Business credit bureaus: What they are, how they work, and how to access your reports

If you own a business, you know how important it is to build and maintain a strong business credit profile. Your business credit scores, generated by the major business credit bureaus, play a critical role in determining your access to financing, trade credit, and even potential partnerships.

There are three major business credit bureaus that collect, analyze, and provide credit-related data on businesses: Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), Experian, and Equifax. In this article, we take an in-depth look at these business credit reporting agencies, how they collect information, and what you can do to ensure your business credit profile is in top shape.

What are the 3 main business credit bureaus?

The main business credit bureaus are Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax. Each plays a key role in collecting financial data, creating credit reports, and generating scores that lenders, suppliers, and partners use to assess your company’s reliability.

• Dun & Bradstreet: D&B is the oldest and most widely recognized business credit bureau. It’s known for its PAYDEX score and the D-U-N-S Number, which many suppliers and government agencies require before extending trade credit.
• Experian: In addition to consumer credit reporting, Experian offers business-focused scores such as Intelliscore Plus. It’s widely used by banks and alternative lenders to evaluate payment risk and overall financial stability.
• Equifax: Like Experian, Equifax handles both consumer and business credit. Its business reports include a Payment Index, Business Credit Risk Score, and Business Failure Score, often relied on by banks, leasing companies, and larger financial institutions.

These are the primary sources for business credit information, but additional agencies, such as Creditsafe and Ansonia, serve specific industries or provide supplemental data.

What credit bureau do most businesses use?

Most businesses primarily use Dun & Bradstreet for business credit reporting, as it specializes in business credit scores like the PAYDEX score and assigns businesses a D-U-N-S Number for tracking credit activity.

However, Experian and Equifax are also popular, especially with lenders assessing business and owner credit history. Additionally, some lenders and financial institutions use the FICO Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS), which incorporates data from multiple credit bureaus.

Where does business credit information come from?

Business credit bureaus gather information from a variety of sources to generate their reports and scores. The main sources include:

• Trade references: Vendors and suppliers your business works with can report your payment activity to the bureaus. This is why it's important to establish trade lines with companies that report to the bureaus.‍
• Business credit cards: If you have any business credit cards, your lender will likely report your activity to one or more business credit bureaus
• Public records: The bureaus collect public information such as business registrations, licenses, and any legal filings (liens, bankruptcies, judgments) from local, county, and state government databases
• Company data: Basic facts about your business, like years in operation, Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes, number of employees, and annual sales, can come from information you supply directly to the bureaus or from data aggregators
• Collection agencies: Any debts reported to collection agencies will likely appear on your business credit reports, too

Not every vendor or lender shares data with the bureaus, so your report may look different across agencies. As a business owner, you can influence what gets reported by working with vendors that share payment history and by self-reporting financial data where allowed.

Dun & Bradstreet business credit scores and reports

Dun & Bradstreet is the oldest and most well-known business credit bureau. Founded in 1841, D&B maintains credit files on more than 500 million business records worldwide.

You can get a free D-U-N-S Number on D&B's website. Once you have a D-U-N-S Number, you should encourage any vendors or suppliers you work with to report your payments to D&B to help establish your credit profile.

PAYDEX score

The main business credit score generated by D&B is called the PAYDEX score. PAYDEX scores range from 1–100, with higher scores indicating a better payment history. The PAYDEX mostly takes payment history into account, among other factors such as number of trade experiences, credit utilization, and length of business credit history.

To have a PAYDEX score, your business must have a D-U-N-S Number and at least two trade references that report payment activity to D&B. Scores of 80 or above are considered great, while scores of 50–79 are considered fair to good. A score under 50 is regarded as subpar and indicates a past record of overdue payments or accounts in default.

Other D&B credit scores

In addition to the PAYDEX, D&B generates several other scores and ratings, including the Delinquency Predictor Score, Failure Score, Cyber Risk Rating, ESG Ranking, and D&B Rating. These assess the odds of late payments or business failure in the next 12 months.

Equifax business credit scores and reports

Equifax is one of the major consumer credit bureaus that also offers business credit reporting services. To establish a credit file with Equifax, your business must be incorporated, have a business credit card or trade line that reports to Equifax, or have already applied for business credit in your company's name.

It offers three different scores: the Payment Index, the Credit Risk Score, and the Business Failure Score.

Equifax Payment Index

One of the main Equifax business credit scores is called the Payment Index. Similar to the PAYDEX, it ranges from 1–100, with higher scores predicting a lower risk of late payments.

‍Equifax Business Credit Risk Score

Equifax provides a Credit Risk Score, which assesses the likelihood of your company becoming severely delinquent on payments. The score ranges from 101–992, with lower scores indicating higher risk.

