You’ve just been offered a loan from United Lending Financial, (ULF) located in Wells, Maine. The website and paperwork looks real, and the voice on the other end of the phone line sounds legitimate.  But is the company for real?  How can you tell?

Sure everyone tells you that before you do business with a company that you have never heard of before – you need to “check it out.” But, how do you do that? 

This is the first part of a series of articles aimed at helping you verify the legitimacy of a business entity.  This article will deal with the most common answers people gave me when asked:“How would you make sure the business you are dealing with is legitimate?”

I would contact the Chamber of Commerce 

This would be helpful if all business were required to join the Chamber of Commerce (CoC).  But, the CoC a membership organization, is open to any company and does not endorse or confirm the membership status of a member, or accept complaints.  You can go on-line or phone your state and local chamber to search for the business but you won&39;t learn much unless the business you searched for is a member, and only then if that business has opted into being listed. To find out if a specific company is a member, the CoC suggests that you contact the company directly.  Okay but that won’t help you find out if ULF is for real.  After all, anyone can join, and the Chamber does not verify the information you provide.  The CoC refers consumers who want to verify the validaty of a business to the Better Business Bureau or state and local consumer protection agencies, many of which can be found here.

I would go to Better Business Bureau

Most people think you can call the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to find out about a business.  Keep in mind the BBB like the Chamber of Commerce is a membership organization. That means that not all businesses are members, whether they are legitimate or not.

If a business entity is a member you can phone or go to the BBB website and see if there are any complaints on record about the business.  However even if ULF is not listed it does not  mean it is not a legitimate company.  I asked the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the administrative headquarters for the BBB system in the United States, what consumers should do if they want to verify the validity of a business. They told me that if there is no BBB reliability report on a company, it may only mean that either the firm is new to the area, or the local Bureau has not had sufficient activity to develop a report -- It is neither a positive nor negative indication if the company is not listed.  I also contacted the local BBB where ULF is located for additional information. Nothing. And that too means nothing: it could be that ULF provided the information but decided not to list it. You can find a BBB in the state where ULF has an office, by entering the zip or postal code of ULF here.   If you need help finding a company&39;s physical address, you can visit the BBB&39;s zipcode FAQ  here. Since ULF is not listed anywhere on the BBB  database, BBB told me to  check company references, licensing and/or appropriate consumer protection agencies. More on how to do that in upcoming articles.

I would contact Dun and Bradstreet

Many people (like the CoC) told me to contact Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) to determine the validity of an organization. D&B does offer this service but it costs money – typically more money than the normal consumer would want to pay.  D&B is really a good service for businesses trying to find out information on other businesses, but won’t help us find out more about ULF. D&B told me that their services really weren&39;t for the average consumer like me who just wanted to find out if a company was for real.

Eesshh!  All of this is taking a lot of time.  Next week more ideas on uncovering information on ULF.  How would you make sure the business you are dealing with is legitimate?