Protecting and maintaining your business' credit is as important as looking after your own. In fact, if you are the sole owner or part of a business partnership, your personal credit score may be considered along with your business credit profile. Whether you are starting out a business and wanting to know how to keep a score high or you want to improve a bad credit score, there are some vital actions you should take.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have a decent amount of control over your business credit profile, and much like your personal score, you must constantly monitor it. This does, however, mean that you need to be extremely proactive in reporting to the business credit bureaus and ensuring that your score is high and accurate. If there are issues that you know can be resolved to your benefit, contact the appropriate sources and have them removed.

 

Make sure the transactions between your company and any suppliers are listed on your credit report. Besides reporting positive activity yourself, ask any companies you trade with to contribute their experiences with you. Inversely, remove any closed accounts from your credit profile, since they should no longer provide any indication of your current status. Don't go on a spree of closing accounts when your business is starting to fall into the red, however; this will raise red flags when you are applying for credit and will negate the positive credit rating that you achieved from doing good business with the old accounts.

Your personal credit report is separate from your business profile, but if you have a small business, are the sole owner, or are just beginning your journey, your finances may factor into deciding whether your business is creditworthy. If you manage your business and personal finances the same way (paying bills on time or early, limiting the number of new accounts you open, and wisely choosing which companies to request credit from), your business ownership experiences will be rewarding.