How to Check Your Business Credit Score

To check your business credit score, pull your company's file directly from the three commercial bureaus that lenders use: Dun & Bradstreet (PAYDEX score, 0-100), Experian Business (Intelliscore Plus, 1-100), and Equifax Business (Business Credit Risk Score, 101-992). You'll need your legal business name, address, and D-U-N-S Number to locate the file. D&B lets you view your PAYDEX free through its CreditSignal product; Experian and Equifax charge per report or by subscription. Set aside about 30 minutes to pull all three, because no single bureau tells the whole story and different lenders pull different files.

Below is how an underwriter reads each report, what a healthy score looks like, when your business score even matters, and what to do if the file is thin, wrong, or missing entirely.

The three business credit bureaus and their scores

Unlike personal credit, where FICO dominates, business credit is fragmented across three major commercial bureaus, each with its own scale and its own scoring model. A lender rarely pulls all three; more often they pull whichever bureau their underwriting system is wired to. That's why you should check all three yourself.

• Dun & Bradstreet (PAYDEX): a 0-100 score built almost entirely on whether you pay vendors and suppliers on time. An 80 means you pay on the due date; scores above 80 mean you pay early. This is the score most trade suppliers and net-terms vendors look at.
• Experian Business (Intelliscore Plus): a 1-100 statistical risk score predicting the likelihood of serious delinquency in the next 12 months. It blends trade lines, public records, and firmographic data.
• Equifax Business: reports a Business Credit Risk Score (101-992) plus a separate Business Failure Score. It leans on credit utilization, payment history, and the age of the oldest financial account.

Each bureau builds its file from different data sources, so it is normal for the three to disagree. A thin or missing file on one bureau does not mean your business has bad credit; it often means that bureau simply hasn't collected your trade data yet.

Step-by-step: how to pull each report

Here is the practical sequence. Have your legal entity name, EIN, business address, and D-U-N-S Number ready before you start.

1. Get or confirm your D-U-N-S Number. This free nine-digit identifier from Dun & Bradstreet is the key that unlocks your D&B file. Search D&B's D-U-N-S lookup tool by business name; if you don't have one, request it (it can take up to 30 days to issue, so do this first).
2. Pull Dun & Bradstreet. Create a free CreditSignal account to see your PAYDEX and alerts, or buy a full report for the detailed trade-line breakdown. Confirm your business name, address, SIC code, and number of employees are correct here, because errors in firmographics quietly drag scores down.
3. Pull Experian Business. Order a single Intelliscore Plus report or subscribe to Experian's business credit monitoring. Review the trade payment lines and any public records (liens, judgments, UCC filings).
4. Pull Equifax Business. Order through Equifax's commercial products. Check the Business Credit Risk Score and confirm your reported financial accounts and payment history.
5. Save dated copies of all three. Screenshot or download each report with the pull date. When you apply for funding later, a lender may cite a score; your dated copy is how you verify they pulled accurate data.

You can also check your personal FICO free through most business credit cards and banking apps. That still matters: for small and newer businesses, most lenders pull the owner's personal credit alongside (or instead of) the business file.

How to read the numbers like an underwriter

A score is a summary, not the story. When we review a file, we read past the headline number to the components that actually predict repayment.

• Payment history is the spine. On D&B, PAYDEX is essentially a weighted average of how promptly you pay. A handful of slow payments to a large-dollar vendor can move it more than many small on-time payments.
• Utilization and available credit. Equifax and Experian both weigh how much of your available trade and revolving credit you're using. Running near your limits reads as stress, even when you pay on time.
• File depth and age. Two or three trade lines is a thin file. Lenders discount thin files because there isn't enough history to trust the number. The age of your oldest account matters as much as the score itself.
• Public records. Tax liens, judgments, and UCC filings show up on the business file. A UCC filing from a prior lender isn't necessarily negative, but a stack of open UCCs signals you may already carry other financing.

If you want the full picture of how funders weigh all of this together, our complete guide to building business credit walks through each factor in depth.

What a healthy business credit score looks like

Because each bureau uses a different scale, "good" means different things depending on which file you're reading. Use the ranges below as a working benchmark, not a guarantee of approval.

For example, a landscaping company that pays every net-30 supplier invoice a few days early might show an 82 PAYDEX, a mid-80s Intelliscore, and a strong Equifax score all at once, while a two-year-old e-commerce brand with only two trade lines might have solid personal credit but a nearly empty business file. Both are common and both are fundable; the second one just needs a funder that looks past the thin file.

Fixing errors and a thin or missing file

Roughly speaking, the two most common problems we see are wrong data and no data. Both are fixable.

If the file has errors, dispute them directly with the bureau that carries the mistake. D&B, Experian, and Equifax each have their own business dispute process. Common errors include a misclassified SIC code, an outdated address, a trade line that isn't yours, or a satisfied lien still showing as open. Supply documentation (paid invoices, lien releases) and keep the case number.

If the file is thin or missing, you build it deliberately:

• Open accounts with vendors and suppliers that report to the bureaus (many don't, so ask before assuming).
• Pay on or before the due date. On PAYDEX specifically, paying early is the only way to score above 80.
• Keep trade and card utilization moderate rather than maxed.
• Make sure your business name, address, and EIN are identical everywhere, so trade data attaches to one clean file instead of fragmenting across duplicates.

Building a strong business file takes months, not days. That timeline is exactly why revenue-based funding exists as a bridge.

Decision framework: when your business score matters, and when it doesn't

Not every funding path leans on your business credit score. Knowing which lane you're in tells you where to spend your effort.

Your business credit score matters most when you are:

• Applying for a bank term loan, SBA loan, or business line of credit, where underwriting is credit-forward and slow.
• Requesting net-30/net-60 terms from suppliers who pull your PAYDEX.
• Seeking higher credit limits on business cards.
• Building toward cheaper capital over the next year or two and want the file ready.

Your business score matters far less when you:

• Need funding in the next day or two and can't wait on a credit-heavy underwrite.
• Have a thin or damaged business file but strong, consistent bank deposits.
• Run a revenue-solid business the banks turned down on credit alone.

In that second lane, a revenue-based funding marketplace is usually the better fit. Instead of leading with your credit score, these funders approve primarily on your business bank deposits and revenue, with personal FICO of about 500+ as a floor rather than the deciding factor. Typical offers start around $10,000, and decisions commonly land in 24-48 hours because the review centers on recent bank statements rather than a deep credit history.

Works best when: your deposits are steady, you've been operating several months or more, and you need working capital faster than a bank can move. Approach with caution when: your revenue is highly seasonal or thin, or your margins can't comfortably absorb a regular repayment drawn from daily or weekly cash flow. No legitimate funder can promise approval, and you should treat any "guaranteed" offer as a red flag.

How often to check and how to monitor going forward

Check all three business files at least once a quarter, and again before any major funding application or a large new supplier relationship. Unlike personal credit, checking your own business credit does not lower your score, so there's no penalty for looking often.

Between manual pulls, use free or low-cost monitoring (D&B CreditSignal for alerts, plus paid monitoring at Experian or Equifax if you're actively building) so you're notified when a score changes, a new trade line posts, or a public record appears. The businesses that get the best funding terms are simply the ones that treated their credit file as something to manage on a schedule, not something to discover the day they need money.