{"id":3190,"date":"2015-03-16T15:55:46","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T15:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/?p=3190"},"modified":"2025-07-02T14:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T18:05:09","slug":"small-business-credit-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/small-business-credit-score\/","title":{"rendered":"How Your Personal Credit Affects Your Small Business Credit Score"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a small business owner, you may think that\u00a0your incorporation documents provide a clear separation between your personal credit and your small business credit score; however, that is not always the case.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/smallbusiness-credit.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3203\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/smallbusiness-credit.jpg\" alt=\"small business credit \" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In today&#8217;s post we&#8217;ll show you how your personal credit affects your small business and what you can do to improve the credit profile for both yourself and your company.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Establish\u00a0a Small Business Credit\u00a0Score<\/h2>\n<p>While building\u00a0relationships with your vendors you should ask if they are reporting your payment history to one of the three major credit reporting agencies. If they are not, you should ask if they would be willing to do so. This is the only way to begin establishing a credit profile for your company.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are the type of vendors who can report of your payment history to the credit agencies:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Suppliers<\/li>\n<li>Wholesalers<\/li>\n<li>Banks<\/li>\n<li>Leasing companies<\/li>\n<li>Other financial institutions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Try to begin establishing your business credit score as early as possible.<\/p>\n<h2>The Link Between Business Loans &amp; Personal\u00a0Credit<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/smallbusiness-creditscore.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3207\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/smallbusiness-creditscore.jpg\" alt=\"small business credit score\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to Experian, one of the big three credit agencies, <strong>&#8220;If you are a sole proprietor or business owner with fewer than 20 employees, your personal and business credit scores are closely linked in the eyes of banks and other lenders.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) only allows financial institutions to officially consider\u00a0personal credit histories under certain circumstances, personal credit can be used as a &#8220;reference&#8221; in almost every situation if the business itself doesn&#8217;t have an established\u00a0credit profile of its own.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Improve Your Personal Credit Score<\/h2>\n<p>Because many small business owners will need to use their personal credit score as a reference to obtain business financing, it&#8217;s important to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/how-to-improve-your-credit-score-to-obtain-business-financing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">make sure your personal credit is in good standing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If your credit score is currently low, here&#8217;s what you need to do to lift it:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pay down your credit cards so that you&#8217;re carrying a balance of no more than 35% of your total credit limit.<\/li>\n<li>Get current and stay current on all of your bills; bring any accounts that are past due current as fast as possible.<\/li>\n<li>Negotiate with creditors about any accounts that are in collections. In many cases collection agencies will agree to remove the negative mark from your credit report if you pay them in full. Be sure to get this agreement in writing if the agency is willing to work with you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also remember that saving money at the expense of not paying your bills is a bad idea.<\/p>\n<p>It can be tempting to save money if you really need to purchase new equipment or you want to complete a big project, but your priority needs to be on paying your current bills on time.<\/p>\n<h2>Business Loan Options to Consider<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/smallbusiness-bankloan-bank.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3209\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/smallbusiness-bankloan-bank.jpg\" alt=\"small business bank loan options\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If your small business is in one of the following industries you could qualify for a working capital business loan through ARF Financial, even if your personal or business credit history is less than perfect:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Restaurant<\/li>\n<li>Hospitality<\/li>\n<li>Automotive<\/li>\n<li>Medical &amp; Dental<\/li>\n<li>Salon &amp; Spa<\/li>\n<li>Florist<\/li>\n<li>Retail<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0Working Capital loan benefits through ARF Financial include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>FICO score of 575 or greater with $200,000 in annual sales meets approval<\/li>\n<li>Flexible terms up to 18 months<\/li>\n<li>Fixed payments and interest rate<\/li>\n<li>Interest is tax deductible<\/li>\n<li>Not linked to credit card receipts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Learn more about the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/get-approved-working-capital-loan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> approval and payback process for a working capital loan<\/a> today or <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arffinancial.com\/development\/contact\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=post&amp;utm_campaign=businesspersonalcreditpost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">contact us for more info<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a small business owner, you may think that\u00a0your incorporation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,698],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business-financing","7":"category-small-business-financing"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - 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