Business Credit Reporting Agencies

When it comes to personal credit, Experian, Transunion, and Equifax are the three primary reporting agencies that keep track of and evaluate the personal credit histories for every individual. These agencies use personal Social Security Numbers to keep track of all the credit transactions and payment histories that are reported. These personal credit reporting agencies also generate a standardized score called a FICO score that can be used to evaluate the overall strength or weakness of someone’s personal credit profile. In order to come up with a FICO score, the agencies evaluate how much a person borrows and how well he or she repays their loans.

Where a personal credit history is based on financial information provided by credit card companies, retail establishments, and financial institutions, a business credit rating is determined by information supplied by the business owner and gathered from a business’s vendors, suppliers, and other trade accounts. Much the same way the personal credit reporting agencies use Social Security Numbers for the individual credit histories that they track, these business reporting agencies use the Employer Identification Numbers (EIN) of those businesses in order to accurately report their business credit histories.

When it comes to reporting and evaluating business credit histories, Experian, Transunion, and Equifax also have small business divisions that are devoted to tracking the business credit histories for every business and corporation.

Experian

One of the three primary consumer credit reporting agencies who has also begun to provide credit evaluations for businesses and corporations. BusinessExperian offers a wide range of services, including Business Verification, Business Credit Scores, Business Credit Reports, Business Credit Monitoring, and Business Public Records. Experian’s Small Business Services also offers Consumer Mailing Lists and Business Leads.

Here is the pertinent information you will need in order to contact Experian for questions related to business credit:

EXPERIAN
P.O Box 9532,
Allen, TX 75013
http://www.experian.com/small-business/index.html
(800) 520-1221

Transunion

nother of the primary consumer credit reporting agencies who also provides business and corporate credit histories. In addition to Business Credit Reporting, Transunion also provides assistance to small business owners through Marketing Services, Fraud and Identity Management, Risk Management, and Collections Management.

Here is the pertinent information you will need in order to contact Transunion for questions related to business credit:

TRANSUNION
P.O Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834-6790 http://www.transunion.com/corporate/business/business.page
contactdesk@transunion.com
(800) 813-5604

Equifax Small Business Enterprise

The business division of one of the primary consumer credit rating bureaus. Equifax Small Business Enterprise provides business credit histories and evaluations for over 22,000,000 small businesses and corporations. In addition to Business Credit, Equifax offers assistance to small business owners related to Data Management, Data Reporting, Fraud, Marketing, and Risk.

Here is the pertinent information you will need in order to contact Equifax for questions related to business credit:

EQUIFAX SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
P.O Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
businessreports@equifax.com
http://www.equifax.com/commercial/en_us
(888) 202-4025

In addition to these three agencies that have their origins in personal consumer credit reporting, there are also several other business credit reporting agencies that are devoted solely to business credit reporting and evaluation. These business credit reporting agencies include Dun & Bradstreet, Credit.net, AccurintRBusiness, and ClientChecker.

Dun & Bradstreet® (D&B®)

Without a doubt, the most well-known and established business credit reporting agency. D&B® has compiled business credit profiles on hundreds of millions of global companies and corporations. In addition to Business Credit information, D&B® can also assist small businesses collect debt from customers, find new customers, and research new opportunitites.

DUN & BRADSTREET®
http://smallbusiness.dnb.com
sbssupport@dnb.com
(800) 333-0505

Credit.net

Credit.net is a division of InfoUSA that generates credit reports on over 14,000,000 businesses and corporations. 6,000,000 of the reports in their database have been completed on small businesses with four employees or less. With a Credit.net business credit report, you can make better decisions on extending small lines of credit, locate data on small, privately-owned businesses, verify the existence of a business, and identify headquarters and lines of business credit.

Here is the pertinent information you will need in order to contact Credit.net for questions related to business credit:

CREDIT.NET
5711 S. 86th Circle
Omaha, NE 68127
http://credit.net
(800) 993-5323

Accruint® Business

This is a new business that is a combination of forces between LexisNexis, one of the leading providers of business services and information and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). With a business credit report from AccurintRBusiness, you can get all the information you need on over 150,000,000 small U.S. businesses in order to make better decisions on vendors, partners, customers and competitors. In addition to Company Profiles (including addresses, phone numbers, DBAs, etc.) you will also receive credit and payment data, public record data (such as bankruptcies, judgments, tax liens, and UCC, associated businesses and principals, and a Better Business Bureau membership report.

Here is the pertinent information you will need in order to contact AccurintRBusiness for questions related to business credit:

ACCURINT® BUSINESS
www.accurintbusiness.com
accurintbusiness@lexisnexis.com
(866) 528-0776

ClientChecker

This is a credit reporting bureau that started in 2003 and specifically targets small businesses, freelance professionals, and contractors seeking information to help them determine which other businesses they should do business with. ClientChecker Business Credit Reports provide a comprehensive summary of users' trade payment experiences with their clients. Business Credit Reports are created when the users of ClientChecker and BillingTracker invoicing software report that their clients have paid on time, late, or not at all. The data from each user is combined to produce a business credit report of average days paid late, number of incidences of non-payment, and a PayQuo™ score.