Business credit scores: What they are and how to check them

Like individuals, businesses have credit scores that are used to evaluate their creditworthiness. Business credit scores are determined by factors such as payment history, public records, and credit utilization. Lenders, banks, and suppliers use these scores to assess decisions related to lending, investments, and term agreements.

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That’s why it’s important to stay on top of your business credit score—and check it frequently. The best way to check your business credit score for free is through the credit bureau Dun & Bradstreet. After giving your company a DUNS number, the agency will run your credit and issue you a Paydex score.

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Dun & Bradstreet isn’t the only way to check your business credit score, however, and this article will walk you through all your options. First, though, we’ll explain how business credit scores work, how they're used, how they're determined, and how they differ from your personal credit score.

What is a business credit score?

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Your business credit score reveals your company’s financial health and is accessible to vendors, lenders, and anyone else considering doing business with you. If it’s low, you’ll be deemed a high-risk company, making it difficult to build relationships and grow your business.

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Businesses of any size can have a credit score, including sole proprietorships and single-person LLCs. To get a business credit score, you'll need to obtain a business license and register a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name with your state. Credit reporting agencies will receive this information and begin tracking your business’s credit.

How is your business credit score used?

Lenders use your business credit score to evaluate whether they can offer you a business loan or line of credit. Your business credit score also impacts your interest rate and the size of the loan you’ll receive.

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Business credit scores help lenders understand your business’s creditworthiness. A higher credit score indicates that your business makes timely payments to vendors and other lenders, keeps its credit utilization rate low, and has consistent revenues. Ultimately, lenders rely on your business credit score to determine how likely you are to repay your business loan.

How are business credit scores calculated?

Business credit scores are calculated using multiple factors:

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• Trade credit transactions: Trade credit history is a significant factor in determining your business credit score. This includes details such as payment history with suppliers and vendors, and how consistently your business meets its trade obligations.
• Public records and legal filings: Business credit scores often incorporate information from public records, such as bankruptcies, liens, and judgments. These elements can have a substantial impact on your business’s credit score.
• Company size and industry risk: The size of your business and the industry it operates in also factor into your score. Certain industries may be deemed riskier than others, and larger businesses might have different credit capacities compared to smaller ones.
• Credit utilization and financial health: Business scores look at how much credit your business is using relative to what you have available, similar to personal credit scores. However, they also consider the broader financial health of the business, including revenues and assets.

What does a new business credit score start at?

Unlike personal credit scores, which often start from the lowest possible score, business credit scores may start from around the midpoint.

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For Dun & Bradstreet’s Paydex score, a business usually needs to have at least three trade references reporting to D&B to generate a score. The starting point for a new business could be around the middle if there's limited credit history.

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Experian and Equifax have their own scoring models with different scales and criteria. A new business might not have a score at all until it has enough credit history.

Business credit scores vs. personal credit scores 

Here are some key differences between business credit scores and personal credit scores:

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• Range: A personal credit score typically ranges from 300 to 850. Business credit scores usually range from 0 to 100.
• Employer Identification Number (EIN) vs. Social Security number: Personal credit scores are linked to your Social Security number. Business credit scores are tied to an EIN. You’ll need to register your business before you can get an EIN.
• Standardization: Consumer credit bureaus use the FICO algorithm to determine your personal credit scores. Business credit score algorithms vary between credit bureaus.
• Rating agencies: You can get free personal credit scores at least once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Conversely, you’ll need to pay to see your business credit score. You can use the three major business credit bureaus: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian. 
• Privacy/access: Only you and a few other parties have access to your personal credit score. With business credit scores, the information is publicly accessible to those who pay for access. This can include potential lenders, suppliers, business partners, or even competitors.

How to check your business credit score for free

You can check your business credit score for free by using Dun & Bradstreet. 

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To check your business credit score with Dun & Bradstreet, you’ll need a so-called DUNS number. It’s free, but it can take up to 30 days to receive. Once you have it, they’ll assign you a Paydex score, a delinquency score, a business failure score, and other information about your business’s financial health.

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The Paydex score ranges from 0–100, and it evaluates payment history. The delinquency score is between 101–607 and estimates the likelihood of your business making late payments. If your score is high, that’s a good thing: it means your business is low-risk.

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The business failure score ranges from 1,001–1,875 and predicts the chances of a business shutting down or declaring bankruptcy in the next 12 months. A low failure score means your business is viewed as a higher risk.

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Dun & Bradstreet’s Credit Signal package lets you check your credit score for free, but you'll need to pay for additional ratings or information.

How to check your business credit score with Experian and Equifax

You can check your business credit score from Experian and Equifax for a small fee. 

Experian

Experian offers a business credit report package that starts at $39.95 per report. The main factors of the report are your business credit score and financial stability risk rating.

