My Business Credit Journey to 1,000,000

I’ve made purchases from Grainger ($80), Quill ($80), DHL ($15), Staples ($200), and Pens.com ($80).  However, only three have reported with the info below.  Do any of these that you know of not report to DnB?  How can I find out who didn’t report?  Would it be bad for me to ask them if they did or if they will?

Payment By Industry:

1 Nonclassified reported $1,000 (for total dollar amount/largest credit line)

2 Whol electrical equip $100

3 Radiotelephone commun $50

Thanks,

Tom

First of all, thanks for your question, we’ve been missing the Mailbag for a couple of weeks.  Secondly, welcome to the way DnB does business.  DnB will NOT show you who is reporting to you.   it’s actually a part of their contract with the vendors that DO report.  The only way you can find out who is who, is to use different purchase amounts for each net-30 vendor, and thats not really all that foolproof either, as you can see above.  Nbody is reporting any of those balances in a was that you can decipher.  There is a 3-part strategy for making sure your tradelines get reported:

Step #1 – Only order from companies that you KNOW will report.  Lets face it, there are about 150,000 companies that will offer you terms in the USA.  Only about 7,000 or so report to DnB.  BE PROACTIVE.  My firstpiece of advice is to find a completely new set of net-30′s that nobody else is using and start to use them to build your companies, but I’ve been saying that for 3 years now, and it’s not happenning.  So here’s what you should do, ask these companies if they report when you order over the phone.  The days of submitting orders online are almost dead, but I treat them as dead anyway, I always talk to someone.  Then I ask if they will report or not, if they say yes, good, if not, I take my business elsewhere.

Step #2 – After you pay for your order, call back and find out WHEN they report.  Each of these reporting companies send our BATCHES of company information at the same time.  Your company is stuck in there somewhere.  The key is to verify that your batch has been sent out.  Find out what day and store that info in your business credit log, or database (because I know you guys are not keeping all of this info in your minds, right?)

Step #3 – Call DnB.  WHAT?!?!?!  Call DnB???  But they’re evil!  No, they have different departments.  They update their databases on the 11th of every month, and you see those changes after the subsequent Saturday nigth update.  If your changes aren’t seen, and you know your info is there.  Call their Entities Department and complain.  Tell them that you have notice that your vendor has sent your info and they are not reporting it.

This may work, this may not, but it is a strong strategy to get those trade lines to show faster, or at least on time.  Remember, it’s always better to ask questions that to be frustrated and not know whats going on.

– Elijah

614-625-2907

eyoung@mysmallbizcredit.com