Does Nav Prime Help Me Build Business Credit and How?
How Does Tradeline Reporting Work With Nav Prime?
Why Is a Nav Checking Account Required to Use a Nav Prime Charge Card?
How Are My Business Credit Scores Calculated?
What Do I Do If I Have Trouble Connecting My Accounts?
What Is Nav Prime?
Nav Prime provides the only streamlined path to better financing and takes the guesswork out of how to get there with a suite of tools that can help you improve your business financial health.
With Nav Prime, your small business gets:
- Your membership submitted monthly as a tradeline to the major business credit bureaus, which can help build business credit.
- Access to the Nav Prime Card*, which reports a second tradeline — another easy way to help build your credit history.
- Detailed business and personal credit data from up to five reports, allowing you to track and improve what matters to lenders.
- Access to Nav Business Checking, where you can spend, save, or send money domestically with no fees — all while checking off a common lender requirement.
It’s designed to help you improve your business financial health so you can access the best financing options for your business when you need it.
Additionally, you’re eligible to apply for the Nav Prime Card, a charge card that requires no credit check or security deposit. Link your business checking for daily autopay to avoid carrying a high credit card balance. The Nav Prime Card offers a second monthly tradeline to help maximize opportunities to build your credit.
The Nav Prime Card is not available in CA, NV, ND or SD.
Why Nav Prime Was Created
Nav Prime was created to help business owners solve one of their toughest challenges: access to capital when they need it. Nav Prime is an all-in-one solution that lets you keep a pulse on your business financial health profile, manage the business metrics that matter to lenders, and ensure your business always has access to the best financing options.
As a small business owner, you probably have no idea how lenders see your business. Nav Prime and the unique Nav Prime charge card give you tools to help improve your business’ financial qualifications. Everyday transactions can help build your business credit history and ultimately lead to better working capital options.
Benefits of Nav Prime
Nav Prime is the only financial solution that evolves with your business, ensuring your business is always ready for financing. Get these benefits:
Detailed Credit Reports
- Personal and business credit scores & detailed reports.+ See what lenders see and act on the details they’re using to make funding decisions.
- Real-time alerts & credit insights. Gain real-time alerts and insights from Nav to act on what’s holding you back from funding or opening new options.
- Credit factors influencing scores. Know the factors impacting your scores so you can improve or sustain habits.
- Public record data. Get details on public records on your business to make corrections or resolve debts.
- Watch up to 4 other businesses. Manage business credit for multiple businesses to avoid costly missteps.
Nav Prime is the only financial solution that evolves with your business, ensuring your business is always ready for financing. Get these benefits:
Detailed Credit Reports
- Personal and business credit scores & detailed reports.+ See what lenders see and act on the details they’re using to make funding decisions.
- Real-time alerts & credit insights. Gain real-time alerts and insights from Nav to act on what’s holding you back from funding or opening new options.
- Credit factors influencing scores. Know the factors impacting your scores so you can improve or sustain habits.
- Public record data. Get details on public records on your business to make corrections or resolve debts.
Tradeline Reporting
- Establish and continue to build business credit with tradeline submitted monthly to major commercial credit bureaus.
- Add a second tradeline with the Nav Prime Card.
Access to Financing
- Strengthen your business’s financial health profile to access better funding options.
- Leverage insights by seeing business data that lenders see about your business, and monitoring the impact of your credit building.
- Manage the business metrics that matter to lenders.
Nav Prime Card
Add the Nav Prime Card for these additional benefits:
- Charge card with no credit check or security deposit required.
- Second monthly tradeline to maximize business credit-building.
- Daily autopay to avoid carrying a high credit balance.
- Automatic virtual card you can use to make purchases before your physical card arrives.
The Nav Prime Card is not available in CA, NV, ND, or SD.
Frequently Asked Questions We Get About Nav Prime
Here are some common questions about Nav Prime.
Does Nav Prime Help Me Build Business Credit and How?
Nav Prime offers two helpful ways to help build business credit history.
