting and allowing your credit to build up. In fact, having good business credit can be more about what you don’t do, than what you do do. When building your credit, it is important to make sure that you make all payments on time. Having a lack of late fees or unpaid bills can be a great way to keep your business credit stable and to help it grow.

Something else that it can be helpful to do if you are working on building your business credit is to check it regularly, and make sure that nothing unexpected has come up or is being counted against you. While it may not seem significant, simply checking on your credit score and monitoring it can make a big difference in the long run.

Bottom Line

There are a lot of things to think about when it comes to your new business’s finances, and your credit score is one of them. The good news is that it can be easy to understand, and to improve, with a little effort and patience.