Top 7 Things You will come to Know Through Business Credit Reports on Other Businesses

Do you run a small business in one of the major cities of the US? How often does your payment gets delayed or stuck with your clients? Once, thrice or, multiple times in a month? Well, facing such situations frequently could lead your company to bankruptcy. 

So, the question is how to minimize such risks and improve your cash flow? Simple, get a business credit report of your potential customers through leading business credit and risk management companies.

Once you have got the credit report of your prospective clients, you can check their creditworthiness with ease. A comprehensive business report of other companies will let you know how capable they are of conducting problem-free business with you. 

That means whether they can pay your bills on time, maintain a healthy financial relationship with you, and facilitate your company's growth. Let's see what information you acquire when you get business credit report of other companies:

1 - How financially secure are they?

2 - What risks might you need to face when conducting business with them?

3 - How do they compare with the rest of your prospects?

4 - Will they pay your debts on time?

5 - Is there a solid reason to do business with them?

6 - Can you be confident about your credit decision regarding them?

7 - How likely are they to shock you when you review their credit report for a limit increase?

Collectively, all this information will give you a rough idea of how good or bad a decision could be to accept your prospects as the client. With this complete information, now let's move to another important topic:

What are the main reasons to get credit reports for other businesses?

1 - Prevention is more important than cure

Going through the details in a thorough business credit report provides you with the confidence whether or not you should involve in business with another company. 

It doesn't matter whether you want to supply your products or services to other companies or need them to provide you projects to work on; a credit history analysis is essential.

2 - Gain deeper insights into the company's ability to pay

If you want to take an in-depth look at a company's financial transactions before coming into business with them, buying a business credit report is necessary. 

All you need to get a business credit report for multiple operational firms is to get in touch with a prominent business credit report seller in the US.

Remember, a simple credit check about your prospects can help you understand if a customer can pay for the products or services you offer in a limited time or not. 

It will not just save your time and resources following up with late payments but provide total peace of mind as well.

3 - Check if they were bankrupt some time ago

Do you know that business credit reports contain details about bankruptcy as well? Yes, you might not know this, but a company's credit report shows if they have past legal notices or whether their directors were part of the bankruptcy. 

Thus, it can prevent you from working with a company that could expose your organization to high risk.

4 - Monitor suppliers you work with

Do you count on a bunch of well-known suppliers to run your business? If you do, it would be beneficial for you to access their credit report. 

Knowing their financial status will help you anticipate if they can help you maintain your cash flow properly and make crucial business decisions down the line.

5 - Reduce the need to hire collection agencies

Staying abreast of the financial situation of your prospective clients helps you minimize the chances of collaborating with debt collection agencies to extract your money. 

Hence, it will reduce your unnecessary expenses in the future if you get business credit reports on other companies in the initial phases.

6 - Keep an eye on your competitors

Do you want to remain updated with the critical financial activities of your rivals? Then, getting credit reports of your competitors will be a wise decision. It will let you know detailed information about their business development and financial position at present. 

Besides all this, you can also see if there are any legal filings against them and will their business survive in the next two to four years.

What's more, when you have so much information at your disposal about your opponents, you can create and implement strategies to be ahead of them and maintain the top position of your company in the market. 

Who knows, they are already paying attention to your financial health by getting your business's credit report from renowned credit reporting companies.

Summing-up

Now that you know how to deal with delayed payments in your business, it's time to call a well-established business credit report seller and ask them to provide their services. 

Once you are part of their customer base, you can avoid numerous risks that you may come across down the road.

Four Factors Impacting Business Credit Reports

Three of the largest and most widely known business credit agencies in the US are Experion, Equifax, and DNB. A business credit report agency is able to prepare a high level analysis of how well a company will be able to pay its bills, and this is available after seeing scores from the credit agencies. 

Different business aspects can be combined into a single report and this is very important for every business in the US.

Parts of a Business Credit Report

The following information is provided by every leading business credit report agency:

1. Risk Dashboard - It consists of repayment risk, credit limit recommendations, derogatory legal filings, and fraud alerts to show the level of risk in the business
2. Identity of Business - This is established through information such as an address, name, tax ID#, website, DBA’s, and more
3. Description of Business - It shows the history of a business, its date of incorporation, stock exchange information, number of employees, and other data. It may also indicate company size under the same heading.
4. Summary of Legal Filings and Payments - It shows creditor balances, bankruptcies, liens, days beyond terms, and other information on the same lines

The tasks that need to be done by business credit report agencies are very different from those with respect to personal credit scores. These are highly specialized tasks and require elaborate experience.

How Are Business Credit Scores Helpful?

These scores are helpful for a business that can use reports of other potential clients to know their financial positions. It helps understand the risk appetite of a new client and know how beneficial long-term business here will be. 

Businesses can avoid working with other clients who have payment default histories. Future risk can also be averted through score summaries.

Most businesses require loans either for setting up or expansion. Interest rates on business loans as well as the terms of repayment are assessed on the basis of business credit scores. 

Therefore, companies can make future plans on the basis of these accurate reports and summaries. The best agencies do not just provide services but also educate B2B customers about maintaining good business credit scores.

Top Factors Which Have an Impact on Business Credit

Any entrepreneur who wants to establish a company without giving away equity would require funding. To keep the business vision in check, 100% ownership is often necessary. 

A solid credit score will always make lenders more comfortable with the entrepreneur’s financial behavior in the present and future. Here are the most important factors that impact business credit and have the potential to make or break a company:

1. Accounts and Financials - Every entrepreneur must employ professional bookkeepers for accurate financial records. Lenders will want to see important documents such as YTD P&L statements, YTD balance sheets, and sometimes YTD cash flow statements as well. Without proper records, entrepreneurs can forget about getting the funding they need.

2. UCC Filings - This is one topic about which every entrepreneur should ask the lender. UCC or Universal Commercial Code is a legal notice that a lender files with the Secretary of State for security interest against one of the entrepreneur’s assets. A blanket UCC filing will ensure that should the entrepreneur default, the lender will get access to all the involved assets. This also means that risk in such a business is higher than normal.

3. Business Structure - It is very important to register a business with the Secretary of State whether it is or will be operating soon. If the business has not been incorporated, it means that money for a service or product is being collected under an individual name or registration for sole proprietorship has been done. Lenders will generally not be comfortable giving loans to sole proprietors. 

4. Importance of Payment History - There is no doubt that payment history does affect a personal credit score, but it may also impact the score calculated from a business credit profile. All invoices must be paid early to build this score. Entrepreneurs would also be benefited if they assign contracts with vendors reporting to D&B and Experion.

Although the above are critical factors for business credit, there are others as well. It is important for a proprietor to know about this as the journey to entrepreneurship is begun. Ideas are invariably good, but these will not see the light of day unless they are funded properly.

How to Rectify an Existing Default?

All is not lost after an entrepreneur default on a business-related EMI. Taking a short-term loan too may appear counter-productive, but it is actually useful. 

Paying the new loan on time shows the credit bureau that the entrepreneur is fully capable of clearing debts and handling credit responsibly. 

Therefore, a business credit score that may have fallen back can get the much needed boost to recover. However, all older loans must have been fully paid off to implement this tip.