Start Building Business Credit with These 4 Net 30 Vendors

When starting to build business credit, it can be a challenge to find not only vendors that will approve your company for credit terms, but who will also report your purchases to your company’s credit reports. Most of the major retailers that may come to mind when you’re starting out (like Home Depot®, Lowe’s®, Staples®, etc.) all offer business credit cards, but are underwritten by banks with strict underwriting criteria. So you may ask “Where do I start?”

You’ll need to start small. The 4 Net 30 vendors we recommend all of our clients get accounts with are some basic Net 30 accounts, and the main goal with setting up these accounts is to generate an 80 Paydex™ Score for your company with Dun & Bradstreet® (which requires a minimum of 3 tradelines on the report).

Before setting accounts up with any of these vendors, you’ll want to make sure your company has the following items in place:

• Corporation/LLC filed in the state that the business address is located in.
• EIN (Federal Tax ID)
• DUNS Number (make sure your company name and address are current)

Uline

Uline is and has been one of the best vendors to start building business credit with for a long time. The thing that makes Uline great is that, in addition to reporting your purchases to Dun & Bradstreet®, they will also report to your company’s Experian® Business credit report, and if your company isn’t listed in Experian’s system yet, your purchase with Uline will generate a credit file with them.

On the surface, they may not seem like they carry anything that your company will be able to use, but a quick browse through their products section will show you that they carry everyday products like clean supplies and bathroom tissue. Why would you not get products you already use in your everyday life anyway AND get that purchase to report to your business credit reports?

*Instructions are for NEW accounts. If you have an existing Uline account, use the instructions below to VERIFY the account is set up in your business name with the right business address (otherwise your purchases will not report). Once verified, you can go to “After Account Set Up” instructions

Account setup instructions:

1. Click the “Go to Application” link below
2. Input your business email in the “New Customers” box
3. Make sure the “Business/Company” option is selected in the “account type” section
4. Fill in the rest of the form with your company’s information
   Note: Your business name and billing address MUST match what’s listed on you Secretary of State file and business credit reports for your purchases to report.
5. After submitting your information, Uline will send you an email with a 6 digit verification code to complete the account setup
6. Once the account setup is complete, you should have “Bill me (net 30 account)” as a checkout option to place your orders with

After account setup:

1. Make a purchase of at least $50 before taxes and shipping
2. In your checkout, make sure to use your business address for the Shipping Address
3. On the “Payment” section, select “Invoice Me, Pay within 30 days” if you have the Net 30 option. (See “Important” box below)
4. Place your order. If you made the order with Net 30 terms, make note of the Due Date on your invoice
5. Pay invoices 7-10 days BEFORE the Due Date
6. Monitor your reports for the tradeline to report (approx. 30 Days)

Quill

Quill is another great company to set up an account with in the first stages of building business credit as they are easy to establish credit terms with and will report to your company’s Dun & Bradstreet® report. Making a purchase with them is easy since, being a Staples®-owned company, they carry anything you can by in an actual Staples® store.

Account setup instructions:

1. Click the “Apply Now” button below and register for a new account (or sign into an existing account if you already have one).
2. Make sure the account is set up properly by making sure the business name and appears the same way that it is listed on your Secretary of State file and business credit reports and that the billing address matches the principle office address on these files as well.
3. Place an order of at least $50 before taxes and shipping and select the “Bill My Account” option at checkout.
4. Wait until 7-10 days prior to the due date on the invoice to pay it off.

Grainger

Grainger is a hardware store with brick-and-mortar locations in all 50 states. As far as business credit building goes, there isn’t anything in particular that makes this account stand out; they report to Dun & Bradstreet just like the other 2 vendors on this page. The products they offer aren’t only limited to hardware and tools. Like the other 2, they also offer household products and products to fit a wide range of industries.

Account setup instructions:

1. Click the “Apply Now” button below and register for a new account (or sign into an existing account if you already have one).
2. Make sure the account is set up properly by making sure the business name and appears the same way that it is listed on your Secretary of State file and business credit reports and that the billing address matches the principle office address on these files as well.
3. Place an order of at least $50 before taxes and shipping and select the “Bill My Account” option at checkout.
4. Wait until 7-10 days prior to the due date on the invoice to pay it off.

eCredable

There are 2 subscription options:

1. Business Lift $19.95/month, Monthly reporting + ability to upload bills/invoices
2. Business Lift+ $39.95/month, Enhanced financial metrics for your business

Account setup instructions:

1. Click the “Apply Now” button below and register for a new account (or sign into an existing account if you already have one).
2. Next click “Let’s Get Started”
3. Fill out the first page titled “User Profile” **Requires your SSN and DOB for verification, make sure the information you enter matches the information on your personal Equifax report (You can check your personal Equifax report for free through Credit Karma to ensure you input matching info if needed)
4. Fill out the next page titled “Business Profile”, ensure this information matches your Secretary of State filing and the business credit bureaus
5. On the “Payment” page you’ll select which service level you want: Business Lift or Business Lift+ (both report)
6. Complete your payment and maintain your subscription. Watch for your tradeline to report within about 30 days

Uploading Invoices to Report to Equifax/Creditsafe:

1. From your dashboard in your login, click “Link New Account”
2. Select if the account is in your personal name or in the company name (only accounts in the company name will report to Equifax)
3. Search an account under Link Online Account to see if it can be automatically linked **If not, you can add it under Manually Verified Account, however this could cost extra
4. A pop up will have you log into the account you are linking (Ex: if you are linking Uline, input your Uline login information here). Click Link Account
5. The account will usually be authenticated within a few minutes
6. Once authenticated, watch for the trade to report to Equifax within about 30 days