Get a business credit report online and keep your standard high

Lenders, investors, and even potential business partners may use business credit reports to determine how safe the company they are dealing with, is. However, unlike personal credit reports, business credit reports are not legally required. 

A business credit score is a measurement of the company's creditworthiness. Lenders and creditors use your credit score to determine if you are eligible for financing. 

Usually, business credit scores range from 0-100. You're already aware of the value of personal financial management as a small business owner. You already know that having Transunion business credit report online is essential for getting a home loan, a personal or car loan, or even a personal credit card. 

Having said that, many business owners are unaware that the same credit monitoring and reporting system is available to them as well.

What is a credit score for a business?

Let's start at the beginning: what is the concept of a business credit score?

In fact, just as your personal credit score is a numerical assessment of your creditworthiness as an individual, your business credit score is a numerical assessment of your and your company's creditworthiness. 

As a result, just as creditors and lenders use your personal credit score to decide whether or not to accept your home mortgage, credit card, or another form of personal financing, your Transunion business credit report online is used by lenders to assess you when you apply for a loan, insurance policy, or another sort of business financing.

What factors go into determining your business's credit score?

Let's talk about how business credit works and how business credit report is measured now that we know what a business credit score is and why it's relevant. As previously mentioned, your EIN is linked to your business credit, and your business credit is dependent on how you handle your company's finances, just as personal credit is.

After you start your company, you'll build business credit based on financial activities such as how efficiently you pay invoices on time, how you control your cash flow, how you keep track of your business bank account, and, of course, how you handle credit items like business lines of credit, credit cards, and loans. 

In essence, your company's financial operations and background are reflected in your business credit history, which influences your business credit score.

Though the method for calculating and reporting a personal credit score is fairly common, calculating and reporting a business credit score has a lot more variety. 

As previously stated, your business credit score will typically fall between 1 and 100, although the factors used to arrive at this numerical assessment will vary greatly depending on the credit bureau.

5 things that affect the business credit score

Despite the lack of consistency among the various business credit reporting agencies, you should expect these five variables to affect your business credit score, at least to some degree, regardless of which agency is involved:

1. Time in business

Because of a lack of credit, the business credit score would be lower when it is brand new. This will become less of an issue after the company has been in service for two years, at which point banks will be more likely to finance them with business loans.

2. History of payments

The single most important factor affecting your business credit score is your consistency in paying bills on time, every time. Even a single late payment can have a significant impact on your potential access to capital, so you'll want to make sure you set up a system to keep track of payments from the start.

3. “Credit mix”

You can create credit in several ways, including using a business credit card, taking out loans, and creating trade lines, as we briefly described. On the other hand, future lenders want to know that you can handle your finances properly in any borrowing situation. 

As a result, your business credit score is influenced by your "credit mix"—you can improve your credit score in this category by taking out different types of credit and handling them properly.

4. Credit utilization ratio

Reporting agencies want to see if you're managing your business credit responsibly, which means making frequent payments and not depending too heavily on the credit you've been given. 

Credit bureaus can measure your credit utilization ratio when calculating your business credit score; for better performance, keep your credit utilization at about 25% of the total amount you've been extended.

5. Mistakes on your business credit report

Unfortunately, the business credit reporting process is not flawless, and reporting errors occur more often than you would expect. As a result, debt or loan defaults can be misattributed to your business credit report, significantly lowering your business credit score. 

To prevent these problems, keep an eye on your credit reports regularly and seek corrections for any errors you notice in writing.

If you use Transunion business credit report online, you can save money and avoid the possibility of bad loans and the difficulty of finding new customers when someone unexpectedly goes bankrupt. 

A professional service will help the company grow, reduce costs, and avoid the negative consequences of a poor business decision.

How to Get a Credit Report for Business: Things to Know

To get the money you need to run and grow your business successfully, a good business credit report and score are essential factors to consider. 

A good corporate loan value can save you money at lower interest rates, provide a business loan without a personal guarantee, and improve your company's overall image. Do you know how to pull a credit report for a business as it plays a vital role in managing your credit risk?

Businesses can be granted credit scores, just like individuals. These numbers continue to determine the creditworthiness of a company, i.e. its ability to pay back loans. 

Having a good credit score can help your business qualify for a great credit card, loan, or term financing for business, all of which can help improve your cash flow and accelerate growth. 1 of the 4 major reporting agencies - Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax, and FICO - predominantly issues small business credit scores. 

This guide will help you understand what variables drive each of the various business credit scores and how you can improve your company's standing.

What is credit for business?

Business credit is just a way of measuring how accountable your business is when managing its finances so everyone must know how to pull credit report for business.

This is analogous to personal credit. The difference is that only financial activity related to running your business is looked at by business credit.




Regularly checking your business credit reports can help you set up your business to obtain financing when needed, and to manage and grow your business better over the long term.

