Yes. Tento is genuinely free to start. We always offer access to your credit score and insights (provided by Equifax) for free for two months, and on month three we will ask if you'd like to keep going at $14.99/month — you're only charged if you choose to subscribe, and you can cancel anytime from your Tento dashboard. No credit card required upfront, no hidden fees.

No. Tento uses a soft inquiry to pull your business credit score. Soft inquiries do not affect your score in any way. You can check as often as you'd like.

Your business credit score is separate from your personal score. It's based on your business's financial history — things like trade payments, business debts, and public records. Your personal score reflects your individual financial behavior. Lenders may check both when evaluating your business.

Your business credit score through Tento is updated monthly through our partnership with Equifax. You'll receive email alerts when your score changes so you always stay informed.

And if it didn't move this month? That's normal too. Your score only changes when someone reports something new — and plenty of vendors don't report at all. A flat score usually means a quiet file, not a stale one.

Almost always one of five things: a newly reported late payment or write-off, higher balances on your accounts, an account closing and thinning your file, new debt or inquiries, or a routine monthly refresh where an older positive item aged out.

Tento alerts tell you when it moved, and Copilot in your dashboard can help you pin down why. One dip isn't a verdict — lenders care about the direction over quarters, not any single month.

Equifax. Your dashboard shows the Equifax business credit score (450 to 800) — in our 20 years in small business lending, the score most commercial lenders actually pull.

It's not your D&B PAYDEX or Experian Intelliscore; the bureaus don't share data with each other, so if you've seen a different number somewhere else, both can be right. If another bureau's score in Tento would help you, tell us.

In our 20 years of experience in small business lending, most commercial lenders underwriting a small business loan pull Equifax. That's why Tento is built on it.

It isn't the only one. Experian's Intelliscore is common with vendors extending trade credit. D&B's PAYDEX matters if your suppliers report there. Banks and the SBA often use FICO SBSS, which blends your business and personal credit together.

But if the question is "which number is most likely to decide whether I get approved," Equifax is the one to know. The bureaus don't share data with each other, so your scores can differ meaningfully — and the one you can check free elsewhere often isn't the one being pulled on you.

Anchor to 750 or above on the Equifax business credit risk score. That's the range where we consistently see lenders approve without extra conditions.

But "good" depends on which score someone is looking at, and they don't share a scale:

• Equifax business credit risk score — 101 to 992. 750+ is a strong position.

• D&B PAYDEX — 1 to 100. An 80 means you pay on terms; above 80 means you pay early.

• Experian Intelliscore Plus — 1 to 100. 76+ is generally read as low risk.

A number below your target isn't a verdict. It's a starting point — and what matters more to a lender than the reading itself is the direction it's moving.

Your business's. The score is built from your company's own file — its payment history, tradelines, and public records — not your SSN or personal accounts.

Your personal score lives in a separate system, and nothing you do in Tento touches it. If the two numbers happen to look similar, that's coincidence, not connection.

Not directly. The Equifax score is calculated from your credit file — payment history, balances, tradelines — not your bank account.

But lenders look at both, and they look at them together: the score gets your application considered, and cash flow usually decides the offer. That's why Tento shows them side by side.

Often, yes — with two conditions. It has to actually report to the business bureaus (many don't — ask the issuer before you apply), and you have to pay it on time, every time, because payment history is the biggest input to your score.

One well-managed card that reports beats three that don't. And only borrow what the business can carry — a maxed-out card can cost you more points than the new account adds.

Some do. Many don't. This is the part almost nobody tells you.

You can pay a supplier perfectly on net-30 terms for two years and have it contribute nothing to your business credit file, because that supplier never reports to a bureau. It's one of the most demoralizing things about building business credit — doing everything right and getting no credit for it.

Before you open an account expecting it to build your file, ask the vendor directly: do you report payment history, and to which bureaus? If they can't answer, assume they don't. Then check your actual report to confirm what's landing.

It happens more than you'd think, and it's fixable. Three common causes: a vendor reporting under an unfamiliar name (often a parent company), a reporting error, or — especially for newer businesses — data matched from a similarly named or predecessor company. Even a mark dated before your business existed usually traces back to one of these.

Start by asking Copilot which account and date the mark is tied to. If it's genuinely not yours, you can dispute it with Equifax directly — disputing is free. Keep monitoring so you see the correction land.

Your dashboard shows your score and the insights behind it — payment history, balances, delinquencies, and how your file is trending — and Copilot will answer specific questions about what's on file. We don't currently offer the raw Equifax report document as a download.

If a lender or partner is asking you for one, email us at hello@tento.com and we'll help.

