Credit Matters...

As of the last year had the pleasure to switch from consumer banking and management into business banking. Lending continues to be a large part of my job and I am so surprised how many business owners do not monitor their credit, as it is very crucial to decision making for banks and other lenders. I wanted to share some of the best free monitoring and credit education sites. Note that while all these site have products and services they sell, they also have 100% services and information which is why I am sharing them today.



MyFico.com

This is an excellent education site for all things credit.  Check out the following link for an article from them in regards to building personal credit.

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/improveyourscore.aspx

Quizzle.com

This website allows individuals to see their credit and its report quarterly for free. Their hope is to offer users better home mortgage interest rates.

CreditSesame.com

This site gives you a credit score and also information from your credit report. It offers potential savings from several different optoins, (usually credit cards and personal loans.) This credit report is provided by Experian which is one of the three credit agencies.

CreditKarma.com

While very similar to creditsesame.com, I enjoy the simplicity and credit report card that Credit Karma provides. The credit score and report are from Transunion which is another credit agency. Again they solicit the sale of credit cards, personal loans, and other such services as does Credit Sesame.

Dunn and Bradstreet

While most of these have been personal credit sites, businesses can have credit as well. Business that utilize credit from lending institutions normally have it, but even business that utilize vendor terms and relationships will have a credit score too. This is compiled and monitored by a company called Dunn and Bradstreet or D&B. Like also other credit companies they attempt to sell services to monitor and improve credit, however, businesses can at no cost obtain a credit number, also referred to as a DUNS, and can go in to see and dispute incorrect information. While it is difficult to navigate here is the link for seeing if your business has a DUNS number and here is the link to request a business DUNS number. They bury the link for the free request in several pages so the hyperlink should take you right there. 

If you are wondering why lenders think it is so important to have strong credit please check out these articles on the 5C's of credit which explain what lenders are looking for when lending money to businesses.

5C's of Credit Article 1
5C's of Credit Article 2