The Importance of Credit Reports - before Starting Your own Business
Contributed by Lisa Marie
Accurate credit reports are especially important for starting your own business.
Access to your credit report is relatively quick and painless. Accuracy in your report could mean the difference between getting a small business loan and having to borrow money from your family to start up your business. Don't you want to do this on your own?
It happens every day. Credit reports have errors just like everything else does. It could be as small as an incorrect address, or as large as an unpaid mortgage that you had nothing to do with. For these reasons, both big and small, you need to check your credit report before you go into a financial institution to apply for a small business loan. Don't leave it up to the bank to do this; If they access your credit first and find errors, they will automatically think that the errors are facts and put your application on file. You won't be able to reapply for at least thirty days.
Getting a copy of your credit report.
There are three main credit bureaus- Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. All three reports can have differences, so be sure to get a copy of each. Simply get online and go to your favorite search engine. Type in each of the credit bureaus individually in different searches, and access their websites.
A fee is usually involved in gaining access to your credit report. There are a few ways to avoid the fee:
If you live in a state where there is a law mandating a free annual credit report (like Massachusetts), you can do just that. There are links on the bureaus websites that will take you to the list of states and then give you a free credit report based on your address.
