In this issue
Try this: Build your personal credit.
Apply for this grant: $2,500 from Secretsos™.
In the news: Quick ways to maximize the holiday season.
Try this: Make a plan to improve your credit score
Your personal credit score matters a lot when it comes to your business finances. Business credit card applications and loan applications will virtually always check your credit. If they find it lacking, they may decide not to lend to you. And even if they do offer you financing, your rates and terms probably won’t be as good as they could be.
That might not seem fair. I get it — credit scoring is far from a perfect system, and shouldn’t your business be evaluated on its own merits?
But the truth is, businesses are risky investments and lenders want to make money. Seeing that you have a good or excellent FICO score (670+) can help your business look like a safer bet.
I talked to my colleague Amanda Barroso, NerdWallet’s credit scoring expert, about improving personal credit and how long it takes. Here’s our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Don’t know your credit score? You can get it for free from a number of places, including NerdWallet.
RM: How do you increase your credit score?
AB: Payment history is the number-one factor that impacts your credit score — 35% to 40% of the total. That means a record of on-time payments and paying in full when you can. If you’re finding that you’re missing payments, automate as much as you can, set calendar alerts so you know what bills are coming up or even group your bill due dates around your paydays.
Another piece of the pie is credit utilization, which is the amount of available credit that you’re using at a given time. You don’t want to be using more than 30% of the total available credit that you have.
Remember, your credit scores are always fluctuating. But as long as you’re making those on-time payments, bringing that utilization lower, you should see your score start to go up.
One other thing to consider is the length of time since you have applied for new credit. With each credit application, lenders will do a hard inquiry into your credit file. That dings your score a couple points, and then the impact will lessen over time. If you apply for a few things really close together, that could hurt your score in a tangible way. We recommend spacing out your applications every six months.
Learn more:
RM: If you have bad or fair credit, how long can it take to get your score back into the “good” range?
AB: I would say three to six months.
To get more specific, identify why your score is low. Do you have a habit of missing payments? Is your debt too high? Did you have a bankruptcy? Did you have an account go into collections? You’ve got to identify why your score is in that range and then find a way to fix that.
For instance, if your utilization is through the roof, put your credit cards in a drawer and focus on making payments. Persistence is key, consistency is key. But if your credit score is low because you went through a bankruptcy, well, that’s going to stay on your credit reports for seven to 10 years. But once you can identify that, then there’s a way forward.
You also want to make sure there’s no errors, identity theft or fraud on your credit report. You’re entitled to free weekly reports from all three credit bureaus. (Yes, weekly. That change was made permanent after the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Go to annualcreditreport.com — we joke that this website looks like a scam, but it’s not, it’s just a little old-fashioned. Pull those reports and make sure all the information is correct. Sometimes lenders make a mistake. If you find an error, dispute that with every credit bureau where the mistake appears. .
Learn more:
RM: Should you ever pay for a credit building service?
AB: What are they going to do for you that you can’t do for free? You can dispute errors. You can schedule and automate your payments. You can pay down your own debt.
If anything, we recommend going to a non-profit credit counseling service that can assess everything. If it feels overwhelming to figure out what a debt payment plan might look like, they can help you, and the first appointment is typically free.
Learn more:
Grant opportunity: $2,500 from Secretsos™
NerdWallet’s Karrin Sehmbi finds and shares these grant opportunities.
The Secretsos™ Small Business Grant program awards $2,500 grants to small businesses every quarter. There are three grants open at the moment:
The Small Business Grant focuses on business owners who inspire change and make a positive impact.
The Native American Grant gives a financial boost to Native American family farm and business owners.
The HVAC Business Grant aims to support HVAC business owners and apprentices.
Complete one application to be considered for all the ones you’re eligible for. Applications for Q4 will be accepted through Dec. 31.
You need to be at least 21 years old and operating a business within a U.S. state or territory to apply. There’s a $15 application fee, which goes toward the admin costs of the application review process — or you can subscribe to the organization’s paid newsletter for $7 per month to avoid the application fee.
Go get the money! And if this grant isn’t a fit for you, we update this list regularly.
In the news: Holiday shopping season is here
Every year, NerdWallet surveys shoppers ahead of the holidays to learn more about how they’re feeling. Here are the team’s full 2025 findings. But what stood out to me is that shoppers expect higher prices — and are prepared to pay them:
Holiday gift buyers plan to spend $1,107, on average. That’s $182 more than last year.
74% of holiday shoppers expect tariffs to impact gift prices.
18% of shoppers plan to use buy now, pay later (BNPL) services to buy presents.
That could spell a strong season overall for business owners.
If you rely on holiday sales, you’ve probably already stocked up and staffed up for the season. But here are a couple other ways to maximize value this winter:
Planning a big marketing push? These credit cards offer as much as 5X points (or up to 3% cash back) on money spent on digital ads.
Consider offering installment payments. Most online store builders let you offer BNPL options like Klarna and Afterpay. Processing fees are high for these transactions — Square charges 6% of the purchase price, plus 30 cents, for example — but enabling them can increase your conversions. When I wrote about this a few years ago, one business owner told me BNPL users spent 76% more than other customers.
Bundle your flagship items with less popular ones in packages, like “gifts for Dad.”
Put a stack of gift cards by your cash register or as a final online offer before checkout. Try sending an email to previous customers pushing gift cards — maybe they’ll want to grab one for a last-minute Secret Santa. Here are some additional tips business owners gave me in the past.
Happy Thanksgiving! We’ll see you in December.