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Their business credit scores range from 1–100. Experian considers your payment behavior, delinquent accounts, and the number of accounts you have with payment terms beyond net-30 days to determine your score.

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The financial stability risk rating ranges from 1–5 and looks at the probability of payment defaults or bankruptcy in the next 12 months. A lower score means your business is a low risk for potential lenders.

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On top of the standard Experian business credit report, you might also consider their Business Credit Advantage package for $189 per year. You’ll get unlimited access to your financial information, additional analysis, and alerts.

Equifax 

Similar to Experian and Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax’s business credit report also includes multiple scores to assess your business. They provide a credit risk, failure risk, and payment index score.

The credit risk score ranges from 101–992 and assesses the chances of delinquency or business failure. The higher your score, the less risk your business poses. Payment index scores range from 1–100 and evaluate payment history. The failure risk score runs from 1,000 to 1,880 and predicts the likelihood that your business will shut down in the next 12 months.

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Equifax doesn’t publish its pricing on its website. You’ll need to contact them to purchase an Equifax business credit report for yourself or another company.

What is a good business credit score?

Business credit scores vary depending on the business credit reporting agencies. In general, a score above 75 is considered good.

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To understand the business credit score spectrum, let’s look at the Dun & Bradstreet Paydex scoring system:

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• Paydex range 80–100: A score of 100 means that all your payments go through before their due date. A score of 80 reveals your payments are on time. This is considered good credit. 
• Paydex range 50–79: A score of 70 shows that your payments often come 15 days late. Businesses that tend to pay 30 days late get a score of around 50. This is considered fair credit.
• Paydex range 0–49: Scoring 40 or less means you make payments 60 days past the due date. This is a poor credit score.

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If you want to know what scores are typically considered good, you’ll need to know which credit bureaus your desired lenders or vendors are working with. In the meantime, here’s a brief breakdown of good business credit scores from popular reporting agencies:

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• Dun & Bradstreet: 80–100
• Experian: 76–100
• FICO SBSS: 140–300
• Equifax: 75–100

How your credit score will affect business operations

For business owners, a good business credit score can result in increased opportunities, easier access to financing, and lower insurance rates. But what if your business score is on the lower end of the spectrum? What problems can you expect to run into?

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Here’s how a bad credit score can negatively affect business operations:

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• Difficulty securing new loans: A bad business credit score makes it harder for your business to secure favorable terms on new loans or lines of credit
• Impacts vendor relationships: New vendors are usually reluctant to work with a business with bad credit
• Increased utility costs: Your bad credit could cause you to pay higher utility costs
• Higher interest rates: Poor business credit means higher interest rates on loans
• Expensive insurance premiums: Insurance companies view low business credit scores as evidence of poor business dealings. They’ll increase your premiums to protect themselves when providing you with coverage.

6 ways a small business can improve its business credit score

As a new business, you might find it hard to build business credit. A low business credit score can be discouraging if you made some financial mistakes early on. Even so, your business can still improve its financial health.

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Let’s explore six ways you can increase your small business credit score and prove your creditworthiness to finance providers:

1. Avoid closing accounts: Credit bureaus factor your business credit history into your credit score, so don’t rush to close accounts. Even if you don’t use them often, leave them open to increase the average age of your credit accounts.
2. Pay your bills on time: Working to pay your bills on time is the best thing you can do to improve your credit score. Making regular payments proves that you’re not a risk to lenders and vendors. If you can manage it, paying your bills early is even better.
3. Pay off balances: Paying off balances works to decrease your credit utilization ratio. If you can’t pay them off completely, try keeping them as low as possible. 
4. Increase your credit limit: Increasing your credit limit lowers your credit utilization ratio, which helps to improve your credit score.
5. Open a separate business bank account: Instead of using a personal card for business purposes, apply for a business credit card and open a separate business bank account. Only use money from this account to pay off debts.
6. Maintain lines of trade credit: Credit extended by suppliers and vendors is crucial to financing your business. Building successful relationships with these vendors and suppliers by paying on time will help you maintain a good credit score. 

How Ramp’s finance automation can help startups manage their credit

It’s not enough for your startup to simply secure lines of credit—you need to be able to manage and track your spending effectively. If you want to build credit quickly while saving time and money, Ramp can help.

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Ramp’s corporate business credit cards allow you to set custom controls to stay on top of your company’s spending. We report to the major business credit reporting agencies, so every purchase you make with Ramp’s cards helps you build your credit and foster good relationships with vendors and suppliers.

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Our cards pair directly with our modern expense management platform, giving you real-time insights and reports for an up-to-the-minute view of your company’s financial health and cash flow. To see how Ramp can work for your startup, try our interactive demo.