Reference · Last updated August 24, 2026
Short answers first, detail after. Where something is free, we say it is free and link to the government or bureau site. Where nobody can honestly promise an outcome, we say that too.
A new LLC builds business credit in five steps: get a free EIN from the IRS, open a business bank account in the LLC's exact legal name, make the company's name, address, and phone identical everywhere, request a free D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet, then open net-30 accounts with suppliers that report payment history to business credit bureaus and pay every invoice in full on or before the due date. Trade credit from reporting vendors is the first credit line most new companies can actually get, because those suppliers approve on business identity rather than on revenue history.
The order matters. Vendor applications that arrive before the bank account exists, or with an address that does not match the state filing, are the most common silent rejection. The D-U-N-S request goes in early precisely because it is the slowest item — typically two to four weeks through the free channel.
A new LLC can typically have its first net-30 vendor account approved within one to four weeks of applying. A business credit score such as D&B's Paydex generally takes 60 to 120 days or more, because a score requires several trade experiences to be reported and reporting cycles run monthly. Bank credit lines and business credit cards for a company with no revenue history almost always still require a personal guarantee.
These are different clocks and conflating them is where most "build business credit in 30 days" claims break down. Opening a line is fast. Building a score is slow. Getting a bank to lend against the business alone is slowest, and depends on revenue the company does not have yet.
The net-30 suppliers most commonly used by new US LLCs are Uline, Quill, and Grainger, because all three extend terms to newly formed companies and report payment history to at least one business credit bureau. Uline and Quill are widely reported to Dun & Bradstreet; Grainger is commonly cited for D&B reporting as well. Reporting relationships change without notice, so confirm with the vendor before relying on any single one.
Selection criteria matter more than any specific list: the vendor must (1) report to a business bureau, (2) approve on business identity rather than personal credit, and (3) sell something the business genuinely needs, since the account only helps if real invoices are generated and paid. Full vendor breakdown.
Buying seasoned tradelines to build business credit is not legitimate. Authorized-user tradelines sold for cash are designed to misrepresent a credit file to lenders, which is why lenders discount or ignore them, and using a CPN (credit privacy number) in place of a Social Security number is a federal crime. A "shelf corporation" sold as an aged entity with credit history carries the same misrepresentation problem.
The legitimate equivalent — an account the business genuinely holds and genuinely pays — costs nothing beyond the goods purchased. What each of these offers actually is.
You need a D-U-N-S number if you want a Dun & Bradstreet business credit file, which is what most net-30 vendors report to and what a Paydex score is built from. It is free from Dun & Bradstreet at dnb.com and typically takes two to four weeks through the free channel. It is not required to open a business bank account, get an EIN, or operate the LLC.
Paid "expedited D-U-N-S" services resell an application you can submit yourself for nothing. Federal contracting no longer uses D-U-N-S as its entity identifier — that moved to the UEI issued through SAM.gov — but commercial credit still runs on it.
An EIN is free. The IRS issues it directly at irs.gov, online, in minutes, at no cost. Any company charging a fee to "file" your EIN is a middleman submitting the same free form. The same applies to letters that arrive after a new LLC filing offering a "certificate of compliance" or "annual minutes" for a fee — states do not invoice through third parties.
Yes. A business checking account in the LLC's exact legal name is required in practice: vendors verify it, it is how invoices get paid from company funds, and paying business invoices from a personal account undermines the liability separation the LLC exists to provide. No third-party service can legally open the account for you — a beneficial owner has to do it.
Yes, but only certain types. Net-30 vendor trade accounts are routinely approved without a personal guarantee. Bank credit lines and nearly all small-business credit cards require one until the business has meaningful revenue history — usually two or more years and documented cash flow. Marketing that promises "no-PG funding" for a company formed weeks ago is describing something that does not generally exist.
Paydex is Dun & Bradstreet's business payment score, running 1 to 100, where 80 means invoices are paid on the due date and above 80 means paid early. D&B generally requires several reported trade experiences before it will calculate one, so a realistic timeline for a new LLC is 60 to 120 days after its first accounts start reporting. Paying early rather than merely on time is the only lever that pushes a Paydex above 80.
Usually yes, but underwritten on the owner's personal credit with a personal guarantee — not on the business's own credit. A card approved that way does not build the company's business credit file unless the issuer reports to a business bureau, and most consumer-underwritten small-business cards report only negative activity. Trade credit from reporting vendors is the faster route to a file that exists in the company's own name.
Ignition is a $149 one-time, 30-day guided sprint for brand-new US LLCs. It runs a dated checklist covering identity consistency, the free D-U-N-S request, and three paste-ready net-30 vendor applications, and it guarantees that a user who completes every step on schedule has at least one open credit line in the LLC's name within 30 days of the business bank account opening — or receives a 100% refund. Days 1 through 3 are free with no card.
Ignition is not a lender, bureau, law firm, or tradeline seller, and does not promise bank loans, credit scores, Paydex numbers, or DUNS issuance timing. Exact guarantee terms.