Education Library · Foundations · Article 2
“I don’t even know what the company’s credit’s like.” We hear some version of that on first calls all the time, from owners doing a few hundred thousand a year and from owners doing several million. Some have never looked. Some assume the business has no file at all. Others have a file they’ve never seen, built from old addresses, an old company name or accounts they forgot about.
You can find out what’s there, and it’s worth doing before you apply for anything.
Where business credit lives
Three bureaus keep most small business credit files:
- Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) organizes files by a D-U-N-S number, a nine-digit ID for the business.
- Experian Business builds files from trade data, lenders, public records and business information.
- Equifax Business collects data largely from lenders, card issuers, leasing companies and some suppliers.
The three don’t share data with each other. A business can have a strong file at one, a thin file at another and nothing at the third. It’s common to see a decent D&B file next to a weak or missing Experian file for the same company.
A business can also have a file it never set up. Bureaus create records from public filings, supplier reports and data aggregators, which is why owners sometimes find their company listed under an old address, an old trade name or the wrong industry.
How to check
Each bureau sells reports and monitoring directly on its website, and several third-party services and some banks show business credit reports and scores, often alongside personal credit. A few things to know before you start:
- Getting a D-U-N-S number is free. D&B doesn’t charge for the number itself and doesn’t require you to buy anything to get one. D&B does sell paid products, and owners sometimes get the impression that a paid membership is part of getting set up. One owner told us that when he started out, he was looking at “$1,700 a year to be a member,” and only later learned the number itself was free. The paid products are optional.
- Look up the business the way a lender would. Search by your exact legal name and EIN, and also by any old names, DBAs and past addresses. Duplicate files are common after a move or a name change.
- Pull all three if you’re preparing for a real request. Lenders and suppliers don’t all use the same bureau, and you won’t know which one they’ll pull.
What the scores mean
Each bureau uses its own scales, so a number only means something next to the scale it came from.
| Bureau | Score | Range | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| D&B | PAYDEX | 1–100 | Based on how promptly the business pays reporting suppliers. 80 generally means paying on time; higher means paying early. |
| D&B | Delinquency Predictor | 101–670 | Likelihood of paying late. Lower is better. |
| Experian | Intelliscore Plus | 300–850 (newer version) | Overall risk. Higher is better. Older Experian materials use a 1–100 scale, so check which version you’re looking at. |
| Equifax | Payment Index | 1–100 | Payment history with reporting creditors. Higher is better. |
| Equifax | Credit Risk Score | 101–992 | Likelihood of serious delinquency. Higher is better. |
You may also hear about the FICO Small Business Scoring Service score, or SBSS, which runs from 0 to 300 and blends business and personal credit. The SBA used to require a minimum SBSS for smaller 7(a) loans. That requirement ended in March 2026, and lenders now use their own models, though many still pull the score.
Owners also get confused by personal scores. One told us a free credit app showed him around 650 while his FICO score was around 750. Different scoring models and different bureaus produce different numbers, for personal credit and business credit alike. Find out which score a lender actually uses.
What to look for on the report
The score gets the attention, but the details underneath usually matter more:
- Business identity. Legal name, address, phone number and industry code should match your state registration, IRS records, bank account and licenses. Mismatches are one of the most common reasons for automatic denials and fraud flags.
- Duplicate or mixed files. Two records for the same company, or another company’s information mixed into yours.
- Tradelines. Which accounts are reporting, who reported them, and whether the payment history is accurate. Many owners find that accounts they assumed were reporting aren’t there at all.
- Balances and limits. How much credit the business has available and how much it’s using.
- Public records. UCC filings, liens, judgments and collections. A lien that was paid off but never released still looks like an open claim to the next lender.
If you find a problem
Because business credit isn’t covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, there’s no single federal dispute process. Each bureau has its own, and some fixes have to come from the source, such as a lender filing a UCC termination or a supplier correcting what it reported. Updating your business information directly with each bureau fixes many identity problems. Keep records of what you submitted and when, and check again after the next reporting cycle.
If there’s no file at all, or the file is thin, that’s information too. It means lenders and suppliers have little to go on except your personal credit, and the next article covers how a business file actually gets built.
This article is educational and isn’t legal, tax, accounting or lending advice. Program rules, lender terms and credit bureau practices change, so verify current terms before acting.
Command your own path.