Financial institutions and businesses get lists of potentially credit-worthy customers from the credit bureaus in order to generate pre-approved business credit offers. The credit bureau lists indicate businesses that are considered to be "prescreened" for credit offerings. In order to get your company's name on the credit bureau prescreened list, you must establish reported credit for your business in the business name and tax identification number. If you are self-employed or an independent owner, the first step is to form a corporation and obtain a tax identification number for the business.
Step 1
Determine the best structure for your business. If you do not have a lot of liability with your business type and wish to cut down the cost of self-employment tax, an S corporation is probably a good choice for you. All the income and expense of the S corporation passes through to your personal tax return, but you only pay self-employment tax on the portion of profits paid to you as wages. A Limited Liability Company, or LLC, is a good choice if you wish to protect your personal assets from lawsuits against the business, but it does not offer the same benefit of self-employment tax avoidance.
Step 2
Contact the correct office in your state of business to get the forms and list of documents/fees required to form a corporation. The Secretary of State office handles incorporation in many states, and many states also offer incorporation information online. Some even allow you to apply for incorporation online.
Step 3
Apply for an Employer Identification Number, also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number (TIN), by submitting Form SS-4 to the appropriate Internal Revenue Office, after you have received your incorporation documents from the state. You can apply for a Tax ID Number online.
Step 4
Register your business with the credit bureaus that report business credit. Experian and Dun & Bradstreet are two credit bureaus that report business credit. Dun & Bradstreet offers online registration. Contact Experian directly to find out how to register your business.
Step 5
Apply for business credit using the name and TIN for the business. Make sure the financial institutions you apply with report business credit to the credit bureaus.
Step 6
Use your business credit for business charges and pay them off each month to establish a good credit rating with the bureaus. Once you have a positive business credit rating, the bureaus will add your business to the prescreened list supplied to creditors, and you will begin to receive pre-approved credit offers.
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