Why you should get business credit for your AOR!

tolamapS said: I have a question: what is the best way to balance transfer from Bank Atlantic Business Card (issued by Juniper / Barclays).

I just received one of those with a nice credit limit (18K), and want to know the best way to move about 90% of that into checking.

I know the trick with Citi and BofA Biz (can issued a BT check to self from Citi online and BofA will transfer into checking). However, no BofA biz card, and Citi Biz has a very small limit. If possible, I would like to avoid overpaying Citi.

Thanks in advance.Bank Atlantic will only send it to another card (takes about 3 business days). Send it to a card you already have a balance on over that amount and you have checks for. When the balance reports, write yourself a check.

74ak said: Does Discover Biz still issue BT checks?
I talked to 5 different CSRs; first 3 said "No, can't do",4th "No problem", envelope arrived today but w/o BT checks (though it does say "we have included checks...").I called again.."No, we don't send BT checks".Can someone comment on the most recent experience with Discover Biz? Any other ways to BT to checking(I don't have an outstanding balance anywhere)?Search for posts by MikeR397, maybe this one?.

My recent experience says, no BT checks. MikeR397's experience involved getting BT checks, but I think he acknowledges that it's a thing of the past.

I will either BT to my HELOC (after I write a check to the HELOC and deposit it in my checking; a few days' interest, but worth it) or BT to a Citi card, then request a refund by check.

expired said: I have a business credit card for the last 4 years. Out of the blue, the city called me and said that someone informed them that I was operating a business within city limits. and they asked for business license fees + late fees + interest for the last two years. (I'd moved into said city 2 years ago)1. Do you really have a business?
2. If so, what does your credit card issuer know about it?
3. I hope it's not a sole proprietorship (for my sake, at least).
4. Sorry to hear about all this...your city sounds like a really great place to do business.

tolamapS said: Does anyone know which credit will pull Equifax Small Business Report for sure?

Now I am motivated to apply and get rejected just to see what's in my Equifax file.

Advanta and AMEX pulled mine.

How soon could I get the application approved usually? Applied BandAltantic two days ago but not approved immediately. Does this kind of review means rejection? Thanks!

you can call them. I did. They will even tell your CL so you can plan accordingly you next move
See This Thread

brown1978 said: For BankAtlantic you can check application status on their website.

I did not find the link on their web site. Followed some link which directed me to juniper.com and got wrong information.

> 1. Do you really have a business?
Yes and Not really. There was a business plan that never got anywhere due to day job, though I used it to recieve money from minor IT/programming consulting work off and on (which I reported on my taxes, probably the main reason for the inquiry rather than the credit card?).
>2. If so, what does your credit card issuer know about it?
AFAIK, only the name I conduct under, and the city that the "business" is located in.
>3. I hope it's not a sole proprietorship (for my sake, at least).
Yes, though I registered the card under a name rather than my personal name.
4. Sorry to hear about all this...your city sounds like a really great place to do business.

expired said: > 1. Do you really have a business?
Yes and Not really. There was a business plan that never got anywhere due to day job, though I used it to recieve money from minor IT/programming consulting work off and on (which I reported on my taxes, probably the main reason for the inquiry rather than the credit card?).
>2. If so, what does your credit card issuer know about it?
AFAIK, only the name I conduct under, and the city that the "business" is located in.
>3. I hope it's not a sole proprietorship (for my sake, at least).
Yes, though I registered the card under a name rather than my personal name.
4. Sorry to hear about all this...your city sounds like a really great place to do business.
I think that was not a credit card company that "tipped" you local authorities; I assume they reviewed your state and federal last year tax returns and flagged you.
Do you have to have license to provide consulting services in your state/city. If not, than I would not worry about (assuming you paid all taxes on that income)

tolamapS said:

When paying from online bill-pay (checkfree), how do you search for it?

try Barclays

lhendricks92 said: I was recently declined for a Wachovia biz card. Reasons:

lack of relationship
number of established accounts
time since most recent acct short
time since accounts established

The letter says to contact TU for personal and the Small Business Financial Exchange (Equifax). The number for the latter is 800.727.8495.

My personal file looks pretty clean right now - I'm sure they declined me because of the high balances on my biz cards. Can't wait to get a look at what's on that biz credit file.

I did not apply myself; but I think 1) lack of relationship was a main reason for decline see this post Existing Relationship with Wachovia

lhendricks92 said: thanks for the link. i met with someone in person at wachovia who took my application. he assured me no other accounts were necessary to get the card, but perhaps it's worth a follow-up call.
I am curious if business credit report was more important that personal in their decision... soon I will be applying for Wachovia Biz myself, I will be hiding most of my debt off my personal report once my BT post to business ...
lhendricks92, please post the outcome or if they give you a hint which of the reports takes priority in their decision.

lhendricks92 said: LaJollaInvestor said: BobbyRobert said: In the case of business cards for proprietorships...Do business credit issuers check for a business credit report when you give a PG?

