Your lease is already paid. Make it count.

The guide as text

The key points in plain text, for screen readers and easy copying. The PDF has the full guide.

Why your rent is invisible

Your bake shop has paid its lease on time for years. That is one of the biggest, most consistent bills a small business has. But unless someone reports it, Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business and Equifax Business have no idea it exists. Most commercial landlords simply don't furnish data to the business bureaus.

You don't need permission from the bureaus. You need a data furnisher: a service or a landlord that sends your payment record to the bureau each month. Pick one option, or stack two for faster results.

Your options at a glance

Option	Cost	Reports to	Best for
1. Debie rent reporting	$9.99 one-time initial report	D&B, Experian, Equifax, LexisNexis	Cheapest start. Connect the account you pay rent from and future payments report automatically. No landlord involvement.
2. eCredable Business Lift	$19.95 per month	D&B, Experian, Equifax (varies by account type)	Capturing the history you already have: eCredable tries to pull up to 24 months of past payments.
3. Landlord as reporter or trade reference	$0 if landlord reports	Whatever bureau the landlord or D&B verifies to	Long-term tenants with a good landlord relationship. Full history, landlord-verified.
Bonus. Pay rent by business card	Card fees	The card issuer's bureaus	Shops already carrying a reporting business card. Builds the card, not the lease.

Pricing was checked October 2026 and is subject to change by the provider. Start My Business Inc. is not affiliated with Debie or eCredable.

Step 0: do this first (free)

• Make sure the lease, your bank account and the bureau files all show the same legal business name and address.
• Get your free D-U-N-S number from dnb.com if you don't have one.
• Pay rent from the business bank account, never a personal one.
• Collect 12 to 24 months of rent proof: bank statements, cancelled checks or a landlord ledger.
• Ask your landlord for a signed payment-history letter. Lenders accept it even when bureaus don't.
• Pull your current D&B, Experian and Equifax business files so you have a "before" snapshot.

Option 1: Debie business rent reporting (about $10)

1. Create an account at debieratings.com using the bake shop's legal name and EIN.
2. Connect the business bank account that pays the rent.
3. Confirm the landlord payee and monthly amount so Debie can identify each rent payment.
4. Pay the $9.99 initial report fee. Keep paying rent on time; each payment is reported going forward.
5. Check your D&B, Experian and Equifax business files after 30 to 60 days for the new tradeline.

Limit: Debie's published process reports payments from the date you connect, not your past years.

Option 2: eCredable Business Lift ($19.95 per month)

1. Sign up for Business Lift ($19.95 per month) or Lift+ ($39.95 per month with financial insights).
2. Link the account paying the lease through Plaid, or upload the lease and rent invoices if it can't link.
3. eCredable tries to download up to 24 months of payment history, so years of good rent can show at once.
4. Add utilities, phone and internet too. Each paid bill is another positive data point.
5. Keep the plan active for at least 3 to 6 months, then decide whether Option 1 is enough to maintain it.

Option 3: landlord reports or verifies ($0)

1. Ask the property manager if they already report to D&B or Experian. Large management firms often do.
2. If not, ask them to report through a service like Debie or to act as a trade reference.
3. Through a D&B self-service product that accepts trade references, add the landlord. D&B contacts the landlord's billing contact or accepts statements to verify.
4. Pre-warn the landlord so they answer D&B's call.

Bonus option 4: pay rent by business card

If your landlord or a payment processor accepts cards, paying rent with a business credit card that reports to the business bureaus builds that card's payment history every month. Pay the card in full before the statement date. Weigh the processing fee (often around 3%) against the benefit, and remember this doesn't create a lease tradeline.

One tradeline is a start. Lenders want a file.

Dun & Bradstreet's PAYDEX runs 1 to 100 and is built from how promptly you pay reported accounts. 80 means paid on time. Pay early and it climbs toward 100. Pay late and it drops fast. A score requires enough reported trade experiences.

The guide builds the file in layers: foundation (EIN, D-U-N-S, address), lease and utilities, 3 to 5 net-30 vendor accounts, an SMB business tradeline ($10K to $100K), a strong guarantor, then funding and stacking.

SMB business tradelines

Your lease builds history slowly, one month at a time. A business tradeline from Start My Business adds a seasoned, high-limit account to your company's profile. Our business tradelines report as installment or revolving accounts and stay on your company profile.

Package	Reporting value	One-time
Intro	$10,000	$1,200
Growth	$25,000	$1,700
Strategic	$50,000	$2,600
Elite (top pick)	$100,000	$3,300

Pay by the 10th; tradelines post between the 25th and 30th of the same month. Buy a business tradeline and we send you our repository of 400 local "backyard" banks and credit unions for advanced credit stacking. See Business Tradelines for Sale for current terms. Results vary; no approval or score outcome is promised.

Strengthen the personal guarantor: 5 to 8 year rental primary

Most banks still look at the owner's personal credit when a young business applies, because the owner signs as personal guarantor. A rental primary places you as a joint account holder on a seasoned account with 5 to 8 years of on-time payment history. Unlike an authorized-user spot, it is reported as a primary account and is designed to stay on your report. It is reported to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, with one flat fee ($997 one-time) and no monthly charges. See 5 to 8 Year Rental Primary Tradeline.

Show lenders real activity: the Velocity method

Underwriters read bank statements. Velocity builds a consistent, documented pattern of business-to-business transactions across 2 to 5 related companies, about $1,000 every 6 days per relationship, so your statements show steady activity. Every transaction must be a real service with an invoice and agreement. Disclose related-party relationships when a lender asks, and never present inter-company transfers as outside sales. Velocity volumes are package targets, not income or funding guarantees. See the Velocity Business Funding Method.

What is credit stacking?

Credit stacking means applying to several lenders for business cards or lines of credit within a short, planned window, usually a few days, instead of one at a time. Prep the file first, map your lenders by which bureau each pulls so inquiries spread out, apply in one tight window starting with your relationship banks, then use the lines responsibly by keeping utilization low and paying early.

Know the risks. Each application can add a hard inquiry, many approvals require a personal guarantee, and debt you can't repay hurts both files. Stack only what the bake shop's cash flow can carry.

Your 30-day action plan

When	Do this	Cost
Days 1 to 3	Complete Step 0: match names and addresses, get your D-U-N-S, gather rent proof, request the landlord letter, pull your "before" reports.	$0
Days 3 to 5	Start Option 1 (Debie) and/or Option 2 (eCredable for history). Ask your landlord about Option 3.	$10 to $20
Days 5 to 10	Open 3 to 5 net-30 vendor accounts the shop actually uses (packaging, flour, supplies) and pay them early.	Normal purchases
By the 10th	Order an SMB business tradeline so it posts the 25th to 30th; we send the 400 Backyard Banks repository.	From $1,200
Days 10 to 20	Strengthen the guarantor with a 5 to 8 year rental primary if the owner's personal file is thin.	$997
Days 20 to 30	Verify every tradeline posted, compare to your "before" reports, then plan your stack with us.	$0

"You already did the hard part: years of paying rent on time. Let's make sure every lender can see it." Corey Pearson, Managing Principal and Co-Founder, Start My Business Inc.

Important: Start My Business Inc. is a business services and education company, not a lender, bank, law firm, CPA or financial advisor. Nothing here guarantees credit approval, funding amounts, rates or score changes; all credit decisions are made by independent third parties. Third-party services named are independent companies; confirm current pricing and terms with them. Consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.