My team leader Dave receives guru advice from a couple of different guys. One in particular is a guy named Jay Conner from the The Private Money Authority. In our attempt to find private money, we came accross Marty Banks from Credit Card Builders. We wanted to make sure this wasn't a scam, but even his guru guy Jay recommended him. To be on the safe side, we wanted to check with you. Does anyone know if either one of these people/companies are legit? Are they reputable? Has anyone had any first hand experience with them individually or together?
Credit Card Builders Claim (according to Dave), that can establish Business lines of credit on behalf of the customer up to $250,000 over the course of a year at a interest of 0% for a fee to their company of $3,500. Does this sound right? I mean how can this be?
Thanks for any help.
To fund real estate deals you need unsecured business lines of credit. It is not hard to obtain $100k to $250k of unsecured business lines of credit yourself. If you have a corporation or llc over 2yrs old, high levels of unsecured lines of credit can be obtained with a strong Dun and Bradstreet Paydex Score, Credit Profile and a "low 5" business bank rating.
Here is what you do:
1) Establish a strong internet presence for your company by listing it on at least 15 sites-- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Scoop It, Bing, Manta, 411, Google+, Google Places, etc.
2) In addition to your business checking account, open an expense and savings account in the same bank. Purchase a certificate of deposit and borrow against it (now you have a secured loan ).
3) Make regular deposits for 90 days to establish a favorable bank rating.
4) Add higher level trade references to Dun and Bradstreet to provide depth to your Paydex Score (net 30s are usually lower amounts; you'll need higher approvals from your trade references-- 2k to 4k).
5) Upload your company financials to Dun and Bradstreet to complete your file and create a strong credit profile.
6) After 90 days apply for unsecured lines of credit. Here is why you'll be approved:
* a bank has already loaned your business money (secured loan); Dun and Bradstreet, Experian Business and Equifax Business have all reported your loan(s). The secret is to pay back and repeat the secured loan at least 3 times in the 90 day period.
* the added trade references will add credit profile depth, as will uploading your financials
* your deposit activity and use of bank products (cd) shows ability to repay
* bank rating is formed after 90 days of deposit activity
You can estabish your own busines line of credit starting with applying for a business credit card.
Just Google 'Business Credit Cards for New Businesses'
They'll direct you. Use it and pay it off each month, early if possible. You're looking for a Dunn & Bradstreet credit score of 80. That's like a 720 personal FICO score. It'll take a few months. Home Depot or Lowe's Home Improvement card is valuable as well in this line of business.
Full Disclosure: I am not a schill for this guy but:
Mike Roberts has a e-mail campaign to help get started. His e-book is out there for less than $50 as well. (I never bought it though)
Good luck
To fund real estate deals you need unsecured business lines of credit. It is not hard to obtain $100k to $250k of unsecured business lines of credit yourself. If you have a corporation or llc over 2yrs old, high levels of unsecured lines of credit can be obtained with a strong Dun and Bradstreet Paydex Score, Credit Profile and a "low 5" business bank rating.
Here is what you do:
1) Establish a strong internet presence for your company by listing it on at least 15 sites-- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Scoop It, Bing, Manta, 411, Google+, Google Places, etc.
2) In addition to your business checking account, open an expense and savings account in the same bank. Purchase a certificate of deposit and borrow against it (now you have a secured loan ).
3) Make regular deposits for 90 days to establish a favorable bank rating.
4) Add higher level trade references to Dun and Bradstreet to provide depth to your Paydex Score (net 30s are usually lower amounts; you'll need higher approvals from your trade references-- 2k to 4k).
5) Upload your company financials to Dun and Bradstreet to complete your file and create a strong credit profile.
6) After 90 days apply for unsecured lines of credit. Here is why you'll be approved:
* a bank has already loaned your business money (secured loan); Dun and Bradstreet, Experian Business and Equifax Business have all reported your loan(s). The secret is to pay back and repeat the secured loan at least 3 times in the 90 day period.
