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Get the Skinny with Our Behalf Online Lender Review

Reviewed by Ty Crandall

November 13, 2023
Behalf

Behalf no longer reports, so our Behalf review is unfortunately out of date. For more information on how to find accounts that report, be sure to contact us.

What Could Behalf Do for Your Business?

Can Behalf help you? Find out inside.

Behalf is an online finance company, among several other finance companies online. They offer Amazon Marketplace seller financing, and also provide a way for customers to pay you through their system. We look at the specifics and drill down into the details.

Background

Behalf is located online here: www.behalf.com.

Their physical address is:

100 William St, Suite 1205
New York, New York 10038.

Behalf keeps their headquarters in New York City. You can call them at: (877) 943-9962. Their contact page is here: www.behalf.com/contact-us. They have been in business since their founding in 2012. Behalf is backed by venture capital funds from Viola Growth, Spark Capital, Sequoia Capital, MissionOG, Victory Park, and Vintage.

Amazon Marketplace Seller Cash Flow Financing

Get $500 – $500,000 in purchasing power for business purchases. Enterprise purchasing limits over $500,000 are available. You enjoy 30 – 180 days of business financing at a low fixed rate (1 – 3% monthly). Pay some suppliers on no-fee net terms.

Behalf will buy your outstanding Amazon receivables, and pay you a percentage of the total value in one lump sum minus a discount.

Business Financing from Behalf

You can even have your customers pay you via Behalf. The setup allows you to offer Net 30, Net 60, or Net 90 terms. The biggest perk is that Behalf will report all payments to major business credit reporting bureaus. Pay a fee of 1.0%.

Advantages

Advantages to online lender Behalf include regular monthly reporting to major business credit reporting agencies. This allows you to build business credit (see more about it below).

Disadvantages

Disadvantages include the fact that their main financing option is only for Amazon Marketplace sellers. Hence if your business is not one, Behalf may not be the ideal situation for you.

Check out our Credit Suite Credit Line Hybrid, where you can get up to $150,000 to help your business thrive.

An Alternative – Building Business Credit

Small business credit is credit in a company’s name. It doesn’t connect to an owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the business.

As a result, a business owner’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Due to the fact that small business credit is separate from consumer, it helps to safeguard an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business insolvency.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another benefit is that even start-ups can do this. Heading to a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building company credit, when done properly, is a plan for success.

Consumer credit scores rely on payments but also various other considerations like credit utilization percentages.

But for business credit, the scores truly only depend on whether a company pays its invoices in a timely manner.

The Process

Growing company credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A small business needs to proactively work to build company credit.

Having said that, it can be done easily and quickly, and it is much quicker than establishing personal credit scores.

Merchants are a big part of this process.

Undertaking the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with business credit.

Company Fundability™

A business has to be Fundable to credit issuers and vendors.

Due to this fact, a small business will need a professional-looking website and email address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a vendor like GoDaddy.

In addition, business phone numbers should have a listing on ListYourself.net.

Additionally, the company phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).

A business will also need a bank account devoted purely to it, and it has to have all of the licenses essential for running.

Licenses

These licenses all must be in the particular, appropriate name of the small business. And they need to have the same small business address and telephone numbers.

So note, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Working with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the Internal Revenue Service website and get an EIN for the small business. They’re totally free. Select a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.

A company can begin as a sole proprietor. But they should change to a form of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to limit risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it involves taxes and liability in case of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and taxes. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you operate a business as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the business name. Therefore, you can find yourself being directly accountable for all small business financial obligations.

But keep in mind, any DBA filing should just be a steppingstone to incorporating.

Check out our Credit Suite Credit Line Hybrid, where you can get up to $150,000 to help your business thrive.

Starting the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B website and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a company into their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the company. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

By doing so, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

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Vendor Credit

First you need to establish trade lines that report. This is also known as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to get even more credit.

These sorts of accounts tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are frequently Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid fully within 60 days. Compared to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To kick off your business credit profile properly, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit  – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants that will grant an approval with minimal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step.

Behalf Review Credit Suite Link:

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and deal with any errors ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports and digging into the details, and not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian, Equifax, and D&B for 90% less.

Update Your Records

Update the data if there are errors or the relevant information is incomplete.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to contest any errors in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes commonly means you specifically itemize any charges you dispute.

Check out our Credit Suite Credit Line Hybrid, where you can get up to $150,000 to help your business thrive.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit sensibly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay back. Keep track of balances and deadlines for payments. Paying off in a timely manner and completely will do more to increase business credit scores than nearly anything else.

Growing company credit pays off. Great business credit scores help a business get loans. Your credit issuer knows the business can pay its debts. They understand the company is bona fide.

The company’s EIN attaches to high scores and lending institutions won’t feel the need to require a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your company for many years to come. Learn more here and get started toward building company credit.

Upshot

For companies which used Behalf financing, the most important positive was the ability to build business credit.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with a fine-toothed comb, and decide whether this option will be good for you and your company. In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond lending, including building business credit, in order to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.

About the author 

Janet Gershen-Siegel

Janet Gershen-Siegel is the seasoned Finance Writer and a former content manager at Credit Suite. She has been admitted to practice law for over 30 years, with a focus on litigation and product liability, and is a published author, with writing credits at Entrepreneur, FedSmith.com and BusinessingMag.com.

She has a BA in Philosophy from Boston University, a JD from the Delaware Law School of Widener University, and a MS in Interactive Media (Social Media) from Quinnipiac University.

She regularly writes for Credit Suite, which helps businesses improve Fundability™, build credit, and get approved for loans and credit lines.

Her specialties: business credit, business credit cards, business funding, crowdfunding, and law

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