They run your personal credit report AND they run your Equifax Commercial credit report (see my posts above). They definitely know how much business debt you have.

Just got grilled by a Discover Biz credit analyst for having too much debt on my EQ biz report. The situation:

Long and short, you might want to find out what's on this report before your next biz A0R. Here's the number to request a free EQ biz report (shamelessly ripped from creditboards):

1.888.201.6879 ext 4. They'll ask for the name of the company that has denied you credit.

I just got another data point on the EQ Commercial credit report. After a CLI denial by Advanta I called the # above and requested a report. They did ask "what company referred you to us."

Background:

Business is RE property management (e.g. I have a rental house). Sole Prop, (no unique tax ID). Reported income 10k per year. HHI 120k.

I currently have the following business credit:
*Chase Business card with a 27k balance on a 30k CL. The card is 7 months into its 1 year promotional BT term (original CL was 15k, reallocated 10k from personal in May, 10k auto CL last month) (received card in May 07)
*Bank Atlantic Business Card. 16k balance on 18kCL. 5 months into the 15 month promo period. (received card Sept 07)
*Citi Business with TY. 0 balance on 18k limit (original limit was 4k, was able to reallocate 14k from citi prof in October). Waiting to begin the 12 month BT period. The card has been open since October and has carried a small balance. (received card October 07)
*Advanta. 2500 CL. I requested a CLI after receiving the card but no dice. I closed the card in early December. (received card October 07)

Since I received small limits on my most recent business apps (Citi and Advanta) I had assumed that my Chase and BAtl balances were showing someplace (The small limits cound have also been a product of my personal AOR BT debt of approx 50k (30% util) but this was not a problem with Chase or BAtl). I used the Advanta CLI denial to get a free copy of my EQ commercial report. I just opened it to discover that the ONLY credit reporting to th EQ report is the closed Advanta card. Chase, BAtl or Citi are no where to be seen on the report.

So now I am both excited (does this lend credence to the business credit black hole theory?), and puzzled (surely this debt has to report somewhere, D&B perhaps?). Hopefully we can get some additional data on these reports. I would really like to know more about how they work.

Thanks to lhendricks92 and LaJollaInvestor for the initial investigations into the EQ commercial reports!

Received my EQ Commercial Credit Report. My wife and I are the owners of our company, so accounts belonging to both of us are on there, and it's a nearly complete profile of our business credit cards.

Companies reporting lines:

Advanta
Am.Ex
Chase
Discover
FIA (Bank of America)
U.S. Bank (Elan)

The only companies not reporting are Citi, National City, and Juniper.

I don't know who is pulling or monitoring these reports - I can see inquiry dates but not who inquired. (Also, it appears to list hard inqs only.)

I see why Discover pulled this report when I applied as a sole proprietor. My wife and I are listed as "Alternate Company Names and DBAs."

I'm of course nervous to see my bazillion dollars of business debt recorded on a report.

lhendricks92 said: ...

I see why Discover pulled this report when I applied as a sole proprietor. My wife and I are listed as "Alternate Company Names and DBAs."

I'm of course nervous to see my bazillion dollars of business debt recorded on a report.

Do you use TIN for your business (and application)?

Do they still pull your personal credit report when you apply for business cc, now that you have business c.report?

BTW-- did any of you get your Credit Risk Score?

I can't figure out why my score isn't higher since all 4 of my reason codes seem positive.

Reason Codes
· 37 Percent Revolving Trade Utilization
· Length of Time Since Oldest Financial Account Opened Suggests Lower Risk
· 0 Percent of Financial Balance Past Due
· 100 Percent of Financial Payment Experiences Reported as Current in Last 3 Months

I'm going to lower my utilization below 35% and see if that makes a difference.

74ak said:
Do you use TIN for your business (and application)?

Do they still pull your personal credit report when you apply for business cc, now that you have business c.report?

Yep, it's an S-corp, but they always pull personal reports as well.

LaJollaInvestor said: I'm going to lower my utilization below 35% and see if that makes a difference.

That would cost me many, many arbitrage dollars.

For those that have the Bank Atlantic Biz Credit Card, could you please post if it has reported on your personal credit, and if not, how long have you had it. Just trying to make sure it won't report to personal credit report, but have gotten mixed info. Great thread. Thanks OP and everyone who contributes.

SuperG03

I have the Bank Atlantic Biz card and it does not report on my personal credit report.