* the added trade references will add credit profile depth, as will uploading your financials
* your deposit activity and use of bank products (cd) shows ability to repay
* bank rating is formed after 90 days of deposit activity
I think Stanley pretty much saved you $3500 dollars. I also think unsecured loans are somewhat risky if you care about your credit. Secured loans at least put you in the mind frame that you can't fail or you will lose everything, just a thought.
Mike,
I hate to burst your bubble, but what you will quickly find is that it is extremely difficult to obtain 100k in unsecured lines of credit, let alone 250k, even more so for a business. While Stanley seems well intentioned, unfortunately his outline doesn't stand a chance of actually working in today's financial system. This is a common misconception that is continually being passed along by misinformed "Guru's" and companies who earn substantial amounts of money "educating" clients on how to build business credit and obtain funding. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone try and tell me this only to end up realizing that it doesn't work, you are not going to "trick" the bank into giving you 100k, for your company, unsecured. It's preposterous. I know this because I was in charge of the funding sales floor for what is currently one of the most profitable RE Seminar and coaching businesses around. Our role was to sell these services and to coach clients to build their business credit and obtain funding. I built our entire business credit building program and even published a 250 page book on the subject. I would be happy to email you a digital copy if you would like, but instead of boring you to death I will attempt to try and save you the time and energy of reading it, here's what you really need to know: 1) A paydex score is a very small part of what factors into any banks decision on whether to loan you money or not. In fact, most banks now are looking to experian's intelliscore and the equifax equivalent. These scores merely report how well your business pays its bills on time. A paydex score of 80 means that you pay on time. 2) bank ratings simply assists the banks to eliminate the pretenders from the contenders, if your company doesn't have at least an average daily balance of 10k or more over 90 days (low 5 rating) chances are your company isn't large enough to justify the expense of continuing the process of loaning you money- these are merely factors in qualifying your business for funding, in terms of how much the banks weigh these factors in lending you money is very minimal. 3) the two most important factors in securing funding for your small business are simple, demonstrated profitability and personal credit. That's it! If you don't have profitability, the banks will absolutely not lend your business money. However, if you have good personal credit, they will in fact lend "you" money to use for your business. This is where companies like CCB come in, they basically apply on your behalf to multiple banks concurrently for credit cards with your business name on them. They simply sort through the best introductory offers, understand to some degree what a certain banks underwriting criteria are, and know which of the three credit bureaus each bank will pull( you could apply for 9 credit cards and each bank might only see that you have applied for two others, which is a key factor in obtaining approvals) Understanding these factors is crucial to being approved. Most banks will let you apply for up to 25k in credit cards with unstated financials. These are not true business lines of credit as most people think of when they think of lines, because you are unable to truly liquidate these into cash without some sort of fee. The key difference here is understanding that the bank is loaning the money to you, not the business. You are in fact, personally guaranteeing that despite how well the business does or doesn't perform, if it cannot pay the minimum monthly payment, they will seek payment from you (typically after 90 days of default it will start being reported negative on your personal credit). Most all of these credit cards issuers do not report to the business CRA's unless it's negative. So where does that really leave you? Initially it simply means you are reliant on your personal credit in order to obtain funding for your business. Companies like CCG can be well worth paying fees to because they are able to aggregate the information of hundreds of applicants in order to know where to apply to and in which order on your behalf. If you are able to obtain 100k interest free for a year, and pay them 3,500$ to assist you to obtain those lines, you effectively have an 3.5% interest rate. Pretty good especially when compared to the rates offered by Hard Money Lenders. Here's the catch though, for Funding Real Estate deals, you need cash, you are unlikely to find someone who will accept 8 credit cards as a down payment- this is where understanding how to avoid paying over 20% in cash advance fees come in handy, instead expect to pay 3% of whatever you need to liquidate from the cards into cash. I'll be happy to explain more of how to do this to you in another post if you'd like. In fact, I'd be happy to assist you to obtain funding the same way CCB would at no cost if you'd like and as much time as I can spare for anyone else who would reads this in the near future. I will say, you will need to have a Fico score of 670 or better to obtain funding this way as well as a few other criteria, more info on that later if requested. Just let me know!
