Keeping Track of Your Credit Score

Spring is in the air, but before you turn to cleaning up the garage or weeding out old files from your office, it's time to do a hearty spring cleaning of your credit history. Even if you're not currently in need of working capital, forecasting business cycles is always an imperfect science, so you never know when you'll need a cash infusion--or when one of your potential business partners or vendors will decide to check up on your credit.

Since what you don't know about your credit history can hurt you, the time to assess your credit is before you need it. "We get so many calls from entrepreneurs in distress because they were denied credit and they badly need working capital," says Lathea Morris, co-founder of the Credit Alternative Group, a Montclair, New Jersey, company that helps small businesses and individuals gain access to capital. "One of the first questions I ask is, Did you check your credit report before you applied for financing? I would have to say that 80 percent do not."