How to check your business credit report

milan2099/GettyImages; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate

Consumer credit scores can be complicated to understand, yet current or soon-to-be business owners will need to digest another layer of information. Just as you’re assigned a credit score based on your personal creditworthiness, businesses also have a credit score that denotes their overall credit health.

Business credit scores are used for the same purpose as credit scores for individuals. If you apply for a business credit card or a small business loan, the company you apply for credit with will use your business credit score to determine the creditworthiness of your business, as well as your interest rate and loan terms. If you don’t have enough of a business credit profile for a business credit score, or if the credit card or loan product you’re applying for comes with a personal guarantee, then issuers like American Express will pull your personal credit score instead. 

Like personal credit scores, higher business credit scores are better when it comes to getting the best rates and strongest terms. However, while personal credit scores typically fall between 300 and 850, business credit scores have a range from 1 to 100.

How to check your business credit score

Several third-party companies make it possible for you to access a business credit report online. Each provider lets you see a version of your business credit score, and some offer packages that grant you access to more credit features and information.

If you want to build your business credit score and are wondering how to get a business credit report, you can consider the following paid options:

Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet is a business credit rating agency only, meaning that it doesn’t handle consumer credit reports the way other agencies in this article do. Instead, it focuses all of its products to business owners. The company offers three Credit Insight tiers to help you monitor and manage your business credit score:

1. D&B Credit Insights Free: This free service allows you to sign up for alerts after changes to your Paydex Score, Delinquency Score, Failure Score or Supplier Evaluation Risk (SER®). You also get payment history summaries and alerts about new inquiries.
2. D&B Credit Insights Basic: This paid tier costs $49 per month or $499 per year for nonstop monitoring of six D&B scores, ratings and factors — including your D&B Rating and Maximum Credit Recommendation, which isn’t included in the free tier. You also get everything else included in the free tier, plus access to historical rating trends for your business and other tools designed to help you stay on top of legal events, like judgments and UCC filings. 
3. D&B Credit Insights Plus: This tier costs $149 a month or $1,499 a year and provides everything from the free and basic plans. It also includes dark web monitoring, the option to include additional data in your credit file and the ability to compare your ratings to other select companies. 

• Who it’s best for
  

  Business owners who want to see their business credit score and monitor changes to their business credit profile over time.

• How to sign up
  

  Go to Dun & Bradstreet’s site and sign up with a plan you’re interested in.

Experian

The credit reporting bureau Experian is another provider that lets you view your business credit score or monitor your business credit profile through four paid services:

1. CreditScore Report. For a one-time $39.95 charge, you can view your business credit score and gain an overview of your business profile.
2. ProfilePlus Report. For a one-time charge of $49.95, you get a more comprehensive business credit score report that includes information on credit inquiries and detailed tradeline data.
3. Business Credit Advantage. This annual plan costs $189 a year for unlimited business credit score access, credit alerts, ongoing tracking and more.
4. Business CreditScore Pro. For $1,495 a year, you can view reports for up to 30 businesses each month, including public records and scores.

• Who it’s best for
  

  Small business owners who don’t want to sign up for a subscription and just want a one-time report. (Though, if you do, you have two options for continued access.)

   

• How to sign up
  

  Go to Experian’s site and purchase a one-time report or subscribe to the plan you’re interested in.

Equifax

The credit reporting bureau Equifax lets you order a single business credit report on its website, although you’ll need to make a customer service inquiry to learn about pricing. These reports are packed with comprehensive information that includes a company profile, a credit summary, details on public records, Equifax business risk scores and more.

Business reports from Equifax also include a unique Business Failure Score, which tries to predict how likely it is for a business to fail through “formal or informal bankruptcy” over the next 12 months.

• Who it’s best for
  

  Small business owners looking to get a copy of their business credit report who don’t mind submitting their contact details for a pitch about a more comprehensive plan from Equifax. 

• How to sign up
  

  Go to Equifax’s site and complete the Contact Us form to learn about pricing and next steps.

Are there free options for checking a business credit score?

Yes, you can find free options for your business credit score. But keep in mind that free reports aren’t as robust as paid reports or subscriptions. Still, they can provide a good place to start.

Free options to check your business credit score include:

• Dun & Bradstreet CreditSignal. This free service from Dun & Bradstreet allows you access to your business credit score, with notifications when your credit score changes and how to improve it. Most of the benefits of this free program last for 14 days, at which point you’re strongly encouraged to upgrade to a paid option. 
• Dun & Bradstreet Credit Insights: You can also sign up for the free tier of D&B Credit Insights and see the same scores and ratings on a monthly basis.
• Nav. The marketplace Nav offers free access to business credit scores when you sign up. You can access your Dun & Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax business credit reports and scores, as well as a summary of your business credit reports and credit-building tools. You can use Nav online or get it as a mobile app.

What information will you need to check your score?

To access your business credit score with Nav or the D&B programs, you must provide personal, business and contact information. That could include your:

• Business name
• ZIP code
• Email address
• Home address
• Business address
• Date of birth
• Phone number
• Social Security number

You may also need to answer security questions based on your loan history, work history or previous addresses.

Which option should you choose?

A free business credit report can give you a general idea of your overall business credit health, though information will not be as comprehensive as you’ll find with paid business credit monitoring plans.

For ongoing monitoring of your business credit profile, a paid monthly plan from a company like Experian or Dun & Bradstreet can make sense.

Whatever you do, make sure you take the steps to getting a handle on your business credit. Your business credit score may sound unimportant as you’re getting off the ground, but you’ll need a solid business profile if you want to apply for a business credit card, get a low-interest business loan or work with vendors who extend credit.

Your best bet is having an idea of your business credit score and taking steps to monitor it early on — before you need it.