How To Build Your Business’ Credit Quickly

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Want to build your business’ credit quickly and efficiently? Follow the steps below and you’ll be enabled to a range of funding.

Throughout this blog, we will be sharing our tips and tricks that if followed, will enable your business to funding and the best interest rates from lenders.

Building your business’ credit plays a crucial role in your company’s funding ability. Whether you operate as a sole trader, LLP or incorporated company, your business has the capability to establish a credit file separate from you as an individual person.

If you operate as a sole trader, it’s important to understand there is no legal or financial separation between you and your business. If that’s the case, when you apply for funding, all activity will be solely tied to you as an individual and reflected on your personal credit reports.

Covid credit score care

There is now extra pressure, now more than ever, to keep on top of maintaining a healthy credit score for your business. Many businesses of recent years have found themselves in need of loans due to the knock-on-effects from multiple lockdowns. So, should your business be put in the position of requiring a loan, in order to keep your business afloat, it is key to care for your credit score.  Not to mention- checking your company’s credit score should be a standard procedure to identify any potential fraudulent activities made to your business’ accounts. Further to this, unfortunately, according to statistics, fraudulent activity has propelled significantly during the pandemic. So catching this any signs of this early can make all the difference before too much injury is made.

5 simple steps

To keep your business and personal finances separate, the first step is to start building credit in your company’s name. If you want to build business credit quickly here are five simple steps:

Step 1 – Choose the Right Business Structure

Making your business a distinct legal entity requires you to select a business structure such as a Limited (incorporated) company, for example.

Once you form your business entity, the next step is to register your business with companies house. This particular step is dependent on your structure and where your business is located. Like many new businesses, your primary address might be in the name of your accountants address. As a first step towards healthy credit, this address will need to be moved to the premises of the business.

Step 2 – Obtain a business registration number.

When setting up the new business as a Limited company you will receive a company registration number from Companies House. This is an eight-digit number assigned to your company. This you will use for things such as filing company tax returns, opening a business bank account, applying for licenses and permits, and applying for business credit.

Step 3 – Open a Business Bank Account

Once you have your registration number, you’ll want to open a business bank account for your company. This is a mandatory step in creating a clear separation between your business and personal expenses.

Your banking relationships plays an important role in your company’s funding potential. Not only does your business bank account serve as a bank reference on credit applications, but it also provides key data that lenders use during any funding review.

Step 4 – Establish Credit with Vendors/Suppliers Who Report

One of the easiest ways to build business credit score is to apply for net terms with vendors and suppliers. As you buy supplies, inventory, or other materials on credit, those purchases and payments get reported to business credit reporting agencies such as Experian or Dun & Bradstreet.

This activity creates your company credit profile and business credit report. After your company has several credit lines reporting, a business credit rating (score) is generated.

Remember, it’s important to select vendors and suppliers that report to a business credit reporting agency. Each relationship you have also serves as a trade reference that can be used on future credit applications.

 

Step 5 – Monitor Your Business Credit Reports

There are a few business credit reporting agencies so it’s important to monitor each of your company credit files. Each agency collects data from various sources and may have different information about your company.

The good news is each of the business credit agencies provide a way for you to update basic information about your business. If you uncover any outdated or incorrect information, you’ll want to contact the agency to make the appropriate change.

With an established business credit report, it is probable that you will get higher credit approvals. Not only this, but better interest rates and repayment terms on loans and lines of credit.

It’s equally important to establish a diversity of accounts. This can be done with other types of business credit such as a business credit card or line of credit. Let these five simple steps serve as a starting point to building business credit for your company.

WestWon offers leasing arrangements for all types of businesses, from new starts to well established businesses. To find out how we can help you, please give us a call on 01494 611 456 or email [email protected].

Our new Client and Family pages

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Here at WestWon we have introduced our new Client and Family pages to our website, and we thought we would give you a bit more information about each one. Should you wish to have a look at our new Clients and Family pages, follow the links attached. They can also be found in the top of our website header.

