To get a business credit report, request one directly from Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, or Equifax Business. Each bureau offers a free view of your own company’s file through an owner-facing portal, and each also sells detailed reports that anyone can buy on any company. Business credit files are not covered by the same federal privacy rules as personal credit, so you don’t need the company’s permission to pull a report on it.
What to Have Ready Before You Request One
You need the company’s exact legal name as registered with the state and its current physical address. A slight variation in name or address can pull up a similarly named entity or a subsidiary with entirely different obligations, so match what’s on file with the state.
The nine-digit Employer Identification Number (EIN) assigned by the IRS is the primary identifier bureaus use to match your search to the right file.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number If your business doesn’t have one, you can apply online through the IRS and receive it immediately at no cost.
A D-U-N-S number helps too, and it’s essential if you plan to work with government agencies or bid on federal contracts. Dun & Bradstreet assigns this nine-digit code and has tracked businesses globally under the system since 1962.2HeadStart.gov. Number Guide for Government Contractors and Grantees: DUNS You can request one for free by entering your business name, address, phone number, legal structure, and industry on D&B’s site. The free option takes up to 30 business days; expedited processing costs extra and delivers within eight business days.3Dun & Bradstreet. Get a D-U-N-S Number
The Three Bureaus and What Each Report Shows
Three agencies dominate business credit reporting. Each collects different data and uses its own scoring model, so a report from one may look quite different from a report pulled at another. Checking all three gives the fullest picture.
Dun & Bradstreet
D&B maintains one of the largest commercial databases in the world, covering over 500 million businesses, and its reports lean heavily on trade references and supplier payment histories.4CIAL Dun & Bradstreet. Our Data The signature figure is the PAYDEX score, which rates payment speed on a 1 to 100 scale. A score of 80 means the company pays on time; anything below 70 signals late payments.5Dun & Bradstreet. PAYDEX FAQs
Experian Business
Experian blends commercial credit data with public records such as liens, judgments, and bankruptcies.6Experian. Business Credit Report Its primary figure, the Intelliscore Plus, predicts the likelihood of serious payment problems on a 1 to 100 scale, but here a higher number means lower risk. Scores from 76 to 100 are considered low risk; scores from 1 to 10 signal high risk.7Experian. Risk Ranking/Recommendation – Intelliscore Plus
Equifax Business
Equifax draws on data from the Small Business Financial Exchange, a consortium of lenders that share payment performance on small business accounts.8Equifax. Small Businesses Benefit from Renewed Equifax-SBFE Partnership It uses multiple scores, including a Credit Risk Score that ranges from 101 to 992 (higher is better) and a Payment Index from 1 to 100 reflecting payment promptness.
What’s Inside a Report
A typical report opens with identifying details such as legal name, address, ownership, employee count, and annual sales, followed by three main sections:9U.S. Small Business Administration. What Makes Up a Small Business Credit Report payment history covering invoice activity, outstanding balances, payment terms, and credit limits; public records such as bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments, collections, and UCC filings; and the bureau’s own credit scores and ratings. The exact contents depend on which vendors, lenders, and public records feed that bureau’s database.
Free Ways to See Your Own Business Credit
You don’t have to pay to view your own file. Each bureau offers at least some free access to business owners checking their own information.
Dun & Bradstreet’s free Credit Insights plan shows your PAYDEX score, delinquency score, and failure score. The D-U-N-S Profile Manager, also free, lets you view your file and request updates.10Dun & Bradstreet. D-U-N-S Profile Manager Puts You in Control Experian offers free access to your business credit report and Intelliscore Plus through its website. Third-party dashboards such as Nav pull summary data and letter grades from all three bureaus into one view at no cost.
Free options are useful for routine check-ins, but they typically show less detail than paid reports. For full payment history, a public-records breakdown, detailed risk analysis, or a report on another company, you’ll need to buy one.
Buying a Detailed Report
On Your Own Company
Each bureau’s site has a portal where you enter your identifiers to pull your report. You’ll go through a verification step, usually answering knowledge-based questions or confirming your role as an owner, officer, or director, before choosing a report tier and paying through secure checkout.
Pricing varies. Experian charges $49.95 for a basic credit score report and $59.95 for a comprehensive profile with deeper risk analysis.11Experian. Products and Pricing Dun & Bradstreet has moved toward subscription access, with plans starting at $49 per month for full visibility into your D&B file including scores, alerts, and monitoring. Equifax does not publicly list per-report pricing and directs buyers to contact its sales team.
On Another Business
You can also buy a report on a potential customer, vendor, or partner without needing that company’s permission. Search for the company by name and location on the bureau’s site, select the correct entity from the results, choose a report tier, and complete the purchase. The report is usually available for immediate download.
Experian’s third-party reports use the same pricing as self-reports.11Experian. Products and Pricing If you check multiple companies regularly, subscription plans can lower the per-report cost. Experian’s annual monitoring subscription runs $199 per year and includes unlimited access to updated scores plus daily file monitoring with email alerts.
Why Anyone Can Pull Your Report
If you’re used to the protections around personal credit, business credit works differently. The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines a “consumer” as an individual, not a business entity.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681a – Definitions; Rules of Construction The FCRA’s protections — free annual reports, permissible-purpose requirements, mandated dispute investigation deadlines — generally do not extend to commercial credit reports.13Comptroller of the Currency. Fair Credit Reporting
Practically, that means any person or company with a credit card can buy a report on your business without notifying you. You have no legal right to a free annual business credit report. Dispute procedures exist at each bureau but follow the bureau’s own policies rather than federal timelines. Checking your files regularly, even through the free tools, is the most reliable way to catch errors before they affect a loan application or vendor negotiation.
What If Nothing Comes Up
If you search for your business and no report exists, you don’t have a credit file yet. New businesses commonly start with no commercial credit history. The foundation for building one is getting an EIN from the IRS and a D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet, then opening accounts with vendors that report payment activity to at least one major bureau. Some bureaus require multiple trade lines before they’ll generate a score, so it can take several months of reported payments before a search returns a meaningful file.