A guide to business credit reports
A business credit report includes important information about a company’s creditworthiness, including the business’s credit score. Having a good business credit score is essential when it comes to getting approved for a loan, business credit card or other line of credit. It can also affect the loan’s terms—the better your credit score, the better terms your business will typically enjoy.
Business credit reports are considered public records. So this means you can also use a business credit report to review credit information about another organization before deciding to work with them, helping you avoid some potential financial risks.
Staying on top of your business’s financial health can be key to your success. Here’s a helpful guide about business credit reports to ensure you know how to stay in control of your company’s financial well-being.
What you’ll learn:
- Business credit reports reveal your business credit score and the scores of companies you’re considering partnering with to help you determine the financial risk of working together.
- Business credit reports include information like company background, payment history, liens and bankruptcies and more.
- Understanding and continually monitoring your credit scores helps ensure your business credit report is accurate and allows you to make improvements when necessary.
What is a business credit report?
Similar to a personal credit report, a business credit report shows banks and lenders your credit scores and provides a view of your business’s overall financial health.
There are three major business credit bureaus: Experian®, Equifax® and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). And each bureau has its own version of business credit reports with slightly different information, scoring ranges and methods used to assign risk scores.
How are business credit reports used?
Knowing your business credit scores can be key to your company’s financial success. When you know where your business stands financially, you’ll have a better idea of what type of loan terms you’ll be eligible for—and if you might need to make some improvements to get better terms in the future.
Keep in mind that potential vendors, partners and suppliers may also access your business credit report to determine if you’ll be a good partner—and vice versa.
Access to business credit reports allows each organization to learn more about their ability to repay debts and assess the risk of working together.
What’s on a business credit report?
Business credit reports provide the following types of information:
- Financial information about your business
- An overview of your business credit accounts with suppliers, service providers and financial institutions
- Company profile, including name, address and phone numbers
- Background information such as owners’ names and any subsidiaries
- Your current credit score and potential credit risk factors
- Payment history
- Negative information such as bankruptcies, lawsuits or liens
How to check your business credit report
Business credit scores vary by each bureau, so there’s no one “good” credit score. But just like personal credit scores, in general, the higher the number is, the better. Personal credit scores range from 300 to 850, while business credit scores range from one to 100.
Here’s a quick overview of the three major business credit bureaus and how to check your business credit report with each.
Experian business credit reports
Experian allows you to check your own credit report and those of a business you might be considering working with. You’ll be able to view background business and financial information, credit scores and risk factors, payment and collection history, and more.
Experian offers four different business credit report products ranging in price from around $40 for a one-time report to almost $1,500 for a detailed annual subscription. For more information about how to get a business credit report from Experian, you’ll need to sign up or subscribe through their website.
Equifax business credit reports
Like Experian, Equifax business credit reports offer the option of checking your own credit report and those of other companies. And you’ll be able to view key company information, credit summaries, risk scores, public records and payment histories.
Complete the contact form on its website to learn more about pricing options and how to get a business credit report from Equifax.
Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports
D&B is a data and analytics company that offers business credit reports to help you monitor and manage your business credit scores. Their business credit report allows you to view multiple types of credit scores, ratings and data to see how financially stable and reliable a company is before engaging in business with them.
You can get a free business credit report from D&B as long as your business has a D&B D-U-N-S® Number. They also offer a more detailed version for roughly $500 annually.
The importance of checking your business credit report
A good business credit score is essential to your company’s financial well-being. And once you’ve established a good credit score, you’ll want to take steps to monitor and manage it for the long term—and that means checking your report regularly.
A few of the advantages of monitoring your business credit report include:
- Getting notifications of any changes that might impact your organization
- Staying on top of any inaccuracies so you can take immediate action to dispute them
- The ability to work on improving any issues
- Monitoring inquiries into your report to help prevent identity theft
Business credit report FAQ
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about business credit reports.
How much does a business credit report cost?
The cost of a business credit report ranges from around $40 for a one-time report to $1,500 annually—the costs and report types vary between the three major credit bureaus. Do your research on each before deciding which report would be most beneficial to your organization.
Can I get a free business credit report?
D&B offers “D&B Credit Insights Free,” a version of a free business credit report where you can view changes to four different scores and ratings. You can also choose to sign up to get alerts any time one of these scores changes.
Is a business credit score different from a personal credit score?
Business credit scores are different from personal credit scores. Like personal credit scores, good business credit scores will determine your approval for new credit and the possibility of getting better loan terms.
But your business credit scores don’t take your personal credit scores into consideration. Your business credit scores reflect how trustworthy and financially healthy your company is.
Key takeaways: Business credit reports
Monitoring your business credit report and improving your business credit scores can go a long way in positioning your business for the best loan terms and interest rates. Plus, business credit reports allow you to gain valuable insight into the businesses you’re considering partnering with to decrease some of the financial risk involved. Each of the bureaus provides different information in their business credit reports, so it’s important to take the time to learn about all your options.
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