How to Get a Business Credit Report: Sources, Costs, and Errors

To get a business credit report, choose one of the three major business credit bureaus, gather your company’s legal name and Employer Identification Number (plus a D-U-N-S Number if you are pulling from Dun & Bradstreet), and either sign in to a free monitoring portal or buy the report online. A basic report from Experian or Equifax can start under $50 through their small business portals, while a full Business Information Report purchased directly from Dun & Bradstreet runs $139.99 to $189.99.¹ Delivery is usually a PDF within minutes of payment.

One thing to know upfront: business credit reports are not covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which defines a “consumer” as an individual and protects only reports used for personal, family, or household credit decisions.² No federal law entitles you to a free annual copy of your business file, and no permissible-purpose rule stops vendors, landlords, or competitors from pulling one on your company. Checking your own report is a soft inquiry and does not affect your scores.

What You Need Before You Request One

Gather these identifiers first. A mismatch is the most common reason a search returns the wrong file or no results.

Exact legal business name. It has to match what is filed with your state’s Secretary of State. Even “LLC” versus “L.L.C.” can throw the search.
Registered business address. The address where your company is formally registered or operates.
Employer Identification Number. The nine-digit IRS tax ID. Any business entity other than an unincorporated sole proprietor without employees is required to use an EIN on returns and filings, and bureaus rely on it to distinguish your company from others with similar names.³
D-U-N-S Number, if pulling from Dun & Bradstreet. Requesting one is free on D&B’s website. Standard processing takes up to 30 business days; paid expedited service delivers within about eight business days. If your business does not have one yet, no D&B credit profile exists for it.⁴
A credit or debit card for paid reports.

Where to Pull the Report

Three agencies dominate business credit reporting in the United States, and each uses its own scoring model and its own data. A clean file at one bureau does not guarantee the same at another, so if a specific lender or vendor is going to pull a particular bureau, pull from that one.

Dun & Bradstreet

D&B is the largest dedicated business credit bureau. Its best-known metric is the PAYDEX Score, which runs from 1 to 100 and measures how quickly your business pays its bills. A score of 80 or above signals low risk of late payment, 50 to 79 indicates moderate risk, and anything below 50 is high risk.⁵ D&B also tracks delinquency prediction, failure risk, and supplier evaluations. Every business in the system is identified by its D-U-N-S Number.

Experian Business

Experian’s business division runs separately from its consumer side. Its primary score, the Intelliscore Plus, also ranges from 1 to 100, with higher numbers representing lower risk.⁶ Reports pull from lenders, suppliers, and public records including liens, judgments, and bankruptcies.⁷

Equifax Business

Equifax keeps a separate business database that leans heavily on financial services data and traditional banking relationships. Its business credit risk scores use a wider scale than the other two bureaus, and its reports include payment history, public filings, and company financial data.

Free Options

You do not always need to pay. A summary is often enough for routine monitoring.

Dun & Bradstreet’s free Credit Insights plan shows your PAYDEX score, delinquency score, and failure score, along with change alerts and summary legal events. Detailed payment history requires a paid upgrade.
Experian offers free access to your business credit report and Intelliscore Plus score through its small business portal.
Equifax free access is more limited. Some lending platforms provide Equifax business credit scores at no cost as part of their services.

For a specific loan application or vendor negotiation, a paid report with full payment history and public record detail is usually worth the fee.

What Reports Cost

Pricing depends on the bureau and how much detail you need. A single D&B Business Information Report purchased directly from Dun & Bradstreet runs $139.99 for a snapshot or $189.99 for an on-demand report.¹ Experian and Equifax reports tend to cost less through their small business portals or authorized resellers, with basic reports starting under $50. Monitoring subscriptions with ongoing alerts and score updates usually cost $15 or more per month.

The fees you pay for business credit reports and monitoring generally qualify as deductible ordinary and necessary business expenses under federal tax rules.⁸ Keep the receipt.

How to Actually Request It

The process is online for all three bureaus. Go to the bureau’s business credit portal or search page and enter your company’s legal name, EIN, or D-U-N-S Number. The search returns matching businesses; pick the correct entity.

