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Statistics have many applications in business and play an important role in making decisions, discovering new trends and making predictions. If you’re a small business owner you’re among the 28.8 million small business owners in the U.S., as stated by the Small Business Administration.

While there is a great deal of statistics available that cover a wide range of areas, in this article we’ve collected 10 statistics that explain why business credit is important for small business owners today.

Similar to personal credit, business credit determines whether your company can be trusted by the way it manages money. Think of your business credit report as a gauge for the financial reputation of your business. Here are ten statistics that make the case on the importance of establishing credit for your business.

1. 27% of businesses surveyed by the NSBA claimed that they were not able to receive the funding they needed. For those 1-in-4 businesses, the most frequent primary impact that a lack of funding had was preventing them from growing their business.
2. 46% of all small businesses use personal credit cards. Many small businesses fail to separate business and personal expenses, according to research conducted by MasterCard®.
3. According to the NSBA Small Business Access to Capital Study, 20% of small business loans are denied due to business credit.
4. In the first 6 months of 2013, according to Creditera, Dun & Bradstreet had 45 million business credit report requests and Equifax Commercial had 35 million.
5. The Nav American Dream Gap Survey, 2015 revealed of small business owners surveyed, 45% did not know they have a business credit score, 72% did not know where to find information on their business credit score and 82% didn’t know how to interpret their score.
6. Many lenders consider a business credit score of 75 as “acceptable” making it harder for those with a lower score to get a small business loan according to Small Business by Demand Media 2015.
7. The average business needs 12-18 months to improve its business credit score according to Cardhub in 2015.
8. Bolt Insurance stated that one in three small business owners borrow money from family and friends, while 75 percent of young firms’ funds come from bank loans and business credit.
9. Dun & Bradstreet states 90% of the Fortune 500™, and companies of every size around the world, rely on their data, insights and analytics to streamline operations, manage risk, improve targeting, find quality leads, boost customer relationships and – most important of all – grow.
10. Mercator Advisory Group research finds that small business credit cards account for $430 billion in spending, or about 1 in every 6 dollars spent on general purpose cards

Having access to business credit is the lifeline for a business. It enables you to obtain the capital you need to expand, cover day to day expenses, purchase inventory, hire additional staff and allows you to conserve the cash on hand to cover your cost of doing business.

By taking the necessary steps to build business credit the more financial opportunities your business will have. Banks, lenders and suppliers rely on business credit reports to assess the creditworthiness of a company. With strong business credit, you create a safety net for your business so you should have no trouble gaining access to the business funding you need.