The questions people ask before they trust anyone with this.
Most of what is written about business funding online is written to sell something. These are the questions we actually get, answered the way we would answer them on the phone.
Business credit is not what gets your first cards approved.
Every business card at a major bank is approved on your personal credit, with your personal guarantee behind it, unless the business is doing seven figures. The business credit file matters later, and it matters for how much they give you. It is not the gate.
Almost everything sold as a shortcut gets this backwards.
Do I need a D-U-N-S number to get approved?
No. Banks pull your personal credit to decide a business card. A D-U-N-S number is what the business bureaus use, and it matters for vendor accounts and for the second tier later, lines of credit that do not need documents.
We still get you one, early, because it takes up to thirty business days and nothing can report to a business bureau until it exists. But it is not what stands between you and an approval.
Do I need Net 30 vendor accounts first?
No. The vendor grind, five suppliers then store cards then fleet cards, is a real way to build a business file and it is not required to get cash credit at a major bank.
If your goal is a business credit file, there are faster routes. If your goal is 0% cards, vendor accounts are not on the path at all.
Do I need a shelf corp or an aged LLC?
No, and we will not do it.
Buying an aged company to look older than you are is a story told to an underwriter that is not true. The same is true of inflating stated income. Both are sold as clever. Both are misrepresentation on a credit application, and the risk sits with you, not the person who sold you the shelf company.
A new LLC in your own name, opened properly, gets funded. That is the whole reason we build it the way we do.
Can I get business funding with poor credit?
Not the kind worth having. For 0% cards at real banks you want to be at roughly 700 or above.
There are cards that will approve lower, but they price on revenue rather than credit and they want to see money moving through your business account every month. If your score is the thing in the way, fixing it first is not a delay, it is the shortest route.
Are personal guarantees required?
Yes, on essentially everything you will apply for at first. A personal guarantee means if the business does not pay, you do.
Cards without a personal guarantee exist, and they want serious balances sitting in your business account before they will talk to you. They are a later-stage option, not a starting point. Anyone offering a no-guarantee card to a new business is describing something else.
Will applying hurt my personal credit?
Each application is a hard inquiry, and inquiries cost a few points and fade. That is why the order and the timing matter, and why we ask you not to apply for anything on your own while we are working.
The balances are the better news: most business cards do not report their balance to your personal credit, so a large balance on a business card usually does not wreck your personal utilization. There are exceptions, and we check which cards those are before we build your order.
Do I need a real business address?
Yes. A street address with a suite designation. Not a PO box, not a mailbox store, not a virtual office.
These are screened for and they decline applications on their own. Your home address with a suite designation is what most people use and it is completely normal.
Can I apply as a sole proprietor, without an LLC?
Yes. A sole proprietor applying on a Social Security number is approvable, and we have no interest in holding up a ready profile for paperwork.
We usually build the LLC anyway, for the liability separation and because the business credit file has to attach to something. But if you are ready now and the entity is not, that is not a reason to wait.
How many cards should I apply for at once?
It depends entirely on which banks, in which order, and which credit bureau each one pulls, and that varies by the state you live in.
This is most of the actual skill in funding. Applications in the wrong order burn inquiries you needed for a later approval, and you cannot get them back. It is also why we ask you to make every application with us on the phone rather than on your own.
Do you take payment upfront?
No. You are billed for work already completed, never in advance.
If anyone in this industry asks you for a large fee before anything has been delivered, that alone is worth walking away from.
Still have a question?
The first call is a free read of your three-bureau file. You will get an honest answer about what your file can do, including if the answer is not yet.