Equifax Business Failure Score

Equifax also provides a Business Failure Score that predicts the chance of your business failing through bankruptcy over the next 12 months. The failure risk score range runs from 1,000–1,880. Like its Credit Risk Score, a higher score indicates higher risk.

Experian business credit reports and scores

Experian is another major consumer credit bureau that maintains business credit information.

Experian Intelliscore Plus

Experian's main business credit score is the Intelliscore Plus, which ranges from 1–100. Scores of 76 or higher predict a low risk of late payments or default, while 1 indicates the highest risk.

Experian Financial Stability Risk Score

Experian also provides various other scores and indicators of credit risk, such as the Financial Stability Risk Score, which uses a scale of 1–5 to assess a company's creditworthiness. The number captures your company’s risk of failure over the next 12 months, with 1 being the lowest risk and 5 the highest.

Additional business credit scores

Your company may also be evaluated using other credit scoring models. One of the most widely recognized is the FICO Small Business Scoring Service score, which is commonly used by lenders, including the Small Business Administration (SBA), to assess applications for business loans, other lines of credit, or credit limits.

The FICO SBSS score ranges from 0–300, with higher scores indicating lower credit risk. The FICO SBSS score considers data from your business credit reports as well as your personal credit report, so maintaining strong personal credit in addition to responsible business financial management is key to securing favorable financing options.

Other business credit reporting agencies include:

• Creditsafe: A global business credit agency that sells business credit reports
• LexisNexis: A business credit reporting agency that is part of the RELX organization
• Ansonia: A business credit reporting agency specializing in transportation, logistics, and freight industries

How do I check my business credit report?

It’s important to review your business credit reports regularly to help spot errors, track how your company looks to lenders and suppliers, and ensure your information is up to date before applying for financing or partnerships. Here’s a summary of how to get your business credit report by requesting it from the three major business credit bureaus:

• Dun & Bradstreet: Visit the D&B website to get a free basic CreditSignal report or purchase a detailed PAYDEX score report. To access your file, you’ll need a D-U-N-S Number, which you can apply for on their site if you don’t already have one.
• Experian Business: Use its Business Credit Advantage service to access your full credit profile. Reports start at $49.95, and the subscription option includes ongoing monitoring and access to your Intelliscore Plus.
• Equifax Business: Purchase a report through Equifax’s Business Credit Reports & Scores portal. Reports are priced individually or in packages, and they include multiple scores such as the Payment Index, Credit Risk Score, and Business Failure Score.

Each bureau may have different data on your business, so it's best to check all three for a complete picture.

What steps can I take to improve my business credit score?

Here are some practical steps you can take to build your business credit score:

• Pay bills on time: Consistently make timely payments to vendors and creditors to build a strong payment history
• Manage credit utilization: Keep balances low on business credit cards and avoid maxing out credit lines
• Establish trade lines: Work with suppliers that report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, and Equifax Business to strengthen your credit profile
• Monitor your credit reports: Regularly review your business credit reports for errors and dispute inaccuracies
• Increase credit limits: Request higher limits to improve your credit utilization ratio
• Limit hard inquiries: Only apply for new business credit when necessary to avoid excessive inquiries
• Strengthen business credibility: Keep your business registered, maintain positive cash flow, and use a dedicated business bank account

Who can access your business credit report?

Unlike personal credit reports, which require your permission for most inquiries, business credit reports are generally public information. This means that a wide range of organizations can view them, including:

• Lenders and banks, when you apply for loans, credit lines, or financing
• Suppliers and vendors, before extending trade credit terms
• Potential partners or investors, to evaluate your company’s financial reliability
• Landlords or leasing companies, when you apply for office or equipment leases

Since access is broad, transparency matters. A strong business credit profile not only improves your chances of securing financing, but it can also influence the terms you’re offered, the trust you build with partners, and even the growth opportunities available to you.

How Ramp can help you build business credit

One of the smartest ways to establish business credit is with a business credit card that reports to the major bureaus, and that's exactly what Ramp offers. With the Ramp Business Credit Card, you can:

• Get access to business credit with no personal guarantee or credit check required. We evaluate your business on its own merit.
• Build your business credit. We report your on-time payments to bureaus, such as Experian, Equifax, and Dun & Bradstreet, helping you establish a positive credit history
• Manage your business financial information and spending with powerful expense management tools, spend controls, and real-time reporting, all built into our platform
• Automate your accounting and save time with seamless integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and more

Access the capital you need to grow your business while building a strong small business credit profile, all without impacting your personal credit.

Ready to get started? Try an interactive demo and see why Ramp customers save an average of 5% a year across all spending.