To run a business credit report, gather the company’s legal name, headquarters address, Employer Identification Number, and Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S number if it has one, then order the report directly from Dun & Bradstreet or Experian, or through an approved Equifax reseller. Unlike personal credit files, business credit data sits outside the Fair Credit Reporting Act because the FCRA defines a “consumer” as an individual.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681a – Definitions; Rules of Construction Anyone with a credit card can buy one. There’s no permissible-purpose requirement to clear.
What You Need Before You Order
Companies with similar names operating from different addresses are more common than you’d expect. Pulling the wrong report wastes both money and time, because most bureaus don’t refund reports run on the wrong entity. Line up these identifiers first.
Legal Name and Address
Every search starts with the company’s full legal name as registered with its state filing office, plus its current physical headquarters address. If you’re pulling a report on your own business, use the name exactly as it appears on your formation documents.
Employer Identification Number
The EIN is the nine-digit number the IRS assigns under 26 U.S.C. § 6109.2GovInfo. U.S.C. Title 26 – 6109 Identifying Numbers Bureau search portals accept it in the “Tax ID” field, and entering it removes the ambiguity when several businesses share a name. You’ll find your own EIN on any previously filed federal tax return or on the IRS confirmation letter that issued the number.
D-U-N-S Number
Dun & Bradstreet assigns its own nine-digit identifier, the D-U-N-S number. If the company has one, entering it on D&B’s portal bypasses name-and-address search entirely. Requesting a D-U-N-S number for your own business is free and takes up to 30 business days; D&B also sells expedited processing within eight business days.3Dun & Bradstreet. Get a D-U-N-S Number Applying requires your legal business name, address, phone number, owner name, legal structure, founding year, industry, and employee count.
Where to Order the Report
The three major commercial bureaus draw from different networks of trade creditors, so no single report tells the complete story. A supplier reporting to Experian may not report to Dun & Bradstreet, and vice versa. For serious due diligence on a partner or vendor, pull from at least two bureaus.
Dun & Bradstreet
D&B is the oldest commercial bureau and the only one that assigns the D-U-N-S number. Reports center on the PAYDEX score and detailed trade payment data. Business owners can view a basic version of their own credit profile at no cost through D&B’s website. To pull a report on another company, go through D&B’s Credit Solutions portal.
Experian Business
On Experian’s site, use the Small Business section’s business search tool. Experian sells two main report tiers: the CreditScore report covers scores and basic risk data, and the ProfilePlus report adds detailed payment histories and public filings.4Experian Business. Products and Pricing
Equifax Business
Equifax routes business credit report orders through an approved reseller rather than selling directly from its main site.5Equifax. Business Credit Reports Reports feature the OneScore for Commercial model, which uses AI to generate a delinquency prediction. Ordering takes a few extra steps compared to the other two bureaus, but Equifax draws from trade sources the others may not cover.
Free and Low-Cost Options
You don’t always need to pay full price. Nav provides free credit grades based on data from all three major bureaus, though the free tier shows letter grades and summaries rather than full reports with detailed trade lines. D&B lets business owners view a basic version of their own profile at no cost. These are fine for routine monitoring. When you’re evaluating a specific vendor or preparing for a major loan application, a full paid report gives you the detail you need.
What It Costs and How You Pay
Experian publishes its pricing openly. A CreditScore report runs $59.95, a ProfilePlus report costs $69.95, and an annual Business Credit Advantage subscription is $199.4Experian Business. Products and Pricing Experian also sells international business credit reports at $69.95 each. D&B’s pricing is less transparent and often requires contacting their sales team for comprehensive reports. Equifax pricing depends on the reseller.
Payment is by credit card or corporate account at checkout. After you confirm the correct business match on the search results screen, the portal moves to a payment page. Review the order summary carefully before clicking through, because refunds on reports pulled against the wrong entity are unusual. Digital delivery is essentially instant: a PDF download link appears on the confirmation page, and most bureaus email a backup copy.
