Ever wonder how lenders and suppliers view your business? Your business credit score is an important part of the answer.
This guide walks you through the process of checking your business credit report, along with some helpful tips about the services you can choose from.
What information will you need to check your business credit score?
Gather your company's essential information and have it handy to fill out the forms.
- Business name and address: Make sure you have the official name and registered address of your business. If that official address has changed within the last few years, it's best to have both addresses available, just in case.
- Employer Identification Number (EIN): This unique identifier acts like a Social Security number for your business and is often required when checking credit scores. If you don't already have one, you'll need to apply for one with the IRS.
- DUNS Number: If you're checking your score with Dun & Bradstreet and you already have a DUNS number, have that ready. If you don't, they'll give you one in the process of registering your business with them.
- Business structure: It's a good idea to know the legal structure of your business (LLC, corporation, partnership, etc.) You'll need it for just about anything that touches on your business credit, finances, or taxes.
Pro tip: If it takes you a few minutes (or more) to gather this info, create an entry for your business in your phone's address book and store it there for future reference.
How to check your business credit report
To check your business credit reports, follow these steps.
1. Decide where to look up your business credit scores
While personal credit scores are fairly easy to check for free, checking your business credit score can be a challenge—it's a lot more complicated than checking your personal credit score.
Business credit bureaus don't even use the same scale as personal credit scores (or the same scale as each other for that matter), and they generally won't let you check your business credit score for free.
If you aren't sure where you want to check your business credit history, hop down to the next section to choose a service first.
2. Visit the bureau's website
Go to the website of the specific business credit bureau you want to check—Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.
3. Create an account
As a general rule, you'll need to create an account to access your credit report, but be prepared—you'll still need to pay for it. Creating an account typically involves providing your business information and verifying your identity.
4. Request your credit report
Once your account is set up, you can request your business credit report. Each bureau has its own set of service offerings, ranging from fairly reasonable pricing to exorbitant services that are designed for high-revenue companies.
5. Review the report
If you do get your hands on your business credit report, review the information carefully. Check the accuracy of your credit score, payment history, and any public records. If you find discrepancies, take immediate action to dispute them.
6. Monitor your score
If you want to keep an eye on your business credit, consider setting reminders to check your score periodically or subscribing to a service that will monitor your business credit and alert you about any changes.
Are there free options for checking a business credit score?
While most business credit reports come with a cost, there are a few free options available—with significant caveats. It's best to skim through the whole list before choosing one.
Dun & Bradstreet's "Credit Insights Free"
This free service gives you only limited access to Dun & Bradstreet's credit-related info about your business, but you can log into the dashboard as often as you like. If the system can access a PAYDEX® score for your company, there's a spot for that—but there might not be anything in it.
You can also get a general feel for your company's perceived credit risk with score ranges for things like delinquency, failure, or supplier risk. The ranges only give you a verbal range for that risk though, such as "low to moderate," not an actual score.
Before you can check even your limited credit report on Dun & Bradstreet, you'll need to register your business with them.
If you've been in business for a while and your company is officially registered in your state, there's a decent chance your business will already be in the system. In that case, you'll just need to claim the profile that already exists. If not, you'll need to create one.
Pro tip: If the service isn't listed in the "apps" section of your D&B home screen, touch or click "Explore More Apps" and look for "Credit Insights Free."
Equifax
At the time of this writing, Equifax doesn't appear to offer a free service for its Equifax business credit reports. It does list a service that says it's designed for small business, but the price isn't listed on the website. Small business owners are directed to a form they can fill out to contact sales.
Experian
Experian offers a free business lookup service, but the search results don't report your Experian business credit scores. They just let you know whether or not your company is in their system. Of course, that's a useful thing to know, so there's still some value in looking up your company at least once to see if it's in there.
Once you've looked up your company, the service will offer a range of credit score services to choose from if you want to see your business credit profile. At the time of this writing, their basic CreditScore Report℠ is $39.95.
If you're thinking about buying a report, click on "View sample" for that report to see a sample report from a fictitious company, so you'll know what kind of information you'll get.
Free trials
If you're not in a hurry, the main business credit bureaus listed above will occasionally offer free trials for their credit score reporting services. It's not a guarantee, but you can always wait and see if one pops up.
Banking options
Banks will sometimes offer free business credit report lookup services for their business bank account customers. At the time of this writing, Bank of America is offering free D&B credit score reports for its Business Advantage 360 customers.
The fine print at the bottom of the page suggests you'll get "The D&B® Delinquency Predictor Score" and “The D&B® Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE) Score”—to be used "solely for educational purposes."
Credit offers
This one is more of a tip, but if you register your company with Dun & Bradstreet, you'll probably start getting random offers for term loans, business cards, and lines of credit by email, phone, and text. Be extremely careful with these offers. It's generally a good practice not to click on email or text links, even if the company looks like one you know. Search for the company in your browser instead.
That said, the amounts and interest rates you're being offered will give you a feel for your company's credit rating and how lenders view your company's financial health. The more money you're offered, and the lower the interest rate, the better your score.
So if the offers keep getting bigger, that's a sign of a good business credit score. If they're getting smaller, you might want to take steps to improve your business credit score, whether or not you know the actual number.
Build your business credit with the BILL Divvy Card¹
One of the best ways to raise your business credit score is to build your business's credit history over time. The BILL Divvy Card powered by Visa can help.
- When you use the BILL Divvy Card for your business expenses, your payments are reported to the Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE®), helping to build your credit history with business credit bureaus.
- In fact, timely payments are important for a good credit score across many vendors and creditors. BILL can help you keep up with your business bills and payments, making it easier not to miss those due dates.
- The BILL platform also offers valuable insights into your spending habits, helping you make informed decisions that can positively impact your credit score.
- Using a corporate card responsibly over time can prove your ability to manage revolving credit, which is a critical factor in determining your business credit score.
¹The BILL Divvy Card is issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, and is not a deposit product.