First, get credit for on-time Nav Prime payments. Nav submits your monthly payments for Nav Prime as a tradeline to major business credit bureaus, which can help build business credit.
Secondly, if you also get the Nav Prime Card, it will also submit timely, successful repayments automatically as a monthly tradeline to major business credit bureaus. In combination with Nav Prime, this card allows business owners to double their tradelines.
Strong business credit ratings can help businesses when it comes to qualifying for a wider range of financing options, sometimes at lower interest rates as well.
How Does Tradeline Reporting Work With Nav Prime?
Nav Prime and the Nav Prime Card each submit monthly tradelines to major credit reporting agencies. Tradelines and business credit cards are both popular ways to build business credit — for both new businesses and established ones — as they don’t typically have the time in business and revenue requirements of other types of small business loans. They also don’t require the business to take on debt.
More importantly, they can be effective ways to build business credit when paid on time. Here are two examples of how this type of credit reference can help:
- Customers who used Nav’s Detailed Credit Reports with tradeline reporting saw an increase in business credit scores up to 50% in the first 3 months.**
- The majority of customers that use Nav tradeline reporting at least a year continue to see positive business credit score changes.***
Nav Prime is not reported to your personal credit reports.
Why Is a Nav Checking Account Required to Use a Nav Prime Charge Card?
You are not required to get the Nav Business Checking account to use Nav Prime. Businesses that operate without business checking may be missing a key lending requirement, as most small business financing options will require business bank account statements for proof of revenue.
Nav Business Checking Nav Business Checking brings together banking, payments and more in one convenient place. Get unlimited transactions with no monthly fees, no minimum balance or spend, and no fees at 55,000+ in-network Allpoint ATMs.
How Are My Business Credit Scores Calculated?
Business credit scores use a combination of factors to calculate credit scores, including payment history, debt and negative information such as liens or judgments. Debt utilization (credit limits compared to balances) can also be a factor. Payment history is the most important factor in all business credit scores, and to build good credit you need accounts that report to business credit bureaus.
Nav Prime and the Nav Prime Card each provide tradeline reporting. Earlier we shared research into how Nav Prime can help businesses build and maintain strong business credit.
Here’s another point that illustrates that benefit: Nav customers with positive business credit score changes averaged a 42 point increase* across business credit bureaus within the first 3 months of using Nav tradeline reporting.****
What Do I Do If I Have Trouble Connecting My Accounts?
You can reach out to Nav’s customer support team through the app or your account with technical questions.
How to Get Started
It’s easy to get started at Nav.com.
*Nav Technologies, Inc. is a financial technology company and not a bank. Banking services provided by Blue Ridge Bank, N.A., and Thread Bank, Members FDIC. The Nav Visa® Business Debit Card is issued by Blue Ridge Bank, N.A. or Thread Bank, and the Nav Prime Charge Card is issued by Thread Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa cards are accepted. FDIC insurance is available for your funds on deposit, up to $250,000 through Blue Ridge Bank, N.A. or Thread Bank, Members FDIC. See Cardholder Terms for additional details.
**Based on aggregate data tracking Experian® Intelliscore Plus business credit scores after three months of having Nav tradeline reporting. Results will vary. Scores are calculated from many variables; some users may not see improved scores.
***Based upon the aggregate percentage of Nav customers with positive score changes, nearly 75% of customers continue to see positive business credit score changes across business credit bureaus by keeping their Nav tradeline at least a year.
****Based on aggregate data tracking positive business credit score changes in the first three months of having Nav tradeline reporting. This increase is an average score increase. Individual business credit scores use different scoring models. Results will vary. Scores are calculated from many variables; some users may not see improved scores.
+Business Credit scores: Experian™ Intelliscore PlusSM V2, Equifax® Business Delinquency Score® Personal credit scores: TransUnion® VantageScore® 3.0, and Experian™ VantageScore® 3.0
This article was originally written on April 30, 2024 and updated on June 3, 2024.
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