Previously purchased reports stay accessible through most bureau portals for 30 to 90 days, so you can revisit the data without paying again during that window. If you monitor your own company’s credit regularly, an annual subscription is usually cheaper than buying individual reports every quarter.
What You Get Back
Every bureau organizes its data slightly differently, but the core sections are consistent.6U.S. Small Business Administration. What Makes Up a Small Business Credit Report
- Company profile: legal name, address, incorporation details, ownership structure, employee count, and subsidiaries or affiliates.
- Financial data: annual sales figures and, when available, financial statement summaries.
- Payment history: invoice activity, outstanding balances, payment terms, credit limits, and aging data showing how many days beyond terms the company typically pays.
- Public records: bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments, collections, and UCC filings.
- Credit scores and ratings: each bureau’s proprietary score predicting future payment behavior.
Payment history carries the most weight with lenders and suppliers. A report might show that a company pays its telecom vendor 60 days beyond terms while staying current with its raw materials supplier. That granularity catches patterns a single score can’t.
One thing to keep in mind: these reports are not real-time. Lenders and trade creditors typically report payment data to the bureaus once a month, and not all on the same day. A large invoice you paid last week may not show up yet. If you’ve recently resolved a collection or lien, expect a lag of several weeks before it appears.
Reading the Score
Each bureau produces its own score on its own scale. Reading them correctly matters.
D&B PAYDEX
PAYDEX runs from 0 to 100 and is weighted by dollar amount, so larger invoices count more than small ones. An 80 means the company pays on time. Anything above 80 means it pays early. Below 80, the score drops in increments tied to how far past due payments typically run:7D&B Document. PAYDEX Score Breakdown
- 100: pays before invoice is due
- 90: pays early enough to take discounts
- 80: pays within terms
- 70: 15 days beyond terms
- 60: 22 days beyond terms
- 50: 30 days beyond terms
- 40: 60 days beyond terms
- 30 or below: 90+ days beyond terms
A PAYDEX of 70 might look decent at a glance, but it means the company habitually pays about two weeks late. That distinction matters when you’re deciding whether to extend net-30 terms to a new customer.
Experian Intelliscore Plus
Intelliscore Plus also ranges from 1 to 100, but the direction is reversed from what most people expect based on personal credit scores. A 100 represents the lowest risk; a 1 represents the highest.8Experian Business. Risk Ranking/Recommendation
- 76–100: low risk
- 51–75: low to medium risk
- 26–50: medium risk
- 11–25: medium to high risk
- 1–10: high risk
Equifax Payment Index and OneScore
Equifax uses a Payment Index that mirrors the PAYDEX concept: scores range from 0 to 100, with 90–100 indicating on-time payments and lower tiers reflecting increasing delinquency. Equifax also offers OneScore for Commercial, its newer AI-driven delinquency prediction score.5Equifax. Business Credit Reports
Fixing Errors on Your Own Report
If you’re pulling your own report, check it carefully. Errors on business credit files are more common than most owners realize, partly because the data collection process is less regulated than personal credit.
Because the FCRA doesn’t cover business credit, you don’t have the same statutory dispute rights that protect personal credit files.9Comptroller of the Currency. Fair Credit Reporting Each bureau runs its own dispute process.
For Dun & Bradstreet, you can dispute inaccurate data through customer service or D&B’s online dispute process. Under a 2024 FTC order, D&B is required to either delete disputed information or conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, covering general accuracy disputes, identifying information like name and address, public record items like judgments and liens, and payment experience data.10Federal Trade Commission. Dun and Bradstreet: Modified Decision and Order
For Experian, the process involves emailing a marked-up copy of your business credit report and an explanation to the Business Credit Disputes team. Equifax disputes go through the reseller or customer service channel. Keep documentation of everything you submit. Without FCRA protections, the burden falls more heavily on you to prove the data is wrong, and resolution can take several weeks.
Checking your own report at least once a year catches problems before they cost you a loan approval or a vendor relationship.