I had a small business (LLC) and I wasn't able to make enough to stay afloat. Will the business bankruptcy show up on my personal credit report?
Provided that the liabilities that were bankrupted on, were guaranteed by the business, then yes, your personal credit will remain unchanged.
However, I think its rare actually for an upstart business to be a sole creditor on more normal early credit situations, so I wouldn't be confident that your personal credit wont be altered.
More often than not, small business operators are usually required to personally guarantee debts, contracts or leases. Read the fine print in these documents.
While the LLC offers an asset and credit shield just like a corporate entity, you may find that even if the discharged debts don't impact your credit report you may be called on to fulfill the terms of the personal guarantee. If you don't and collection activities ensue, then you will certainly find that it will impact your personal credit.
You're advised to keep a close eye on your credit. One way to do this is to subscribe to a credit monitoring service. But for free you can go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com and receive a free credit report from each credit bureau each year.
TIP: Instead of getting all three credit reports on yourself at one time, spread them out over the course of the year. Many times credit information is the same from one bureau to the next so by getting one from each every three or four months you can monitor changes that may need to be addressed.
