Consumer Credit and Debt

States Propose Limiting Credit Checks by Employers

At least 16 states are considering legislation to ban or limit an employer's ability to run background credit checks on potential hires.  Read more

How to Secure an SBA Loan

SBA loans are available to any small business, but yours will need to meet certain criteria in order to qualify. Here's what you need to know.  Read more

How to Start a Customer Rewards Program

Giving something back to your best customers has become a competitive necessity in certain industries. Here's how to keep your best buyers loyal.  Read more

Two Ways To Get Free Credit Scores

I just came across an interesting website: Credit Karma , which gives out free credit scores. It took under two ...  Read more

Experian Launches Report Package

The package offers home-improvement professionals access to ContractorCheck reports.  Read more

Cleaning Up Your Credit

Here are four tips for lowering your interest rate and improving your credit score.  Read more

Experian Unveils New Credit Resource

Experian, the U.S. arm of Experian Group, on Monday announced its new online resource, BusinessCreditFacts.com. Targeted at small businesses, it pr...  Read more

Firing and Personal Finance

When is it time to let someone go? Plus, what to do when your credit is in shambles.  Read more

Raising Capital Online

From angel directories to person-to-person lending, entrepreneurs' options are growing for finding and research financing options on the Web.  Read more

Will market jitters hurt small business?

One thing you'll notice about this year's Inc. 500 list: a lot of companies got big by riding the mortgage wave. Just check out the finance section: Your ...  Read more

Bankruptcies Rising Among Seniors

A lack of financial planning is putting more retirees at risk, research shows.  Read more

Wall Street vs. Main Street

The recent turmoil involving Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and AIG have cost the economy billions of dollars, led to thousands of layoffs, and conjured up ...  Read more

New Home Sales Drop Sharply

Dec. 23, 2005 --New home sales plunged in November by the biggest month-to-month decline in over a decade, as rising mortgage rates kept m...  Read more

New Home Sales Drop Sharply

Dec. 23, 2005 --New home sales plunged in November by the biggest month-to-month decline in over a decade, as rising mortgage rates kept m...  Read more

Increasing Web-Site Traffic

If you build it, will they come? Last year, Internet sales reached $79 billion, according to Forrester Research, or 3% of all retail sales. Can your busin...  Read more

Scoring The Credit You Need

Getting a loan is a faster, more objective process than it used to be -- for better or worse.  Read more

How can I establish the creditworthiness of a company that's a prospective customer?

Offices & Operations mentor Charles J. Bodenstab responds: A credit report on the potential customer is a good starting point, but I...  Read more

Collection Techniques to Avoid

Past-due accounts present a number of problems, one of which is how to collect them. When faced with this uncomfortable issue, avoid using these collectio...  Read more

House of Cards

Credit cards can be a valuable tool for the entrepreneur or business owner - or they can be a real bane, quickly putting a dent in a company's financial f...  Read more

Banking: The One-Page Credit Form

A short article about a bank's attempt to streamline its loan application process in order to reach small business.  Read more

Beware of Credit Reports

The importance of checking personal credit reports before applying for a business loan.  Read more

Network: October 1991

Network new queries.  Read more

Getting Paid

How to make collecting bills as much a part of daily business as making sales.  Read more

Credit Bureaus

A credit bureau is an agency that collects and sells information about the credit-worthiness, or the ability to meet debt obligations, of individuals and ...  Read more

Credit Evaluation and Approval

Related Terms: Cash Flow Management Credi...  Read more

Credit History

A credit history is a record of an individual or company's past borrowing and repaying behavior. In the case of individuals, these records are collected a...  Read more

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established as an independent administrative agency pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The purpo...  Read more

To Help Business, First Help the Banks

Congress has put together a stimulus package that would provide rebates to taxpayers and allow businesses to write-off more expenses. That's all fine and ...  Read more

Credit Tighter for Small Firms

More banks are raising lending standards for small businesses, the Federal Reserve reports.  Read more

Mortgage-backed Securities

Although interest rates dropped for most of this year, consumer loan rates remained stubbornly (from the borrower perspective) or satisfyingly (from the b...  Read more

Protection against erroneous credit reports would be provided for small businesses by a bill introduced by Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.) . "Availability o...  Read more

Cypress Speeds Up SMB Credit Data Search

Cypress Software Systems launched a credit-data search tool that promises to power up its BizMark small-business automated loan judgment software.  Read more