The steps I outlined above are what's needed to score high enough to obtain a business loan approval through the FICO Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS) model. II've been a commercial loan underwriter for the Small Business Administration (SBA) for many years. This business credit scoring model is used by virtually all banks to evaluate business loans and unsecured lines of credit under a million dollars. Its primary purpose is to pre-screen commercial loans and unsecured business lines of credit for faster approvals. To get an SBA loan guarantee the minimum SBSS score is 140, but most banks will not make loans, even SBA guaranteed ones, to businesses with a score below 160. The steps I've outlined above will prepare a business to score over 160 on the SBSS scoring model, ensuring the business will be approved for funding. The FICO SBSS score range is from 0 – 300. According to FICO’s website, their SBSS models are validated for “term loan, line of credit transactions, and commercial card obligations up to $1 million”.
The business owner’s personal credit history can account for 50 – 90% of the score, the businesses credit score is up to 40%, and the financials of the company can be up to 10% of the score.
Jason-
I would love to know more about the tricks involved in liquidating credit to a cash account for real estate purchases without encountering huge liquidation fees.
Thanks
Chris
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your help on this. So the guys above are pretty a scam? or what do you think?
I can't say for sure if this particular company is "pretty much a scam" I dont know who they are or what their reputation is. But in general with these companies, your paying for the knowledge of the process. You aren't paying them to build your company credit, they can't how could they? You are paying them to tell you how to build your company credit, and what systems or tactics they use that are beneficial. It is just like a personal credit repair service, or even if you think about it your CPA or doctor. You go to a professional because they perform these services daily as a profession and are considered experts, I know it's an extreme example but if you could do your taxes as well as a CPA, you wouldn't hire a CPA you would do it yourself, but the vast majority of people either want the expertise or the convenience of a service.
Just my 2 cents.
There seems to be a lot of beneficial information that could be gleaned from this thread. It would help if you guys could write blogs with more in depth information gathered from your experience in the industry. Both of you seem to have a lot to offer and could benefit lots of people!
When this was pitched to our REI group they were selling us an existing shell with the lines of credit in place for the same $3500. No one bit on it. I don't remember the name of the company.
Hi Everyone! The biggest concern I'm seeing here is distinguishing between business and corporate credit. Credit Card Builders provides 0% interest business credit. These are business credit lines with major lenders (BoA, Chase, AmEx, etc.). They do have a personal guarantee, but do not show up on or impact your personal credit report.
I refer to Corporate credit as the vendor trade line credit accounts - where you're setting up Net 30 - Net 60 accounts directly with Vendors like Amazon, Dell, Home Depot, etc.
If anyone would like any additional information or to better understand what Credit Card Builders does - so that people don't think it's a scam - check out the reviews and A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Mike,
I hate to burst your bubble, but what you will quickly find is that it is extremely difficult to obtain 100k in unsecured lines of credit, let alone 250k, even more so for a business. While Stanley seems well intentioned, unfortunately his outline doesn't stand a chance of actually working in today's financial system. This is a common misconception that is continually being passed along by misinformed "Guru's" and companies who earn substantial amounts of money "educating" clients on how to build business credit and obtain funding. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone try and tell me this only to end up realizing that it doesn't work, you are not going to "trick" the bank into giving you 100k, for your company, unsecured. It's preposterous. I know this because I was in charge of the funding sales floor for what is currently one of the most profitable RE Seminar and coaching businesses around. Our role was to sell these services and to coach clients to build their business credit and obtain funding. I built our entire business credit building program and even published a 250 page book on the subject. I would be happy to email you a digital copy if you would like, but instead of boring you to death I will attempt to try and save you the time and energy of reading it, here's what you really need to know: 1) A paydex score is a very small part of what factors into any banks decision on whether to loan you money or not. In fact, most banks now are looking to experian's intelliscore and the equifax equivalent. These scores merely report how well your business pays its bills on time. A paydex score of 80 means that you pay on time. 2) bank ratings simply assists the banks to eliminate the pretenders from the contenders, if your company doesn't have at least an average daily balance of 10k or more over 90 days (low 5 rating) chances are your company isn't large enough to justify the expense of continuing the process of loaning you money- these are merely factors in qualifying your business for funding, in terms of how much the banks weigh these factors in lending you money is very minimal. 