Just because your past credit is not the most precious thing in the jewelry box, doesn’t mean it can’t be shined up and polished into a diamond. Meaning, don’t let it haunt you. Most honest people that want to become business owners, or already are business owner, have a past. Everyone does and it can only mean, you get the opportunity to clean things up and start new. Every day is a new beginning.
Start Fresh
Pretend that today is the first day of the rest of your life, which it is by the way. Next, apply for your merchant account for your business. Be honest with them and tell them the circumstances of the crash of your credit. They can look it up and know whether you are telling them a story, or the blatant truth.
If you went through a harrowing divorce, then tell them. If you had an illness, tell them and negotiate with them. Find the best solution for you and your business. If you have found a bad credit merchant account processor that won’t work with you, then you don’t need to have a business relationship with them. We all are human after all and if P&L only mean’s ‘profit and loss’ to them, you don’t need them.
Clean your credit
Explain that you are cleaning your credit up and have located all of your bad debt. Make good on that promise and really pay everything. Make positive results for you and your business. It makes you feel good and it only puts a plus side spin on your credit report.
Follow through
Credit agencies are invariably slow at reporting positive attributes on their sites and your credit rating, so follow through and be certain they have adjusted things when you pay. Haunt them if you have to. They are quick on the draw to point out the negative things, and there really is no excuse why they can’t do the same with positive payments and payoffs of accounts.
Negotiate
Take a little extra time to have a relationship with your agent at the merchant account servicer. Work closely with them to negotiate the best terms that you would like for your account. If you have a few hoops to jump through before things get better, know it’s a small price to pay for having bad credit.
Some of the agencies don’t always look at credit however; they will be looking at how you run your business and how you deal with your refunds and or chargebacks.
Take this challenge on
Having bad credit is not the end of the world; after all, they can’t take your birthday away. Again, it is a new day every day and you can overcome your bad credit. Baby step by baby step you follow through with cleaning it up and you can do almost anything within reason. Work closely with your merchant agent and you can have great days with your merchant account. Good luck and great days of sales ahead.