Will my business credit cards activity affect my personal credit history and FICO score?

I am a self employed photographer and own my own photography business. I have several personal credit cards and several business credit cards I use for business expenses. As I am preparing to buy a home I recently requested my credit reports and FICO scores from all three credit bureaus. I did not see my business credit cards showing up on any of the 3 credit reports. Why is this as I thought my "business" cards were just regular credit cards with the name of my business on them? Since I do have substantial balances on these cards from my business expenses will this effect my FICO score even though these business cards do not show up on my credit reports?

Public Comments

1. yes if your name is on it somewhere. Anytime you turn over your social security number it can affect your credit score.
2. someone posted something similar to this yesterday it's the creditors choice as to rather or not they will report your business account to your personal account many/most wont UNLESS you default on paying them.....that is when they will report that on your personal credit reports crappy but that's how they roll
3. The cards that you don't see showing up on your personal credit will not factor into your FICO score, as long as you pay them on time. On a normal personal credit card, if you had run up the balance on these cards, the account would show up on your credit report, and the high balance would negatively impact your FICO score. This will not happen with these business credit cards. However, if you start paying them late, or "walk away" from the debt, they will then appear negatively on your credit. Even though these accounts are not showing up on your credit now, when you gave them your social security number and signed the card member agreement, you personally guaranteed the card, which allows the credit card company to come after you personally IF there is a default. Not all "business credit cards" operate this way. The cards that you have are good ones. It is obviously a very big advantage to be able to rack up charges - even max it out to the card limit, yet not have that depress your FICO score. Many companies, such as Advanta and Capital One, will buy lists of new businesses and market "business credit cards" to business owners - they show in pictures on the mailers that your company 's name will be on the card. However, many of these offering are the type of cards which will show up on your personal credit report. They are just regular credit cards that have been cleverly marketed to business owners. If it is a real business credit card, then the payments get reported to one or more of the business credit bureaus: Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, Equifax Business. On a real business credit card, if you've personally guaranteed the account, the money is actually lent to your company, under the company EIN, and unless you default on the debt, the account doesn't get reported on your personal credit. If you want to be sure that a business credit card you are applying for won't show up on your personal credit, call the company prior to applying and ask the representative (or better yet, their supervisor) whether the card reports on your personal credit and whether or not it reports to either Dun & Bradstreet or Experian Business Solutions. If you'd like to know more about how to build your business credit without having that credit show up on your personal credit report, much information is available at http://www.access-business-credit.com