There is more to celebrate this week than just the upcoming New Year. Each January 1, your business is officially one year older. For many, this means increased access to capital.

In the corporate credit world, the age of your business is not measured by the date of its incorporation, but rather by the year in which it started. This translates to lower risk ratings with every December 31st your small business puts behind it. This could lower interest rates and improve access to funding, giving you much more reason to celebrate in the new year.

Your young business will officially be one year older at the end of this week, when every business with a Dun & Bradstreet profile will get one more year added to their history. If today your business is seven years old, on January 1 you will eight years old, no matter what month you opened your doors. Businesses who started two years ago will be now be fully two years old, and those who were two will now be three years old — considered by most lenders to have reached mid-maturity.

With major banks and creditors recently acknowledging a loosening of their stronghold on small business credit, there has never been a better time to get your business qualified to receive approvals, especially if you are a young business struggling to meet a lender’s tough criteria. While many are drearily taking down holiday decorations, few realize they could actually be in a better position to celebrate more AFTER the holidays are over.

Bankers, lenders and creditors confirm: more credit is available to a small business with every year it survives today’s tough economic times. They understand that time in service proves you can endure the “school of hard knocks” and pitfalls that young, inexperienced business owners fall prey to. With each year notched into their calendar, a business proves it has cleared a few more of those hurdles and not just survived but, in many cases, thrived.

But there is more to getting approvals than just having another year under your belt. Your business credit report needs to be ready to take advantage of its coming of age. Just as important as removing negatively impacting, out-of-date, or irrelevant information, there has to be a conscious effort to input up-to-date, positive data so the report can more accurately portray the creditworthiness of your young business as it ages.

Starpoint Credit Solutions excels because we understand the data. We use methods that employ the standards of the commercial credit bureaus to help validate every piece of impacting data. We clear the hurdles for you. We get you to your goals using techniques structured specifically for your business’s needs and goals, and fully acceptable to the tough standards required by lenders and creditors.

LESSON: With every year in business, your company gains more knowledge, experience, and (hopefully) strength. Celebrate the achievements and benefits of another year on the books.