Business Credit Scores Explained

Each of the various business credit reporting agencies has a different scale and score-enhancing methodology. All of these various credit scores depend heavily on a company's payment history with its previous suppliers, creditors, and lenders. Having records of timely payments, as a rule of thumb, will help establish a good score.

The primary objective of these scores is to have a measure of the financial stability of your business. That is why good balance sheets, stable and organized, tend to correspond with high scores. 

On top of that, things like your company's size and age, or its credit history, may also play a crucial role. If you are set to improve your companies' credit score, you should first ensure that you get these fundamentals down. 

In order to fine-tune and optimize your credit score, based on the various factors each of them considers, you can then look at the individual reporting agencies.

Why you should check your business credit reports

In comparison to personal credit reports, to help determine how risky it is to work with you, anyone can buy a copy of your company credit report. To keep an eye on the details, lenders and service providers see when they buy your information, it is a good idea to review your business credit reports periodically.

A lender may want to check whether your company has a loan repayment history and is on stable financial ground. To ensure that your business is not a risky gamble, a company will obtain your business credit reports, either for lending credit or working together on a project.




A strong history of business credit and favorable business credit can mean the difference in whether your company is accepted for a loan or a vendor gets better terms.

A business credit score is a critical piece of data looked at by banks and lenders when evaluating finance applications. To them, it's a rundown of how you're having trouble handling your debt. 

As such, to define the rates and terms of your loan, they will also use your credit score. Good credit scores would mean that, ultimately, the loan will be less costly, because you pose less financial risk to the lender.

Credit scores are also critical for obtaining customer contracts - before signing any contracts, your customers and suppliers can well review your business credit report as part of their due diligence. 

This ensures that the company is in a stable financial condition and calculates the risk that you will go into liquidation or fail to pay your invoices when doing business.

What are credit ratings for businesses?

Business credit scores are based on business credit report information. Depending on the product you purchase, each of the business credit bureaus will usually provide credit ratings along with the reports they produce.

Knowing about how to pull a credit report for a business gives you the ability to challenge any mistakes that could harm your financial credibility.

When they decide whether to lend to you and help you find ways to develop your business credit, your business credit reports will give you an idea of what borrowers will see.

Keeping track of your business credit will help you ensure that a company of your size and longevity has access to the best interest rates and loan options available. It's an essential way to keep track of how others view you and how you see yourself. 

But when exploring your personal credit, it needs a few more hoops to leap through than what you would experience. That does not make an effort any less important.

Understanding the Differences Between Personal and Business Credit

Image via CrunchBase

If you’re a business owner and you’re in the market for a business loan, it’s a good idea to understand that there are big differences between business credit and personal credit. 

Personal Credit

Let’s begin with your personal credit. Hopefully you are already aware of the fact that your personal credit score takes into account your credit history. A credit agency most commonly will calculate your score using the FICO method, which is based on several factors such as your payment history, outstanding debt, new credit, and the length of your credit history.

TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax are the top three personal credit bureaus in the US. It is required by law that these three agencies allow you to request a free credit report from each of them every 12 months. Additionally, if you find an error or discrepancy on your report, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the credit reporting company and the organization that provided the incorrect information must investigate the error in a timely manner.

It’s important to note that any accurate negative information on your credit report, like missed payments, will eventually disappear after seven to ten years. And although those marks stick around for several years, you always have the opportunity to build and repair your own credit in the meanwhile.

You want to maintain the best credit score possible because it is your passport to low interest rates and fees when you decide to apply for a car loan, take out a mortgage, request a credit card, and more. If you have a favorable credit history, companies will be more inclined to offer you good benefits and trust that you will make payments on time.

Business Credit

With that being said, if you’re looking to take out a loan for your business, it’s best to do it under your business’s credit. Regardless of how stable your business may be right now, business endeavors can be risky, so you don’t want any of your business’s potential debt or missed payments to reflect on your own personal credit report.

So that’s where business credit comes into play. If you don’t currently have business credit, you’ll want to first form a business entity, apply for a tax number, and then set up a business bank account. Once you’ve done that, you can register with business credit bureaus, so that vendors can begin reporting your business’s payment history to them. The top three business credit bureaus include Dun & Bradstreet, Business Experian, and Business Equifax.

These credit bureaus calculate your business’s Paydex Score, which is similar to the FICO scoring method. The Paydex score takes into various factors, but relies heavily on your business’s payment history.

One of the main differences between your business and personal credit, is that there is no way to repair your business’s credit report. Just a few missed payments, and your business credit could be tarnished forever.

Another big difference is that there are no rules or regulations in place that require the credit bureaus to fix errors on your business’s credit. While you can still report mistakes or dispute errors, there aren’t any laws in place to facilitate the process or protect your business like there are with personal credit.

Understanding some of these main differences between personal and business credit will make you more savvy when it comes time to take out a loan for your business.

Chloe Mulliner writes and edits for CreditSources.org, a website that focuses on bad credit unsecured loans, cash advances, and all things credit related.