3) the two most important factors in securing funding for your small business are simple, demonstrated profitability and personal credit. That's it! If you don't have profitability, the banks will absolutely not lend your business money. However, if you have good personal credit, they will in fact lend "you" money to use for your business. This is where companies like CCB come in, they basically apply on your behalf to multiple banks concurrently for credit cards with your business name on them. They simply sort through the best introductory offers, understand to some degree what a certain banks underwriting criteria are, and know which of the three credit bureaus each bank will pull( you could apply for 9 credit cards and each bank might only see that you have applied for two others, which is a key factor in obtaining approvals) Understanding these factors is crucial to being approved. Most banks will let you apply for up to 25k in credit cards with unstated financials. These are not true business lines of credit as most people think of when they think of lines, because you are unable to truly liquidate these into cash without some sort of fee. The key difference here is understanding that the bank is loaning the money to you, not the business. You are in fact, personally guaranteeing that despite how well the business does or doesn't perform, if it cannot pay the minimum monthly payment, they will seek payment from you (typically after 90 days of default it will start being reported negative on your personal credit). Most all of these credit cards issuers do not report to the business CRA's unless it's negative. So where does that really leave you? Initially it simply means you are reliant on your personal credit in order to obtain funding for your business. Companies like CCG can be well worth paying fees to because they are able to aggregate the information of hundreds of applicants in order to know where to apply to and in which order on your behalf. If you are able to obtain 100k interest free for a year, and pay them 3,500$ to assist you to obtain those lines, you effectively have an 3.5% interest rate. Pretty good especially when compared to the rates offered by Hard Money Lenders. Here's the catch though, for Funding Real Estate deals, you need cash, you are unlikely to find someone who will accept 8 credit cards as a down payment- this is where understanding how to avoid paying over 20% in cash advance fees come in handy, instead expect to pay 3% of whatever you need to liquidate from the cards into cash. I'll be happy to explain more of how to do this to you in another post if you'd like. In fact, I'd be happy to assist you to obtain funding the same way CCB would at no cost if you'd like and as much time as I can spare for anyone else who would reads this in the near future. I will say, you will need to have a Fico score of 670 or better to obtain funding this way as well as a few other criteria, more info on that later if requested. Just let me know!
Hi Jason,
I am currently dealing with a similar company (FinanceStore.com). They prequalified me for 100-110k (conservative) and charge a fee of 8.9% what they call a success fee and I was told that I have to pay 6% to liquidate the credit card funds when I need cash.
I have an excellent credit score and would like to talk to you regarding a similar financing that you offer (as you mentioned) as you seem to be really knowledgeable in this area.
Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I pulled the trigger with Credit Card Builders. For $3000 I got 1 year of service for both me and my partner. I have to say, they did exactly what they said they would do. I received a seasoned business entity and $75K in first round credit, and my partner also got an entity established with $120,000 in credit in the form of 3 or four credit cards each. The next step is for us to "eliminate inquiries" and then they will apply for more credit. The credit is zero % interest for a year. I immediately paid off a higher interest rate HELOC and zeroed out the balance so that it was available for large purchase like a property again. If you don't have that situation, getting the cards liquidated into a cash account is actually not as easy as they lead you to believe. But still, I have $75K in credit that is not in my name, that I did not have before and the cards can always be used for paying for things like renovation materials and making minimum zero % payments until the property sells. Can you do this yourself? Of course you can. But the question is will you? I am working multiple jobs and only have so much time in the day. So its really a convenience service. I figured we will have made back the cost of the service with the very first property deal we do with the funds. Compare this to 12-14% interest HM loans and its really not a bad deal .
Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I pulled the trigger with Credit Card Builders. For $3000 I got 1 year of service for both me and my partner. I have to say, they did exactly what they said they would do. I received a seasoned business entity and $75K in first round credit, and my partner also got an entity established with $120,000 in credit in the form of 3 or four credit cards each. The next step is for us to "eliminate inquiries" and then they will apply for more credit. The credit is zero % interest for a year. I immediately paid off a higher interest rate HELOC and zeroed out the balance so that it was available for large purchase like a property again. If you don't have that situation, getting the cards liquidated into a cash account is actually not as easy as they lead you to believe. But still, I have $75K in credit that is not in my name, that I did not have before and the cards can always be used for paying for things like renovation materials and making minimum zero % payments until the property sells. Can you do this yourself? Of course you can. But the question is will you? I am working multiple jobs and only have so much time in the day. So its really a convenience service. I figured we will have made back the cost of the service with the very first property deal we do with the funds. Compare this to 12-14% interest HM loans and its really not a bad deal .
Hi Chris,
What's their fee for liquidating credit card into cash?
It's not their fee. Each individual credit card has a crazy high fee that must be avoided. Credit Card Builders gives you like 6 tricks to bypass the fee. None of the tricks are simple or easy except for the balance transfer trick to pay off a HELOC.
It's not their fee. Each individual credit card has a crazy high fee that must be avoided. Credit Card Builders gives you like 6 tricks to bypass the fee. None of the tricks are simple or easy except for the balance transfer trick to pay off a HELOC.
I see.
The company I have been talking to (FinanceStore.com) they apparently have some sort of 3rd party vendor which charges 6% of the amount that needs to be liquidated.
I am not too sure how or what they do but that's what I was told on the phone and I was wondering what credit card builders were offering.
Anyway. Thanks
Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I pulled the trigger with Credit Card Builders. For $3000 I got 1 year of service for both me and my partner. I have to say, they did exactly what they said they would do. I received a seasoned business entity and $75K in first round credit, and my partner also got an entity established with $120,000 in credit in the form of 3 or four credit cards each. The next step is for us to "eliminate inquiries" and then they will apply for more credit. The credit is zero % interest for a year. I immediately paid off a higher interest rate HELOC and zeroed out the balance so that it was available for large purchase like a property again. If you don't have that situation, getting the cards liquidated into a cash account is actually not as easy as they lead you to believe. But still, I have $75K in credit that is not in my name, that I did not have before and the cards can always be used for paying for things like renovation materials and making minimum zero % payments until the property sells. Can you do this yourself? Of course you can. But the question is will you? I am working multiple jobs and only have so much time in the day. So its really a convenience service. I figured we will have made back the cost of the service with the very first property deal we do with the funds. Compare this to 12-14% interest HM loans and its really not a bad deal .
Hi Chris,
I too am considering CCBs. How do you get around the cash advance limits. As you know each card has a percentage of the credit limit that is available for cash advances.
Also, I was watching a Youtube video put on by CCBs and they said that they had a "had an institution that will take cash off a card with no fee or limits". Any idea if this is true?
Erich
Hello All, (@ Mike and Chris)
My husband and I did use Credit Card Builders (CCB), because 1) We were both still working full time, and didn't have time to handle this. 2) We were in the midst of also starting up a new business and were already overwhelmed. 3) We didn't have the time to do the research to "know" all of the do's and don'ts.
Granted, this "could very possibly" all be done on your own, but it's the "what you don't know" that you don't know you don't know...that can keep you from success. What you will quickly find is that it is extremely difficult to obtain the same high credit limits that CCB will most likely get for you. We did have an avg of 800 credit scores to work with, and we had "also" already tried it on our own. it was ridiculously time consuming! We received in excess of $100k within a matter of 20 days or so (and that was in just our 1st round). These are unsecured lines of credit, in the way of 0% business cards (for a limited time). They will also tell you how to maximize the use of the 0% interest rates, as well as how to cash those lines out. I was totally impressed with their friendly professionalism, and would never attempt to do it alone...even now. Unfortunately, going it alone, in my opinion doesn't stand a chance of actually working in today's financial system. CCB is a highly [BBB] Rated professional financial assistance company who told us exactly what to expect, did exactly what they promised, and kept us updated on every move they made. I would highly recommend them. I see it as an investment. Remember what your time is worth. If you think hiring professionals is expensive, try paying for the clean up (or wasted time) of an amateur! Let me know if you'd like my assistance, my opinion, or just my free advice. Glad to help.