Clients page

The first page we have developed is the Clients page. This was made to demonstrate to our customers and competition about our ever-growing client base of around 10,000 organisations. Our vast range of clients includes well known brands such as Pandora, KFC and Honda. It also includes numerous football and cricket clubs including Leicester City Football club and Kent Cricket. We also thought it was important to include our number of clients and agreements written, to show that business is busier than ever before!

We have also included case studies and testimonials written by our clients. Our current case studies currently include those from ECR Solutions, Wysetech and General Lamps. At WestWon, we make sure customer satisfaction is always at the highest possible level it can be. This is also why when customers feel so thrilled with their experience that they leave a review, we like to show others their experience. We also have a list of testimonials at the bottom of the page. These are all taken from our new partnered review platform, Boom Reviews. This site allows us to send out review requests to customers after doing business with them. We then feed these through to our Client’s page. We currently have an overall 5-star rating, with over 160 reviews on the platform. This number will just keep rising!

Family page

We have also developed our new Family page, which can be found in the drop-down section of the About header on the WestWon website. This encompasses all WestWon’s affiliated companies. This includes sister companies such as Scaffold Finance, acquisitions including Tech 5 and Capex, brands like Fish Fryer Finance and Leasing Calculator or a business that WestWon has a small equity stake in. We currently have around 20 organisations and cannot wait to involve more companies to help them and us grow in the future.

Contact Us

If you and your business are interested in becoming a proud affiliation of WestWon, do not hesitate to contact us. A member of our team will be more than happy to assist. Alternatively, if you would like more information on our new Client and Family pages mentioned in this blog, call us on 01494 611 456 or email [email protected].

Why lease for your office furniture and fit-out business?

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Benefits of leasing for your office furniture and fit-out business

There are several benefits of leasing in regards to your office furniture and fit-out business. Many of which are key reasons why businesses turn to financing their equipment. These include; significant tax benefits and flexible rental terms generally over two to five years. You can also pay for the interior project over its useful life and not all in one go. You can also preserve existing lines of credit, and leasing makes monthly budgeting easier, meaning you do not compromise your interior project due to budget constraints.

Why choose WestWon?

Here at WestWon one of the things we pride ourselves on the most is the range of assets we can finance. In the office furniture and equipment sector we are no different. From modern desks and coffee machines to IT systems and commercial printers. One of the many good things about leasing in this sector is that because every office and client is different, we can easily tailor our agreement to your business. Financing an interior project is usually one of the largest projects that you and your business will invest in. So making sure you have the right process in place can be difficult to find. Financing all aspects of a project is essential, especially when this is an interior project.

Wanting to make your work space the best it can be is so important. So financing all the right equipment all in one place can be hard. However, at WestWon you can finance all these aspects of an interior project. This includes; office furniture, fit out and renovation costs, audio visual and other infrastructure and dilapidation expenses. It also includes HVAC, mechanical and electrical engineering as well as office partitioning (floors and ceilings).

Contact Us

If you are interested in leasing office furniture or equipment and would like to have a chat with a member of the team, contact us on 01494 611 456 or email [email protected]. You can also see more over on our LinkedIn page.

COP26 – what does it mean for UK firms?

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Currently, the world is in a major climate crisis. The Earth’s temperature is rising. Studies show that temperatures have risen by 0.08°C per decade since 1880. This may not seem like a lot but the rate of warming over the past 40 years is now more than twice that. This shows a rapid incline of global warming. This is one major reason that the COP26 talks are currently taking place between the 31st of October and the 12th of November. COP26 stands for Conference of the Parties and is attended by all countries who signed the UNFCCC. This is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This agreement was agreed upon and signed in 1994, and the 2021 meeting is their 26th, hence why it is called COP26. This blog includes what COP26 means for UK firms and what we are doing about it.

What have they agreed on already?

