To understand your business credit profile and maintain a good business credit score you need to know all the major business credit bureaus. While Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax don’t offer free business credit reports, Creditsafe does, as does Nav.com in the form of business credit grades.
Credit Bureaus
To build business credit data in your company’s credit reports, you should start off using Net 30 vendors that report to multiple credit bureaus. As you develop a payment history, your business’s credit reports will offer details on your company’s financial health which lenders will use to just your creditworthiness.
While D&B, Equifax, and Experian are the most used, your Creditsafe, FICO SBSS, and SBFE credit reports will also come in handy when applying for business loans or business credit cards. Other business credit reporting agencies like Ansonia, Paynet, and Moody’s Analytics, should also not be ignored. Do note that the business credit scores range will differ from bureau to bureau, but typically, the higher the score the better.
- Dun & Bradstreet
- Experian Small Business
- Equifax Business
- Creditsafe
- FICO
- SBFE
- Ansonia
- Moody’s Analytics
- LexisNexis
Dun & Bradstreet
Major Business Credit Bureau
They are one of the most famous and influential business credit bureaus in the US. Dun & Bradstreet is known to have a database with records from more than 330 million businesses. They collect full data on the companies’ payment history and extended credit lines. This complex data is collected from suppliers, lenders, and all types of services suppliers that collaborate with a business. However, the Dun & Bradstreet business credit report information also comes from a diversity of other sources, like various public records, reports from companies, or interviews with the company’s officials.
Based on this wide data, D&B ratings are assigned to differentiate companies in specific industries. Of the most well-known Dun & Bradstreet credit scores, their PAYDEX is the most popular. This payment index scores ranges from 1 to 100, with scores above 80 demonstrating a company being prompt and reliable in paying its bills during the previous year. They also have other types of ratings, the Financial Stress Score, and the Delinquency Predictor Score.
To enter the Dun & Bradstreet rating system you have to apply yourself and register for a D-U-N-S Number. This is to your advantage as long as you pay everything on time, as their scores represent strong credentials when dealing with any type of partner in your business. The majority of your potential business partners and collaborators will check your business credit history, and D&B is one of their main sources.
Experian
Major Business Credit Bureau
The Experian Business credit bureau has over 27 million company records and ratings. Within their business credit file is financial data concerning a company’s payback conduct, banking, insurances, leases, and bankruptcy filings.
Their main rating system is called Experian Intelliscore Plus V3 which has a score that ranges from 300 to 850. This mirrors the rating system found in their personal credit report and personal credit scores. They also provide other types of scores like The Financial Stability Risk Score V2 and the Experian Business Credit Score.
Equifax
Major Business Credit Bureau
Another one of the major business credit reporting agencies, Equifax been in operation since 1899. Their main rating is the Business Credit Risk Score which starts at 101 points and can go to a maximum of 992. Their ratings are assessing the previous 12 months of activity.
They also have a business failure score ranging from 1,000 to 1,610 which is intended to predict the possibility of bankruptcy within the next 12. The lower the score the higher the risk. They also draft business identity reports which confirm and present the business tax ID, the annual sales volume, the number of employees, and other details.
Creditsafe
Minor Business Credit Bureau
The small business credit reports and scores from Creditsafe are good for making better business decisions, especially regarding working with international companies.
The Creditsafe Credit Score and CreditSafe Credit Limit recommendations provide in-depth analysis of payment data like days beyond terms (DBT), along with business spending trends via tradelines and financial statements. Their reports also show core business data, such as detailed company info, legal files, compliance indicators, and recent credit inquiries.
Creditsafe will also you to receive up to 5 free business credit reports on US businesses through a trial account. Some of the more prominent companies that rely on Creditsafe reports are BMW, Volvo, Panasonic, Viacom, Nestle, and GHD.
FICO
The FICO Small Business Scoring Service has been functioning since 1993. FICO reports are not publically available, as they are exclusively reserved for lending institutions. With a range from 0 to 300, the FICO SBSS score is calculated using combined credit data of business company history, personal credit history, personal credit score, and other public financial data.
Having a specific FICO SBSS score can make and break your loan application from major lenders. SBA loans from the Small Business Administration typically require a score of 155 or higher, while banks usually want to see a number above 165.
The FICO SBSS score helps companies better understand their credit applications, and allows them to make quick approval decisions based on its score alone. The scoring system’s main focus is the assessment of small businesses’ risk of not paying back debts.
Business credit reports from the FICO Small Business Scoring Service are widely recognized as a de facto approval factor, by more than 7,500 lenders in the United States. Some of their staunch supporters include major financial institutions like HSBC, PNC, RBC, USBank, KeyBank, Zions, Santander, and Huntington National Bank.
SBFE
Business Credit Reporting Agency
While it’s not a business credit reporting agency, the Small Business Financial Exchange collects and processes all available data on small companies. They have a record database with over 38 million businesses, around 93 million accounts, and over 20-year-old financial data. number of financial institutions,
The SBFE collects and merges business data from numerous credit bureaus to formulate their scoring model that measures financial history and credit health. They also work with my financial institutions like American Express, Bank of America, PNC, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and Wex.
Ansonia
Business Credit Reporting Agency
Ansonia is operating at a worldwide level and holds over 25 million accounts and around 7 million business records from 140 industries. Their credit reports are created with information directly gathered from Fortune 500 companies, small operations, etc.
They are offering a wide range of niche credit reports and other financial analysis tools. If you want to get a free copy of your business credit report you can contact their sales department or just call them at 1-855-267-6642.
Moody’s
Business Credit Reporting Agency
A Moody’s Analytics bought Cotera in March of 2021. This means that 20 years of data from The Cortera Credit Exchange merged into that Moody’s has already collected. They have credit information on 10 million businesses and monitor over $13 trillion in annual transactions.
Moody’s provides payment histories and assessments of purchase behavior. Their data is complex and comes from all types of businesses from all industries. They provide ratings and credit history or analysis to many famous companies like Xerox, Ryder, LG Electronics, Electrolux, Jacobus Energy, H&E Equipment, and Comdata.
LexisNexis
LexisNexis is a business credit score provider that works with over 400,000 organizations, public as well as private. They create predictive ratings based on public records, information taken from business owners, and connected people.
The beneficiaries can have a simple decision-making process with these simple indicators about a company’s risk factors or about the potential to become profitable in the future.
Their Small Business Risk Score creates a clear picture of the creditworthiness of a respective company and its associates and collaborators. LexisNexis provides services to over 1,400 companies, among which you’ll meet Hyundai Capital America Inc., Commerce Bank & Trust Company, and Fidelity National Corporation.