How to Run a Credit Check on a Business: Bureaus, Costs, and Reports

To run a credit check on a business, buy a commercial credit report from Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax. A single report typically runs between $50 and $190, you can order it online, and, unlike a personal credit check, you don’t need the company’s permission or a specific reason to pull it. What you do need are a few identifiers that let the bureau match your search to the right company.

You Don’t Need the Company’s Consent

The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines a “consumer” as an individual, not a corporation, LLC, or partnership.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681a – Definitions Rules of Construction Businesses sit outside the privacy protections Congress wrote for people. You don’t have to show a permissible purpose, you don’t have to notify the business, and the company has no right to a free annual report the way a consumer does.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681j – Charges for Certain Disclosures

That openness is the whole point. Lenders sizing up a line of credit, vendors weighing net-30 terms, and investors vetting a partner all rely on commercial credit data, and the marketplace runs on the assumption that anyone can pull a file at any time.

Identifiers You Need Before You Search

Starting with the wrong name can pull someone else’s file entirely, so gather these first:

  • Legal business name, exactly as registered with the state. You can verify it through the Secretary of State’s business registry in the state where the company was formed.3U.S. Small Business Administration. Register Your Business
  • Employer Identification Number (EIN), the nine-digit IRS number used on business tax filings.4eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6109-1 – Identifying Numbers
  • D-U-N-S Number, a separate nine-digit identifier assigned by Dun & Bradstreet and used widely in credit reporting and global trade.5Dun & Bradstreet. D-U-N-S Number Questions Start Here
  • Physical address of the main office, which helps when several companies share a name.

If all you have is the company name, every bureau portal lets you search by name and state and then narrow by address or industry. An EIN or D-U-N-S Number just makes the match faster and cleaner.

Where to Buy the Report

Three bureaus dominate commercial credit, each drawing on somewhat different data.

Dun & Bradstreet

D&B maintains one of the largest global databases of business identities and payment histories. Its reports are built around the PAYDEX Score, a dollar-weighted measure of how promptly a company pays its bills, scored 1 to 100.6Dun & Bradstreet. What Is a PAYDEX Score D&B also produces risk ratings, financial stress scores, and supplier evaluations. Reports run from $99 to $190 depending on depth.7Dun & Bradstreet. Pricing Information for Small Business Products

Experian Business

Experian’s flagship business score is Intelliscore Plus, which ranges from 1 to 100 (higher is lower risk) and blends more than 800 variables, including the owner’s personal credit history.8Experian. Intelliscore Plus Performance Table Its reports start around $50 for a basic score report and reach $150 for a full business valuation.9Experian. Products and Pricing – Business Credit Reports and Scores

Equifax Business

Equifax offers a Business Credit Risk Score on a 0-to-100 scale and a separate Business Credit Score on a 0-to-800 scale. Reports cover payment trends, public filings, and corporate relationships. Pricing is less transparent than at the other two bureaus and has historically been around $100 per report.

What You’ll Pay

Each bureau runs an online portal: you search for the business, pick a report tier, pay by card, and download the file, usually within minutes.

If you plan to run checks regularly, say, screening new vendors each month, a subscription is usually cheaper. Experian’s annual plans start at $199 per year for monitoring a single business and scale to about $2,000 per year for access to 30 reports per month.9Experian. Products and Pricing – Business Credit Reports and Scores

What’s Inside the Report

A commercial credit report generally covers five things. Cheaper tiers may drop the deeper financial detail, but a full report includes all of them.

Trade Lines and Payment History

Trade lines are the backbone. Each entry is a credit relationship with a supplier, vendor, or lender, showing the credit limit, current balance, and payment performance in 30-, 60-, and 90-day buckets. A company that pays within terms shows a clean history; one that routinely pays 60 days late accumulates marks that pull its scores down.

Credit Scores

  • PAYDEX (Dun & Bradstreet): 1 to 100. A score of 80 means on-time payment; above 80 means early.6Dun & Bradstreet. What Is a PAYDEX Score
  • Intelliscore Plus (Experian): 1 to 100. Above 76 is generally low risk; below 25 is high risk. Blends business trade data with owner personal credit variables.8Experian. Intelliscore Plus Performance Table
  • Business Credit Risk Score (Equifax): 0 to 100, with scores above 70 indicating low risk. Equifax also produces a broader 0-to-800 Business Credit Score used by some lenders.

Some reports include a recommended credit limit that compares the business against similar companies by payment performance, industry, and age.10Experian Business. Recommended Credit Limit

Public Records

Tax liens, civil judgments, and bankruptcy filings all appear here. Worth knowing: while the major bureaus removed tax liens and civil judgments from personal credit reports starting in 2017, those records still show on business files. A federal tax lien or recent judgment against a company is one of the strongest warning signs you’ll find in any credit file.

UCC Filings

Uniform Commercial Code filings tell you which lenders already have a claim on the company’s assets. When a business borrows against equipment, inventory, or receivables, the lender files a UCC-1 financing statement to put the public on notice.11Legal Information Institute. UCC Article 9 – Secured Transactions These filings are effective for five years and lapse automatically unless renewed.12Legal Information Institute. UCC 9-515 – Duration and Effectiveness of Financing Statement If you’re thinking of extending credit, UCC filings show what’s already spoken for and who gets paid first in a dispute.

Company Profile

Basic identifying information: legal structure, year founded, employee count, industry classification, and annual revenue. Some reports include self-reported financial statements when the company has voluntarily provided them.13U.S. Small Business Administration. What Makes Up a Small Business Credit Report

For Small Businesses, Check the Owner Too

The line between personal and business credit is thin at the small end of the market. When an owner personally guarantees a business loan, the lender may report that debt on both files, and lenders sizing up a small company often check both. Experian’s Intelliscore Plus explicitly blends owner and business data, weighing the owner’s account ages, delinquencies, and balance-to-limit ratios alongside the company’s trade performance.14Experian. Intelliscore Plus Product Sheet Equifax offers a TIN Match service that links a company’s EIN to the owner’s Social Security Number, helping confirm the business is legitimate and tying it to its principal.15Equifax. TIN Match If the company you’re checking has less than a few years of history, the owner’s personal credit may tell you more about repayment risk than the thin business file will.

Checking a personal credit report on the owner, though, does require the owner’s permission and a permissible purpose under the FCRA. The freedom to pull without consent is a business-file rule only.

Checking Your Own Business

If you want to see what lenders and vendors see when they look you up, the routes are the same. Dun & Bradstreet lets business owners register for a D-U-N-S Number at no cost and offers tools to monitor their own D&B scores.5Dun & Bradstreet. D-U-N-S Number Questions Start Here Some third-party platforms, including OnDeck, offer a free Equifax-based business credit score with no account required. You can also purchase your own report from any bureau at the prices above.

Errors in trade line data, stale public records, or a mismatched address can drop your scores without warning, and businesses have no legal right to a free annual report. Pulling your own file at least once a year is the practical way to catch problems before they cost you a deal.