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Personal Credit Ratings


How to Attract a Peer Lender

Peer-to-peer lending has found its niche among small business owners in need of quick cash. Find out if it’s right for you, and learn some expert tips on appealing to lenders.

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How to Run a Credit Check

Want to check the financial stability of a potential hire, tenant, or client? Here are the best practices for every step of the process from experts.

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How to Assess the Credit Risk of Your Customers

Take these five steps to determine a potential client or customer's credit worthiness.

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How to Responsibly Use Credit Cards for Your Business

Effectively managing your business credit is just as important as your personal credit reputation, but there are different steps to take and policies to consider.

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How to Secure a Microloan

Advice for small businesses on what to expect when applying for a microloan, including finding a microlender, document preparation, and loan repayment.

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Recent Articles about Personal Credit Ratings

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 Create a Smart Credit Policy

An entrepreneur's guide to offering trade credit, crafting a credit application, and evaluating a customer's credit-worthiness  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

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

Equity Made Easy

The SEC's new Regulation D eliminates costly stock registrations for many small-company financings.  Read more

Business Financing Handbook, By Edward W. Buge. Prentice-hall, Englewood Cliffs, Nj 07632; 431 Pp., $44.50.

Big book, basic stuff on where and how to get start-up capital for really small businesses. Tables and sample contracts.   Read more

Copy Cats

Pete Silver, president of New England Marketing Communications Inc. in Southport, Conn., and Kathy Peterson, president of Peterson Secretarial Service in ...  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

How to Build and Maintain Good Business Credit

In a tight economy, good credit is key to expanding your business. Here are a few tips to keep your credit on track.  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

Employment Lines

Some guidelines for getting the information you need from job applicants -- without breaking the law  Read more

Benchmark: Revving Up Receivables

The results of a survey that asked companies what steps they had taken to speed up collection times.  Read more

Business for Sale: Western Credit-Reporting Agency

An overview of a credit-reporting agency offered for sale. Includes the price, how the business was valued, the outlook of future sales, and the pros and con...  Read more

Six Steps To Setting Up Foreign Reps

"When you have a foreign agent, you must compete with other principals for the rep's time and attention," notes Harry E. McGrath Jr., a former internation...  Read more

Mother's Day Tech Gift Ideas

Are you wondering what to get your mother for Mother's Day this year? Here are six ideas from The Goods, ranging in price from free to $1,099. Read more

Business Bankruptcies Decline

May 25, 2004 --Business bankruptcies fell 2% for the year ending March 31, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. ...  Read more

Network: June 1992

Network questions and answers.  Read more

Unmasking Mark Zuckerberg

The Early Word on the Facebook Book? "Solid Gold." On TechCrunch , Michae...  Read more

Loans and Start-Ups

Financing the company car; launching a business when you're a teenager.  Read more

Credit Manual Of Commercial Laws 1982, Edited By Robert D. Goodwin And Lester Nelson. National Association Of Credit Management, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, Ny 10016; 982 Pp., $35.

The 74th edition of writings and rulings pertaining to borrowing and collecting. Federal and state laws cited, cases discussed. Considers such areas as p...  Read more

Microloans: Managing a Capital Infusion

An entrepreneur explains how, with the help of a women's business center, she was able to secure a microloan.  Read more

Find MAPs You Can Work With

Many merchant account providers (MAPs) refuse accounts to start-up firms or firms and individuals with bad credit histories. Some MAPs will not accept hig...  Read more

How to Cut Credit Card Costs

The key to cutting credit card costs is shopping around for the best rates, rewards, and credit options. Here are five tips on getting the best terms or cons...  Read more