Many business owners ask me about reporting to the credit bureaus, this is because they think that a business cannot report debts to the credit bureaus. A business CAN become a member of any of the three credit bureaus and report good and bad paying accounts to them.
If your business can afford to do this, you should. If you cannot afford to do this, use a service that can do this for you, most collection agencies will include this feature in the fee you pay them when they try to collect for you. If you want to try and collect more of your money yourself, try to get your own account and report your own past due customers.
To join a credit bureau visit their website and request information on becoming a member. The 3 credit bureaus are: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
You can report a debt as soon as it is past due, if you are a creditor. The best way to use this to your advantage is to send a letter to the customer telling them that if you don't receive payment the debt will be reported to the credit bureau. Sometimes this will prompt someone to pay. If they do not pay and you report the debt, send them a letter telling them it has been reported. Normally you won't see anything happen until they apply for credit somewhere, and your item is on there. Then they or the place that they are trying to obtain credit will contact you to pay the bill or see if it has been paid. Sometimes they may never apply for credit, but that is how you will get paid.
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