Once your company is located, the site presents product options ranging from basic score summaries to full reports with payment histories and public records. For a one-time check before a loan application, a single comprehensive report is the most practical choice. For ongoing visibility, choose a monitoring subscription.

Confirm the business details displayed on screen, enter payment information, and submit. Most bureaus deliver the report as a downloadable PDF within minutes. Save the confirmation number and download the file right away, because access links sometimes expire.

If the bureau’s automated verification cannot confirm your identity or authority to access the file, expect to upload additional documentation such as a business license or utility bill, adding a few business days. A mailed physical copy takes two to three weeks.

What to Look for in the Report

Go through it line by line the first time.

Company identification. Legal name, address, industry code, years in business, employee count. Errors here can cause your file to be confused with another company’s.
Credit score and risk rating. The bureau’s proprietary score and its risk category.
Payment history. How quickly your business pays trade accounts. This is the single biggest factor in most business credit scores. Watch for accounts marked slow-pay that you know were paid on time.
Public records. Liens, judgments, UCC filings, and bankruptcies. A resolved lien that was never updated can still drag on your profile.
Credit utilization and inquiries. How much of your available credit you are using and who has recently pulled your file.

The most common errors are outdated addresses, payment data attributed to the wrong company, and public records that were resolved but never updated in the bureau’s system.

If You Find an Error

This is where business credit diverges sharply from personal credit. Because the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not cover business reports, bureaus have no federal legal obligation to investigate your dispute within a specific timeframe the way they do for consumer reports.² All three bureaus do offer dispute processes, but your leverage is more limited than on the consumer side.

For Experian, submit a dispute online using the button at the bottom of your report or email the report with a note to their business disputes team. Experian contacts the data source; investigations are generally completed within 30 days, though complex cases take longer. If changes are made, Experian provides a complimentary updated report.⁹

For Dun & Bradstreet, a 2022 Federal Trade Commission settlement requires D&B to either delete disputed information or reinvestigate it to confirm accuracy, and if the data cannot be verified, it must be removed and cannot be re-added later.¹⁰ Businesses still report frustration with resolution timelines.

Whichever bureau you file with, include supporting documentation: cancelled checks, bank statements, lien release letters. A vague complaint gets a vague response.

If There’s No File Yet

Sometimes a report request turns up a thin file or nothing at all. Business credit files do not populate automatically the way personal credit does when you open a card. Of the more than 500,000 suppliers that extend trade credit, only about 10,000 report payment data to a business credit bureau.¹¹ Most of your on-time payments may be invisible until you take deliberate steps.

Get your D-U-N-S Number if you do not already have one, since that creates your file with Dun & Bradstreet.⁴ Then open trade accounts with vendors that specifically report to business credit bureaus. Office supply companies, fuel card providers, and certain shipping services are commonly known to report. Ask each vendor directly whether they report to D&B, Experian, or Equifax before you assume the account is building your file.

Pay every account on time or early. The PAYDEX score in particular rewards early payment: paying before terms earns a higher score than paying on the due date.⁵ Aim for three to five active trade references reporting to each bureau before applying for significant financing.

Keep business and personal credit separate. Use your EIN rather than your Social Security number on credit applications when possible, keep a dedicated business bank account, and make sure the company’s legal name and address are consistent across every filing and trade account. Inconsistencies are one of the most common reasons business credit data ends up in the wrong file or fails to appear at all.

1
Dun & Bradstreet. D&B Business Information Report
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681a – Definitions; Rules of Construction
3
eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6109-1 – Identifying Numbers
4
Dun & Bradstreet. Get a D-U-N-S Number
5
Dun & Bradstreet. Business Credit Scores and Ratings
6
Experian. Understanding Your Business Credit Score
7
Experian. Business Reports – Company Reports – Commercial Credit Reports
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 162 – Trade or Business Expenses
9
Experian. Correcting Business Credit Report Information
10
Federal Trade Commission. In Response to FTC Charges, Dun and Bradstreet to Clean Up Small Business Credit Reporting Process
11
U.S. Small Business Administration. How to Open a Business Credit File