A good business credit score can help you get financing more easily. It can help if you need to take out a business loan or establish credit with another company. When you are trying to decide whether to extend credit to a customer or send a purchase order to a supplier, checking if they have a good business credit score gives you the confidence that you will be paid on time or receive the supplies you order.
At Command Credit, we make it easy to check your business credit score or those of your customers and suppliers. You can use our on-demand self-serve options or our credit management tools to monitor multiple accounts or your entire credit portfolio.
Unlike a consumer credit score, which uses a fairly standard ranking system, business credit reporting bureaus use different data sets. So, what is a good business credit score? It depends on which credit bureau you use.
What Is a Good Business Credit Score?
The three largest business credit reporting agencies have unique scoring methods and ways to evaluate a good business credit score. To help you better understand the differences, we will explain how Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax assess business credit and how they define a good score.
Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX
The Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX business credit score ranges from 0-100. The higher your number, the better your credit score. Scores in the 80-100 range are considered good.
- Good: 80-100 80 indicates you make your payments on time. To earn a 100, you would need to pay your bills 30 days sooner than terms.
- Fair: 50-79 A score of 50 shows that you are 30 days late on some bills. A 70 would indicate 15 days late on payments.
- Bad: 0-49 A D&B business credit score of 40 or less indicates you have bills that are 60 days or more past due.
D&B relies on information from suppliers reporting credit usage to the company. If vendors do not contribute their information to D&B, it can impact your business credit score.
Along with a business credit score, a business credit report from D&B can also include:
- Delinquency predictor
- Business failure assessment
- Supplier evaluation risk rating
- Credit limit recommendations
Experian IntelliScore
IntelliScore from Experian also uses a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the highest. Experian also assigns one of five risk classes to help businesses assess creditworthiness.
- Risk Class 1: 76-100 Low risk for creditors
- Risk Class 2: 51-75 Low to medium risk for creditors
- Risk Class 3: 26-50 Medium risk for creditors
- Risk Class 4: 11-12 High to medium risk for creditors
- Risk Class 5: 1-10 High risk for creditors
Experian gathers data from lenders and suppliers, credit card companies, collection agencies, banks, and public filings. In addition to the business credit score, you can also get:
- Financial stability risk ratings
- Banking, trade, and collection history
- Liens, judgments, and bankruptcies
- Credit limit recommendations
Equifax Business Credit Risk Score
Equifax approaches the process slightly differently by producing three different types of credit scores to help assess risk.
- Business Credit Risk: The business credit risk score ranges from 101 to 992. A score of 556 is generally considered good credit.
- Payment Index: The payment index score ranges from 0 to 100 and measures your payment history and whether bills are paid on time. A score of 0 designates bankruptcy, while a score in the 90s indicates the company generally pays its bills on time.
- Business Failure Score: The business failure score goes from 1,000 to 1,610 and assesses the risk of companies going out of business within the upcoming year. Low scores indicate higher risk.
Equifax uses data collected by the Small Business Finance Exchange (SBFE) in its reporting along with trade credit information and public record data. With an Equifaxbusiness credit report, you can also see:
- Summary level tradeline details
- Credit limit recommendations
- Days beyond payment terms
- Derogatory legal filings
How to Check a Business Credit Score
Checking business credit scores is a smart way to protect your business. Checking the business credit of your customers and suppliers can help you mitigate risk. Keeping an eye on your business credit score lets you know how others assess your financial health and can help you negotiate better rates and terms when you need credit.
You can check your business credit score or the business credit score of your customers or suppliers by going to Command Credit. Either choose our self-serve business credit reports or consider adding an ongoing business credit check plan, portfolio scoring, or account monitoring.
Command Credit offers business credit reports from Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax, and more. And, we provide personalized customer service and a commitment to effective credit risk management with low-priced solutions.
Go to Command Credit and click on Self-Serve Business Credit Reports to check your business credit score.