Hello All, (@ Mike and Chris)
My husband and I did use Credit Card Builders (CCB), because 1) We were both still working full time, and didn't have time to handle this. 2) We were in the midst of also starting up a new business and were already overwhelmed. 3) We didn't have the time to do the research to "know" all of the do's and don'ts.
Granted, this "could very possibly" all be done on your own, but it's the "what you don't know" that you don't know you don't know...that can keep you from success. What you will quickly find is that it is extremely difficult to obtain the same high credit limits that CCB will most likely get for you. We did have an avg of 800 credit scores to work with, and we had "also" already tried it on our own. it was ridiculously time consuming! We received in excess of $100k within a matter of 20 days or so (and that was in just our 1st round). These are unsecured lines of credit, in the way of 0% business cards (for a limited time). They will also tell you how to maximize the use of the 0% interest rates, as well as how to cash those lines out. I was totally impressed with their friendly professionalism, and would never attempt to do it alone...even now. Unfortunately, going it alone, in my opinion doesn't stand a chance of actually working in today's financial system. CCB is a highly [BBB] Rated professional financial assistance company who told us exactly what to expect, did exactly what they promised, and kept us updated on every move they made. I would highly recommend them. I see it as an investment. Remember what your time is worth. If you think hiring professionals is expensive, try paying for the clean up (or wasted time) of an amateur! Let me know if you'd like my assistance, my opinion, or just my free advice. Glad to help.
Hi Cynthia,
Do you know how they liquidated your business credit cards for cash by getting around the cash-advance fess? Also did they charge you any 3rd party fees for liquidation or is that something you did on your own?
Thanks
I am not familiar with the 3rd party institution they talk about the the tricks they suggest in their package are as follows:
1. Open CitiSavings Accounts - $5000 at a time, open, fund, transfer, close, open again etc
2. Use cards for purchase materials at zero interest
3. Use the cards to balance transfer to pay off other higher interest credit cards
4. Request "Balance Transfer Checks" and write yourself a check for the funds to put in your bank acount
5. Balance transfer to a line of credit or Heloc (this is what I did successfully)
6. Overpay on another credit card, the request a refund
7. Use existing merchant account strategy (I did not understand this one)
Hope that helps.
I am not familiar with the 3rd party institution they talk about the the tricks they suggest in their package are as follows:
1. Open CitiSavings Accounts - $5000 at a time, open, fund, transfer, close, open again etc
2. Use cards for purchase materials at zero interest
3. Use the cards to balance transfer to pay off other higher interest credit cards
4. Request "Balance Transfer Checks" and write yourself a check for the funds to put in your bank acount
5. Balance transfer to a line of credit or Heloc (this is what I did successfully)
6. Overpay on another credit card, the request a refund
7. Use existing merchant account strategy (I did not understand this one)
Hope that helps.
Thanks Chris. I think that answers my question.
I was just wondering as I was dealing with a similar company (mentioned in my earlier posts) and I was told that they had a third party vendor who would liquidate my business card for a 6% of the amount I am converting into cash. It looks like that third party probably must be using one (or a combination) of tricks that you mentioned to do the same thing.
Hi Vik,
We didn't need to use the "convert to cash" feature, as we had large limits and the cards came with convenience checks. Just remember "do not" use the cash advance feature unless the investment far outweighs cost of use. (oh...and Chris was dead on). Hope this helps.
Hi Vik,
We didn't need to use the "convert to cash" feature, as we had large limits and the cards came with convenience checks. Just remember "do not" use the cash advance feature unless the investment far outweighs cost of use. (oh...and Chris was dead on). Hope this helps.
Thanks Cynthia.
When you say convenience checks, are you referring to balance transfer checks?
@Chris Licavoliwould CCB help for new LLCs? I just got my LLC account up and running and would love to be able to get a business line of credit soon or in the further i should say..