New small business owners generally don’t have enough credit history to qualify for financial tradelines. However, they can often secure low-tier vendor tradelines like net 30 accounts and work up to more challenging and rewarding arrangements.
If you’re considering using the Lowes net 30 account to help accomplish this, here’s what you should know about the tradeline.
Our Lowes Net 30 Review
The Lowes net 30 account, also known as its Commercial Account, is a good option for new small business owners looking to lay a foundation for their business credit. It reports to two business credit bureaus.
In addition, it actually gives you 60 days to repay your balances, not 30. There are also no fees to apply for or maintain the account, and you’ll receive a small discount on purchases in store and online.
If you’re interested in applying, here are the main points you should consider:
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-Repayment Term is Actually Net 60
-No Mandatory Application or Subscription Fees
-Buy Home Improvement Products at a Discount
Reports to Experian Business and D&B
Many business owners open net 30 accounts primarily to build business credit. If that’s your goal, you should pursue financing arrangements with vendors who report to as many of the three major business credit bureaus as possible.
Fortunately, Lowes reports to two of them: Experian Business and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). It also shares data with the Small Business Finance Exchange, which isn’t a major business credit bureau but can still be beneficial.
Repayment Term is Actually Net 60
Though it was previously referred to and popularized as a net 30 account, the Lowes Commercial Account actually gives customers two 30 day billing cycles to pay off each invoice. That works out to net 60 payment terms.
That may not be the most significant consideration if your primary goal is to build business credit. However, it can help your monthly cash flow if you’re regularly buying products from Lowes that you actually need for your operation.
No Mandatory Application or Subscription Fees
Net 30 accounts are an effective way to build business credit, but they’re not always the most cost-efficient. Many charge you for the right to apply for or maintain access to your credit line.
For example, you must pay a $99 application fee and submit an order for at least $100 worth of goods to apply for the Quill net 30 account. As you can imagine, these costs can quickly become significant.
Fortunately, Lowes doesn’t impose any mandatory fees. It doesn’t cost anything to apply for an account, and you can hold onto the tradeline indefinitely without paying a recurring membership fee.
However, Lowes will charge you $20 for any returned payments. You’ll also start to accrue interest charges at 18% APR if you don’t pay off your balances by the due date.
Buy Home Improvement Products at a Discount
Unfortunately, you can only use net 30 accounts to purchase from the vendors who issue them. And since you must use them regularly to build business credit, it’s best to apply for ones with companies that sell something your business actually needs.
While Lowes primarily sells home improvement products, it has enough diversity in its catalog to make it an attractive option for a wide range of businesses. For example, it sells cleaning supplies, electric equipment, and even office furniture.
In addition, Lowes will reward you with a 5% discount on each eligible purchase you make with the Commercial Account, whether you do it online or in store.
Lowes Net 30 Account Requirements
If you want to add the Lowes net 30 account to your credit mix, visit the Lowes business credit card center. From there, you'll see a breakdown of all the Lowes business credit cards, each of which American Express facilitates.
Click on “Apply Now” beneath the Commercial Account. It's the black and yellow Lowes credit card with 4Pros on the face. That will take you to the digital application, where you’ll need to provide financial information about your company, including the following:
Legal business name
Tax classification
Industry
Business address
Phone number and email
Taxpayer ID and DUNS number
Number of employees
Year established
Requested credit line
Try not to ask for too high of a credit limit, as it may negatively impact your odds of qualifying. Generally, new business owners will have the best chance if they aim for a credit line of roughly $2,500 to $3,500.
Being in business for longer and having a handful of positive tradelines in your business credit report will also increase your likelihood of approval. However, it is possible to qualify without much business credit history.
Finally, you can apply with or without a personal guarantee. Once again, signing one may help you qualify. However, Lowes will then be able to pursue your personal assets if you default on your account.
Either way, Lowes will check your business credit score once you click submit and may pull your personal credit if you sign a personal guarantee. Some applicants get instant responses, but it could take Lowes 7 to 10 days to update your application status.
A Note for Real Estate Investors
A Lowe’s Commercial Account is a great tool for real estate investors. Whether you’re managing property buy and hold or you’re doing a fix and flip, someone in your organization is probably making regular trips to Lowe’s anyway.
In our article Can You Buy a House with Business Credit?, we explain how to build up your business credit so that you can finance your real estate acquisitions without using expensive hard money loans.
In addition to a Lowe’s Commercial Account, you may want to consider obtaining financing with Home Depot and other suppliers you use frequently.
These are great vendor accounts and business credit cards to help with short-term financing needs. Once you build your business credit more, you can qualify for low interest rate business lines of credit and landlord loans that don’t check your personal credit.
The goal of every astute real estate investor should be to build up multiple bank lines of credit. These traditional bank loans are hard to qualify for, but they’re great because they’re 100% flexible.
Lines of credit can be used to purchase supplies, pay subcontractors, and most importantly, even cover the down payment on a property purchase. Once your credit lines get big enough, they can even cover the entire cost of purchase.
This is how you achieve the coveted “no money down” acquisition - with flexible bank credit lines.
Of course, only businesses with the best of business credit can qualify for them. It’s a worthy goal to pursue.
How to Finance Your Next Property
If you’re funding fix and flips, you have to take on many different costs. These primarily look like:
The property purchase
Supplies for the rehab
Contractors to do the work
Smaller miscellaneous costs
Many investors and small construction companies get started by using a home equity line of credit using their personal credit - and secured against their home. This is, of course, very risky, because if you default in any way on the loan, you will lose your home.
Other typical financing sources include a hard money loan, personal credit cards, and personal savings. Your hard money loan covers your purchase price, your savings cover the down payment, and your credit cards help cover rehab costs and contractor fees.
We all have to start somewhere. But there is a better way.
Personal credit cards charge high interest rates and can negatively affect your personal credit scores and reports. And with hard money, do I even have to remind you about those brutal upfront costs?
Here’s how you can transition into smarter financing:
Net 30 accounts and business credit cards replace personal credit cards for supplies, contractor fees, and miscellaneous costs
Business lines of credit replace HELOCs and hard money loans for property acquisition
Business cash flow replaces personal savings for down payments
Eventually you’ll get to a point where your bank credit lines finance 100% of everything, but building over $1,000,000 in lines of credit takes years of credit building and bank relationship building to pull off.
Also check out our reviews on Home Depot,Office Depot Net 30, Amazon Net 30, and Costco Net 30 Account.
Use eCredable to Build Business Credit
Opening multiple net 30 accounts and using them responsibly will eventually help you build good business credit. However, it will take you months, if not years, to get there. You’ll also likely incur significant fees and buy some unnecessary products.
Fortunately, eCredable’s Business Lift program offers a much more efficient way to build business credit. For just $19.95 per month, we’ll report an unlimited number of your recurring utility expenses to Equifax Business and Creditsafe as vendor tradelines.
In addition to your ongoing payments, that includes up to 24 months of payment history for each account. That lets you instantly establish years of credit history, which can boost your scores overnight.
Sign up for eCredable today and take the shortcut to good business credit!
Learn More: You’ll need more than one net 30 account in each credit report to establish your business credit score the traditional way. If you’re looking for more, check out our reviews of some other popular options:
Uline Net 30 Review
Grainger Net 30 Review
Crown Office Supplies Net 30 Review
