Does a Business Credit Card Report to the Personal Credit Bureaus?

Does a business credit card report to personal credit bureaus? Some business credit cards do, and others don’t. We take a closer look at what your options are and how to avoid affecting your personal credit.

Business Credit Cards that Report to the Personal Credit Bureaus

Credit Card Issuer	Do They Report Positive Activity?	Do They Report Negative Activity?
American Express	No	Yes
Bank of America	No	No
Capital One	Yes (Except Spark Cash Plus and Venture X Business Card)	Yes
Chase	No	Yes
Citi	No	No
Discover	Yes	Yes
U.S. Bank	No	No
Wells Fargo	No	No

How Business Credit Cards Affect Your Personal Credit

Your choice of business credit card can have an impact beyond your business’s financial health. Consider the following when shopping for the right business credit card.

Personal Credit Check

Some business credit cards and similar credit solutions only conduct a soft pull on your credit. This prevents your credit from being affected during the application process.

However, many traditional business credit cards will involve a hard credit inquiry. Hard inquiries will lower your personal credit score by a few points. If you’re not strategic about shopping for a business credit card, multiple inquiries may drop your personal credit score further.

They also stay on your personal credit report for up to two years. They’re not considered to be too much of a concern for those with strong credit. But they can be a problem for those with less personal credit history and a lower personal score.

Still, many business owners would rather avoid any potential impact on their scores altogether.

Personal Guarantees

Personal guarantees are almost always a requirement for business credit card applications. Personal guarantees protect credit card issuers by ensuring that you’re on the hook for any unpaid debts. This will allow them to go after your personal assets to clear your debt.

But it’s not just your personal assets on the line. Personal guarantees can also wreak havoc on your personal credit score. Failure to pay your business credit card could make it substantially harder to get a personal credit card, rent an apartment, or get a loan for a car.

There are some scenarios in which you can avoid signing a personal guarantee. However, these only occur when you have substantial business credit history and high scores. Your business would also need to generate sizeable revenue.

Reporting All Payments and Balances

The point of getting a business credit card is to fund your business and build business credit so you can access better financing opportunities in the future.

No small business owner is seeking out a business credit card for what it might do for their personal credit. If they wanted that, they’d get a personal credit card. Unfortunately, that’s a potential side effect.

As noted in the table above, some cards will report both positive business credit card activity and negative business card activity. If you pay all your bills on time, this might seem like a bonus. Your small business credit card could help you build your personal credit score.

Unfortunately, there are multiple risks with even those cards that report positive activity. For example, high credit utilization on your business credit card (which won’t impact your business credit) can have a much greater impact on your personal credit.

You don’t want your business credit card to affect your personal credit in any capacity.

Reporting Defaults and Missed Payments

In some cases, business credit cards report negative card activity only. This may include defaults or missed payments on your business card.

This can seem far less risky in comparison to business credit cards that report all activity. Still, there are some considerations that need to be made.

Let’s imagine that your business is having an exceptionally difficult time. If you run into a period of hardship you’re unable to get out of, you could very well miss a payment or end up defaulting on a credit card.

When you have a business credit card that reports to personal credit bureaus, this negative activity will have a profound effect on your personal credit. This then leaves you in a tough financial position, both business-wise and in your personal life.

Another possible situation is that you could just forget to make a payment.

In any scenario where negative activity arises, your personal credit would be impacted.

How to Use Business Credit Cards without Hurting Your Personal Credit

Your personal credit doesn’t have to be involved when attempting to build business credit and access financing. That being said, it can be difficult to know what your options are if you’re new to business credit and business credit cards.

Only apply for cards that report no activity to personal credit bureaus. These include Bank of America, Citi, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo business credit cards.

Whereas others might report you for delinquency, these will prevent your personal credit from being affected should you miss any payments.

Make sure that you’re also applying for business credit cards that report to the business credit bureaus. They won’t help you build credit if they don’t report to at least one business credit bureau.

A few additional helpful tips for using business credit cards without affecting personal credit include:

• Use EIN-Only Solutions: EIN-only business credit cards remove personal credit from the equation entirely. These often include credit solutions like fleet cards or startup business credit cards with no credit EIN only, like a corporate card.
• Consider Secured Business Credit Cards: Some secured business credit cards, like the BoA Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Business Credit Card, are EIN-only. It’s also one of the few secured business credit cards that report to D&B.
• Always Double-Check Before Applying: Business credit card terms are always subject to change. Reach out to your desired credit card issuer to ensure your desired business card doesn’t report activity to personal credit bureaus.

Build Business Credit to Ditch Personal Guarantees

Personal guarantees are another concern when applying for a business credit card.

You might be able to avoid a personal credit check with a business credit card. A personal guarantee, on the other hand, is a lot more difficult to circumvent.

The best way to avoid a personal guarantee is by building your business credit. Strong business credit paired with equally strong financial performance tells credit card issuers that you’ll be able to manage your debts.

Because of this, a card issuer may be willing to ditch the personal guarantee requirement as well as the personal credit check requirement.

What’s important to remember is that it will take time to build excellent business credit scores. It will also take time to see revenue that may encourage credit card issuers to approve you for a card without a personal guarantee as well.

Create a plan of action, pay your bills on time (or early), and look to higher tiers of credit so that you can scale more effectively.

The FairFigure Capital Card Is a No PG Card

If you’re looking for a card that will help you fund your business and build business credit without affecting your personal credit, consider the FairFigure Capital Card.

The FairFigure Capital Card is, first and foremost, an EIN only business credit card. You don’t have to worry about any impact on your credit when you apply for the card. Beyond that, it also requires no personal guarantee, which adds another layer of protection and convenience.

The FairFigure Capital Card is easy to qualify for and apply for. There’s no paperwork involved, and you only need a business that’s three months old and generates at least $2,500 in recurring monthly revenue.

It’s offered alongside the $30/month business credit monitoring subscription. Both your subscription and your card activity are reported as tradelines. Each month, your activity will be reported to Creditsafe, Equifax, the SBFE, and the FairFigure Foundation Report.

Even better, you get to choose the terms of your card. Whether you prefer four-week or eight-week payback terms, you get to select what’s best for your business. Funding is based on your revenue and scales as you do.

If you want a card that will bolster your business without impacting your personal credit, sign up for FairFigure to get started!