Posted by Rich-CA on June 06, 2007 at 20:09:39:
With a sole p. your “business line” is a “personal line”. There’s no difference.
With an LLC or Corp there is a difference because they are legally separate from the owner(s).
Business line of credit. - Posted by Steve
Posted by Steve on June 06, 2007 at 19:24:57:
I have a real estate fictitious name as sole p. with high personal FICO 768. I like to obtain B.lines of credit. I was told I need to have LLC or Corp. Has anyone gone through this process? I really appreciate if anyone would email me about the steps of obtaining B.lines.
Thanks
Steve
Re: Business line of credit. - Posted by Natalie-VA
Posted by Natalie-VA on June 07, 2007 at 16:04:52:
Steve,
This sort of depends what sort of credit line you’re looking for. Others have told you about available unsecured lines of credit. If you need larger amounts and can secure them with the real estate, consider approaching your smaller local banks with a business plan. When I started mine, my corp was brand new, but I had a 2 year track record of experience to show. This method is going to be more work, but will result in much larger amounts of money.
–Natalie
Re: Business line of credit. - Posted by Kazi
Posted by Kazi on June 07, 2007 at 12:51:06:
Steve,
I recently got business lines of credit from Bank of America and Washington Mutual. I didn’t have any previous banking relationship with either of these two banks. So I don’t necessarily think that you need to open an account with them to qualify for a line of credit. BOA approved 17.5k and WAMU 50K unsecured line of credit. I have an LLC that was about 2 years old at the time (with not much activity) and a credit score 808. WAMU wants the applicant’s business to be at least 2 years old, but BOA does not seem to have any such requirement. Just call up these banks and request information about applying for a business line of credit. Hope this helps.
Kazi
Re: Business line of credit. - Posted by Luke Hoppel
Posted by Luke Hoppel on June 07, 2007 at 10:32:57:
Simple, go into BofA, Wells Fargo, etc…open up a biz account (use an LLC or Corp to do this).
Deposit $5K+ in the account, and ask them for a busines line of credit.
Fill out the ap, tell them you’re going to make $100K or whatever next year and that’s it.
Not much to it. My banker did tell me that the lenders are tightening the purse strings for these though so ask the banker if it’s a good time to apply or if you should wait a month or two.
You still sign for the loan so you’re responsible but it doesn’t show on your credit report.
Then go to a couple of the other banks and do the same thing.
You’re likely to get $15K right off the bat and possibly up to $50K in 6 months. I’m at 6 monhts now but I’m waiting a couple months to see if the lending guidelines go down.
Good Luck,
Luke