Most banks and commercial lenders have a checklist of 20 items that your business must have completed to be considered “in Compliance”. The problem is that business owners simply aren't aware of these items and, even if they were, don't know how to go about properly addressing them.
On the surface, most of these 20 Compliance Items would appear to be simple tasks but, unfortunately, that isn't always the case. As an example, one of the verifications that most lenders and credit providers perform is to call directory assistance and ask for the listing under your legal business name. If there is no listing then you'll more than likely be declined. But having your business properly listed with 411 directory assistance under its exact legal name is a simple task. Isn't it? It can be much harder than you think.
Is your business phone a VOIP, or a virtual system, or a cell phone? Call your local 411 now and ask for your business under its legal name (your business name as listed on your State filing). 411 calls route from your local service provider to the carrier for the phone you are calling from, such as ATT routes to ATT, Verizon to Verizon, etc. Let’s say you have ATT and you call 411 to find that your business is listed. Now use a friend’s phone that has Verizon, Cox, or any other local provider. Is your business still listed? What about a lender who calls to verify from an outside area code? They would more than likely dial 1-XXX-555-1212. Be sure to test for that too because, in many cases, those calls route to the national directory assistance database and not to the local service provider.
Included with our service is a free submission to the national directory assistance database along with detailed methods on how to ensure that all your local area carriers have a listing for your business.
Ok, we've covered one very "seemingly simple" business compliance item. There are 19 more that seem just as easy when, in reality, it can make all the difference to have someone walk you through each and provide specific instructions on how to properly complete them. And just as important, how to complete them for all lenders no matter what state they are in. Missing just one of these items can result in your loan request being declined and, unfortunately, most credit providers will just send you a declined letter rather than take the time to go over which items you failed to complete and how to correct them.
The Business Credit Building System shows what these items are, how to complete them, and how to verify that the lender will see them as completed. We call this the foundation and it is critical to get all the items completed before we begin building strong business credit scores.