A 2026 Federal Reserve survey found half of nonemployer firms carry no debt at all — here's why that usually means an empty business credit file, too.
A note on terminology used on this page: BCC Supplies does not lend money. A BCC Supplies membership is a commercial installment contract, reported to the business credit bureaus as a business installment tradeline — some pages also describe this as an "installment loan" in a descriptive sense, not a cash loan from a lender. See how this is structured →
The Federal Reserve's 2026 Chartbook on Nonemployer Firms, built from the Small Business Credit Survey, found that about half of nonemployer firms carried no debt at all when they were surveyed in 2025.1 Nearly a third, 31 percent, said they don't regularly use any external financing at all.1
A nonemployer firm is a business with no paid employees other than the owner — freelancers, solo consultants, single-operator shops, and similar ventures. If you fall into that category and you've never taken on a business loan or line of credit, you're actually the statistical norm, not the exception.
Business credit bureaus like Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, and Equifax Business build a company's file from data furnished by lenders, vendors, and other creditors that report payment activity.1 No debt or credit activity generally means no furnished tradelines, and no furnished tradelines means a thin file or no file at all.
This is a structural gap, not a penalty. A business can have great revenue and zero missed payments and still show up as invisible to a lender pulling a credit report, simply because there's nothing on file to pull.
The same survey found nonemployer firms were more likely than employer firms to rely on the owner's personal funds when a financial challenge hit — 64 percent versus 54 percent for employer firms.1 That gap tracks directly with the debt numbers: if you've never built a business credit file, personal savings or a personal card is often the only option left when cash gets tight.
Relying on personal funds keeps a business dependent on the owner's personal credit and personal liquidity indefinitely. It also means any financial stress the business hits shows up on the owner's personal credit report instead of building a separate track record for the business itself.
The fastest way out of a thin-file position is opening accounts that specifically report to the business credit bureaus, rather than only to personal credit.1 That includes net-30 vendor accounts, business credit cards that report to commercial bureaus, and business installment tradelines, each of which furnishes payment history that becomes the raw material for a file.
A BCC Supplies membership is one option built for exactly this stage: it's a commercial installment contract reported to the business credit bureaus as a business installment tradeline, not a cash loan. BCC Supplies does not lend money — it structures a reportable payment history for businesses that otherwise have nothing on file yet.
Getting even one or two accounts reporting consistently on time can move a business off the 31 percent no-external-financing list and onto a file a future lender can actually evaluate.1
Before applying for any financing, a nonemployer firm should check whether it has any file at all with D&B, Experian Business, or Equifax Business, since roughly half of these businesses currently have none.1 If the file is empty or thin, opening reporting accounts months ahead of an actual financing need gives payment history time to accumulate before it's needed for an approval decision.
Waiting until cash is tight to start this process — the point at which 64 percent of these owners currently turn to personal funds — leaves no runway for a business file to build.1 Starting earlier is the only lever a business owner directly controls.
Sources: 1. Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Chartbook on Nonemployer Firms
See how a business installment tradeline can start filling in a thin or empty business credit file — no cash loan involved.
See Your Options →This article discusses data from the Federal Reserve Banks' Small Business Credit Survey. BCC Supplies is not affiliated with the Federal Reserve Banks, Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax; this article explains what the survey findings mean for how a business credit file gets built, and BCC Supplies' own role is limited to reporting a commercial installment contract as a business installment tradeline — not making loans.
Sources: 1. Federal Reserve Banks (Small Business Credit Survey) — About half of nonemployer firms had no debt at the time of the 2025 survey, and 31 percent reported that they did not regularly use external financing. 2. Federal Reserve Banks (Small Business Credit Survey) — Nonemployer firms were more likely than employer firms to rely on their owners’ personal funds to address financial challenges (64% and 54%, respectively). 3. Federal Reserve Banks (Small Business Credit Survey) — Nonemployer firms were more likely than employer firms to rely on their owners’ personal funds to address financial challenges (64% and 54%, respectively).
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