Business Credit Guides: Quick Answers to the Questions Sellers Ask Next

What these guides are for

Most business credit advice starts with the basics: what business credit is, how a D-U-N-S Number works, why Net-30 vendors matter. This section picks up where the basics leave off. When you are about to apply for something, a specific question usually comes up. Can a brand-new LLC get a credit card? Does Net-30 report to Dun & Bradstreet? What happens if the inventory does not sell before the 0% rate ends?

These guides give the short answer first, explain it, name the sources, and finish with one next step. They are deliberately compact so you can get the answer and move on.

How we write them

• The answer comes first. You should not have to read three screens to find out whether the answer is yes or no.
• Sources are named. Every guide lists where the facts came from and the date we checked them.
• We say what varies. Issuers, vendors and lenders set their own rules. Where a rule differs, we say so rather than inventing a standard.
• No made-up numbers. If a figure is an example, it is labeled as one.

How we choose the questions

We look for questions that a basics page raises but does not fully answer, and that someone is likely to ask right before they apply for a card, a vendor account or financing. We do not publish search volume numbers because we do not have reliable data for them. If there is a question we have not covered, tell us.