Already there have been some promising starts to the meeting. These include:

  • World leaders vowing to halt deforestation. This will be done as they have outlined in their plan by conserving “forests and other terrestrial ecosystems and accelerate their restoration.”
  • The US President Joe Biden has pledged to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. This was hailed at the meeting as one of “the most immediate opportunities to slow global warming.” Since his pledge, around a further 100 nations have set a target for themselves to also reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
  • Joe Biden has also re-joined the High Ambition Coalition. This has the main aim of achieving the limit of a 1.5°C increase in the world’s temperature.
  • The Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda has also been agreed on by several countries. This aims to coordinate the introduction of clean electricity and electric vehicles among a number of other technologies. It works by rapidly reducing the cost of these.
  • In addition, African countries have also pledged to spend around $6 billion on adapting to climate impacts. They have also been asking other countries to help provide them with $2.5 billion a year for the next 5 years to help them reach their goals.
  • Lastly, several countries, including the UK, have signed a new agreement of $8.5 billion for the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa. This will help reduce the country’s need for using coal, and hopefully enable them to introduce more renewable energy options.

What does COP26 mean for UK firms?

COP26 has also pushed the importance of involving businesses in the goal of becoming net zero by 2025. Boris Johnson has told most large UK firms and financial institutions that they will need to show their plans to move to a low carbon future by 2023. According to a BBC News Article on the COP26 agreement and what it means for UK firms, the commitments aren’t mandatory. This has angered several ‘green groups’ who say this isn’t enough in the long term. UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that he wants and believes the UK will be the “first-ever net zero aligned global financial centre.”

What is WestWon doing about this?

WestWon is committed to helping the environment so that we can do our part in the fight against global warming. We have found the best way to do this, in an efficient and credible manner. We believe it’s by planting trees to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Here at WestWon we will be launching our biggest initiative on the 15th of December 2021. Above all, we cannot wait to start doing our bit for the environment and reduce global warming on Earth.

Contact Us

If you would like more information on anything you see above, do not hesitate to contact us. A member of our team will be more than happy to assist. Alternatively, you can call us on 01494 611 456 or email [email protected]. You can also see more over on our LinkedIn page.

WestWon complaints handling procedure

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Here at WestWon, we pride ourselves upon our level of customer care and quality of service. Therefore, we take all complaints very seriously. So, if there is any way by which you feel we could improve we would like to hear from you. We appreciate any form of feedback as we are always looking for ways in which we can advance and develop.

Our complaints procedure

To aid us in resolving your matter as swiftly as possible, please direct your complaint towards the department in which you have been dealing with. You may express your concerns via email, telephone or in writing. We will try our best to process your complaint immediately. Contact details for all previously listed contact methods can be found below. However, sometimes this is not possible. Therefore, please allow up to five days for us to proceed with this. We will then perform a full and impartial investigation for any issues you raise.

The nature of all complaints and our actions in resolving the problem are entered on to our internal database system. You will then be provided with a unique complaint reference number. Our compliance officer will then write to you with the outcome, this will either be by email or by post. We hope that the response will be satisfactory to you. If so, we will then close off the complaint. However, if this is not the case, a WestWon director will review the situation to see if any further action can be taken.

Received our response and still dissatisfied?

If you have a regulated agreement with us and are not satisfied with our final response, you may be eligible to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, you must do this within six months of our final response. If you are not satisfied with our response, we will refer the matter to the FCA 8 weeks from the initial complaint (if no final response has been received) or if the final response has been received and you (the customer) are not satisfied. The service is free of charge, and they can be contacted via their website. This does not affect your statutory rights.

How do I register my complaint?

To register your complaint please contact us by one of the three methods listed below:

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 01494 611 456
  • Post: The Compliance Officer, WestWon, 18 Manor Courtyard, Hughenden Avenue, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP13 5RE

How do I leave a review on my experience with WestWon?

WestWon have partnered up with Boom Reviews. They are a review platform whose mission is “to bring people and companies together to create experiences for everyone.” So, for every deal we make we offer our customers the opportunity to voice their opinions on us and our service on to this platform. We welcome all feedback!

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