That's Equifax's label for open and closed accounts with a recurring payment obligation — loans, leases, financing agreements, business credit cards.

The count can run higher than you expect, because it includes accounts you may not think of as "contracts," and vendors sometimes report under a name you won't recognize. If the number looks wrong, ask Copilot to help you break down what's behind it.

Business credit doesn't follow the seven-year rule you know from personal credit — how long an item stays depends on the bureau and the type of item. The more useful truth: a mark's weight fades as new, positive history stacks on top of it.

The fastest way past an old write-off usually isn't waiting — it's adding accounts that report, and paying them flawlessly.

Because you don't sign up — the bureaus build one automatically the moment your business leaves a paper trail: a loan, a lease, a vendor account, a public filing. (The one exception is D&B, where you register for a D-U-N-S number.)

Your file has been growing whether or not you've looked at it. That's the whole argument for monitoring: lenders are already reading it.

Yes. Connect each business account through Plaid and we merge them into a single cash-flow picture. If your money moves through two or three banks, connect them all — a partial view understates your business.

Each business has its own credit file, so each is monitored separately. Email us at hello@tento.com and we'll set up your additional businesses under the same login.

With Tento, it's never been easier to access capital. We want to help you solve your short and medium-term capital needs, so you can keep building a successful, thriving business in the long-term. That's why we reward healthy businesses with savings and lower APRs. We offer both working capital and equipment financing based on the health of your business.

Tento is here to help businesses of all sizes and needs. When reviewing your business, our goal is to help get you the best possible offer. The best way to see what Tento can do for your business is to go through our simple application. There's no cost to apply, no obligation to use your offer once approved and no impact to your credit score.

It's never been harder for business owners to succeed. We know that because we've been there, too. Collectively, we've spent decades working intimately with business owners. We're in it for the long haul and want to offer you the best possible products to succeed and mature into a thriving business. The hope is that you'll grow. And then outgrow us.

No! It costs nothing to join Tento and there is absolutely no obligation to accept an offer. Applying takes just a few minutes. Securely connect your bank, upload your ID and enter a few personal details to find out how much capital you can access.

There are no hard credit checks, lengthy paperwork, or required personal financial statements. All you have to do is connect your bank information using Plaid or provide 4 months of bank statements through our secure portal, tell us a few details about yourself and your business and you'll receive applicable offers within hours.

We take a holistic view of your business — not just your credit score. While a stronger credit profile helps, we consider your overall business health including revenue, time in business, and cash flow patterns.

No, we're here to help you build better business credit. The goal is that by using our products, our financing will enhance your credit history with positive payment history.

A more complete picture of your business will result in better offers and more capital available for your business. Tento assesses your risk level based on secure live data connections. More complete data connections typically mean better ratings and more capital available for your business.

We take a holistic view of your business using your bank data, reviewing the overall health of your business and historical performance. Other factors we consider when reviewing bank data are average daily balance, total credits, total debits, competitor balances and exposure among others. When you connect your bank data, we will quickly generate your initial offer details.

We take a holistic view of your business using your bank data, reviewing the overall health of your business and historical performance. Other factors we consider when reviewing bank data are average daily balance, total credits, total debits, competitor balances and exposure among others. When you connect your bank data, we will quickly generate your initial offer details.

The cost of working capital or equipment financing from Tento is based on three primary factors: industry, revenue and the health of your business. Over time, as your company grows, we can offer even better rates. The easiest way to get your exact cost of capital is to go through our seamless application — it takes just a few minutes and is commitment-free.

The cost of capital — or the fee to use Tento — is shown in a number called Total Interest Percentage, which is the total amount of interest you pay as a percentage of your loan amount. For example, if you accept $10,000 in capital with 8% Total Interest Percentage, you will pay $800 in interest and your total payback amount will be $10,800. Tento is easy-to-use and radically transparent, so you know exactly what to expect. No surprises.

A decision on your financing request typically takes a few hours from the time you submit your application. In some instances it could take 1-2 business days.

Once approved and we receive your signed documentation, your business will typically receive funding within 1 to 2 business days. We know your business needs funding now — not later.

Log in at volt.tento.co — your application, its current stage, and anything we still need from you (documents, offer selection) are on your dashboard.

If something looks stuck or you never heard back, email us at hello@tento.com; a person will look into it.

The short and long answer is: all kinds of equipment! We don't limit it by industry or size.

Yes! We take our privacy policy very seriously. To learn more about how we store your information securely, you can read our privacy policy.

Email hello@tento.com or open a chat directly from the floating chat bubble — we respond to every request.