Hey! It’s Matt and this is Pass the Secret Sauce. In this week’s episode, we share the mic with Gerri Detweiler, a business credit and financing expert with more than 20 years of experience guiding individuals through the confusing world of credit. During the 2008/2009 financial crisis, Gerri was the go-to expert on financing and credit, answering hundreds of questions from both media and individuals.
With the recent coronavirus pandemic, we discuss the impact of this black swan event on businesses and the financing options available during this crisis.
In this episode we discuss:
How she got started working in credit [2:33]
Biggest mistakes business owners make with their credit [4:01]
Gerri gives a history of Dun & Bradstreet and how credit worked back then [4:22]
Gerri talks about how their founder, Levi King, lost a big job due to a business credit report [4:49]
The difference of business credit from personal credit [6:00]
Different business credit reporting agencies that Nav gives to customers for free [7:00]
How different agencies calculate credit scores (FICO scores and business credit scores) [7:31]
How to make the jump from having personal credit to business credit [9:09]
Two things Gerri recommends to start up your business credit [9:44]
How your personal credit affects your business credit and vise versa [11:35]
Example of business credit affecting a personal credit score [12:32]
How credit cards offer flexibility in these times [13:15]
Credit limits you would want to stay below to prevent your credit score going down [13:55]
What’s your real credit score, how scores vary [16:23]
Advice for people with poor credit especially in the time of a pandemic or a crisis [19:41]
Programs lenders are doing to help out businesses affected during this black swan event [22:13]
Best financing for your business right now [26:03]
Gerri discusses what they do at Nav and how they can help you get a free business and personal credit report and help match you with financing [27:49]
Information Nav needs to pull your business credit from [29:58]
Quotable Quotes
-Make sure you’re checking your credit with all bureaus and what it’s telling you about your score.
-The process starts out like you’re on parallel tracks. You’re working on your business and personal credit and eventually that business credit becomes strong enough where you can move off on to that track and have less impact on personal credit.
-If you’re going to max out a credit card it might be better to stick to your business credit card that isn’t going to affect your personal credit.
-There’s always something you can do with your credit, even if you have negative information and you filed for bankruptcy last week, there’s things you can do to build credit.
Links to sources and tools
download their Build Business Credit Checklist as well as to sign up for a free Nav account. You can also use the promo code “podcast” to get a free month of an upgraded Nav account.
Business credit cards that help build business credit
Access to informative articles about business financing and credit, as well as important details related to COVID-19 financing and resources for business owners.
Do you qualify for the $367 Billion in SBA Loans for COVID-19? https://www.nav.com/blog/do-you-qualify-for-the-50-billion-in-sba-loans-for-covid-19-556443/
Follow Gerri Detweiler on her social media accounts for valuable tips and info on credit
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/navsmb/
Personal Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerridetweiler/
Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/navsmb/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gerri.detweiler
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gerridetweiler
Forbes articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/people/gerridetweiler1/#2883ad0f1baf
Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Linkedin to get updates on new episodes. If you haven’t already, please leave a review for our podcast, we’ll really appreciate it. And as always don’t forget to pass the secret sauce.
How is this black swan event affecting your business? Do you have additional tips for other business owners with regards to financing and personal/business credit?
