XBanker

Problems Building Business Credit Part Two

September 2nd, 2008

In a previous post, I replied to a reader who is skeptical about building business credit. Here is some more correspondence on this topic:

I appreciate your response to my question. My business is two years old and I have perfect business credit with DNB and an intermediate score with Experian. Additionally, far as personal credit, I did all I could to increase the score.

I have a student loan that will not be paid off any time soon. In the beginning I believed that building perfect business credit would be the perfect solution to my problem. Of course, after I followed the steps I realize ultimately personal credit still plays a factor. I have several trade accounts with small credit lines nothing serious.

But I am looking to obtain a line of credit from $100-$200,000.00 dollars. That is the reason I formed (my corporation) to acquire an existing company. Technically my company is a start up, but through building credit I established creditability of paying on time and my company has matured to the time banks require businesses.

Ms. Detweiler, I’ve been at this for six years with no results. I hired every consultant I can think of. Should I give up? What would you do in this case?

This is a great conversation, because it illustrates some of the myths floating around about business credit. Read the rest of this entry »

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Building Business Credit webcast available now

July 28th, 2008

The Wells Fargo Small Business Webcast Sound Credit Practices for Your Business is now available. I was honored to be chosen to participate in this panel discussion with leading financial industry insiders and business owners as we talked about how to build business credit, and effectively manage business credit and cash flow. The program focuses on financial management principles that support long-term stability and growth.

Sound Credit Practices for Your Business offers tips and strategies to small business owners looking for ways to safeguard and strengthen their businesses. This webcast will provide informative, relevant and timely advice on how to implement and manage sound credit practices.

If you haven’t viewed a webcast before, it is like attending a seminar…from the comfort of your home or office. You simply watch online with both audio and video.

The webcast was moderated by Rich Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation.com. I’ve seen and admired Rich’s work for years, but was even more impressed when I met him in person. He’s both very smart and very funny. And I learned a lot working with the other panelists:

• Michael Billeci, Regional President, Greater Bay Area Region, Wells Fargo
• Scott Anderson, Ph.D. Senior Economist, Wells Fargo
• Jerry L. Mills, CPA, Founder and CEO, B2B CFO
• Sharon Evans, President and CEO, The Business Resource Group

Free registration for this webcast is now available at www.wellsfargo.com/biz/webcast.

About the Wells Fargo Small Business Webcast Series

Wells Fargo’s Small Business Webcast Series of interactive, online sessions is designed to help small business owners meet their business growth and management goals. The series, which launched in 2007, is one of Wells Fargo’s many resources to help small business owners succeed financially.

The latest addition to the library of small business resources in the webcast series is Sound Credit Practices for Your Business. The webcast series library also includes: Financing Strategies for Your Business, Protecting Your Business, Technology and Your Business, and Health Care Options for Your Business.

For more information on the series or to view one of these programs, visit www.wellsfargo.com/biz/webcast.

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Want your business to survive and thrive?

July 10th, 2008

You may have heard the statistics that half of small businesses fail in the first year. The Small Business Administration says it’s not quite that bleak. They report that two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, and 44 percent survive at least four years. (Still that’s 54% that don’t make it four years.) These results were similar for different industries.

Major factors in a firm’s remaining open include an ample supply of capital, being large enough to have employees, the owner’s education level, and the owner’s reason for starting the firm in the first place, such as freedom for family life or wanting to be one’s own boss.

 Other studies have pointed to the following causes of failure as… Read the rest of this entry »

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Do You Trust Your Banker?

July 3rd, 2008

One benefit of being a bit of a packrat is that every once in a while you find a gem hidden in your junk. While digging through some files recently, for example, I came across a brochure from a law firm I had been saving for…well, let’s just say a while.

Titled, Words to the Wise: 10 Rules to Remember When Borrowing From a Bank by Cappello and McCann - now Capello and Noel — it describes precautions smart borrowers should take when getting loans. We’ll help warn you when we can.

I’ve asked their permission to share some of these tips and over the next few weeks I’ll do that. I’ll start by excerpting from Tip #10 – one of the most important:

Don’t ever forget that your banker’s allegiance is to his bank and not to you.

“Many people like to develop strong personal relationships with the people they do business with. They may foster close friendships with a loan officer or banker, especially in a small town where the branch manager knows everyone and there’s only one bank in town.

No matter who close you and your banker become, how many football games you go to together, or how many of his children he names after you, you need to remember that if it’s a choice between his head and yours, it will probably be yours. This is part of the unfortunately rule that you should not trust your banker; in other words, “Borrower beware.”

While the current trend favoring lenders may reverses itself, today courts are saying that lenders don’t have to deal fairly and honestly with their customers, and that they can strictly enforce all the terms of the small business loan documents no matter how onerous and no matter what the customers were told. While your bank may advertise itself as your “friend” and “trusted advisor” and your banker may assure you he is just that, lending is like any other business. It’s a dog-eat-dog world in the lending industry today, and you just might be your lender’s next breakfast.”

Cappello and Noel is one of the country’s top law firms when it comes to lender liability, so you know they have seen plenty of examples of lender-borrower relationships gone bad. You can’t forsee every problem, but you can be smart about shopping for a loan and head off some of them before they begin.

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Join Me for a Business Financing Strategies Webcast

May 29th, 2008

Mark your calendars! July 29, 2008 will be the debut of Sound Credit Practices For Your Business webcast sponsored by Wells Fargo. I’ll be one of the panelists bringing you advice and strategies during the program.

Along with other top experts, we will be showing small business owners how to build and keep healthy personal and business credit, best practices for cash flow management, what banks are looking for in loan applicants, and strategies for creating a long-term plan for credit and business financing stability.

Registration for the event is now open. Did I mention it’s free?

I hope you’ll join us!

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