The importance of your business credit report
Your business—just like you—has a credit score, and it is an important reflection of your business’ financial health and reputation. By collecting data from lenders, credit card companies, vendors and other institutions, three major credit bureaus, Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), Equifax, and Experian, create specific reports on your business and its operations.1,8
What is a business credit report?
A business credit report is a thorough rundown of a business’ financial dealings, similar to a personal credit report. But unlike personal credit scores, business credit reports are public. Without an accurate business credit score, lenders and other institutions might question a business’ creditworthiness, or base your business’ credit health on your personal credit score.2
How are business credit reports used?
Your business credit score can affect things like your ability to get loans and lines of credit. But not only is it an important metric for groups like lenders and vendors, it can also be a useful tool for you to get a feel for your business’ financial health. D&B reports that companies of all sizes, from large Fortune 500 companies to local businesses, use the insights they gather from their D&B credit report to see where they can mitigate risks, maximize efficiency and test if they’re ready to expand—and how much they can safely expand.3
How to check your business credit score
Because this score is so important, you might be wondering how you can check it. Multiple bureaus issue a credit score, so it can be tricky to make sure yours is up-to-date and accurate, but there are free services available online where you can get a report. However, some important data might be behind paywalls—or proprietary to the specific report—and it’s important to check on the full reports for that valuable information, too.4,5
Experian business credit report
An Experian credit report pulls data from suppliers and lenders as well as legal and banking information to create an accurate report of your business.6 They issue reports between 0 and 100, with lower scores indicating higher risk, and higher scores reflecting strong credit. This report also shows a Financial Stability Risk Rating between 1 and 5, with 1 being stable and 5 being at risk.6 Most options to view your Experian report (including on their website) are not free, with one-time reports costing around $50.4
Equifax business credit report
Equifax offers subscriptions and a one-time-cost option to pull your report.4 It also offers a Business Failure Score to help assess a company’s risk for bankruptcy over the next 12 months.4 This report can be helpful in mitigating risk and forecasting the health of your business over the coming year. Visit their website for cost and details on how to obtain your report.
Dun & Bradstreet business credit report
D&B is the only bureau that focuses solely on business credit, and is often used by suppliers and vendors to vet the creditworthiness of a company.6
There are a few options to get your D&B report, but you must first find your DUNS number, which is a unique identifier of your business.7 Then, you select what level of report would benefit you—there is a free monitoring option and other more thorough paid options.7 The breadth of D&B reports are helpful, but can be expensive, so these are best for business that want to build credit, are seeking financing or are negotiating contract terms with suppliers.7
How to keep your business credit report healthy
Like most metrics, “good” and “healthy” are subjective, but there are general guidelines for what constitutes a good credit score, and widely accepted ways to keep your score healthy. Most of the above bureaus at least have an option to pull a report for a small fee or have free monitoring services. It may be a worthwhile investment to pay for something like Experian’s Business Credit Advantage, which gives you fraud alerts and access to your report. Or, you could decide to put some money aside to use D&B’s more robust reports a few times per year for a reading on your financial health.8
But just like maintaining your personal credit score, your business credit depends on making payments on time, being accountable to your lenders and monitoring fraud regularly, so a good place to start might be opening a business credit card and making timely payments to boost your score. Like with all financial matters, you should also consult with your financial advisor if you have one. And if you’re worried about risk like fraud, be sure to read up on how Nationwide can help secure your business against fraud and other risks and maintain your financial health.