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This is a terrific time to learn about your Experian credit report.
But first we should start with some definitions and background on business credit.
This is credit in the name of a business. It is not tied to the creditworthiness of its owner or owners. Rather, business credit scores depend on how well a company can pay its bills. Hence consumer and business credit scores can vary dramatically.
Also, there are no demands for a personal guarantee. You can quickly get business credit regardless of personal credit quality. And there is no personal credit reporting of business accounts. Business credit utilization won’t affect your consumer FICO score. Also, the business owner won’t to be personally liable for business debts.
Getting business credit is not automatic. Building business credit requires some work. Some of the steps are intuitive. But some of them are not.
Fundability is the current ability of our business to get funding. Some factors are in your control. Others (like your time in business) are not. Your online presence and data are one area which is at or close to 100% with your control.
The better your business credit and fundability are, the more likely you will get approval for business financing.
They check information from a variety of sources, and they do not tell you about any of them. Knowing what these secret sources measure can only help you. Understanding what matters the most makes getting a loan A LOT easier, because you know what to improve first. This information is the difference between getting an approval and getting a denial.
Keep your records consistent! This includes your online records. Lenders and business credit bureaus are looking at everything, so it had better match.
Inconsistent records lead to a denial due to fraud because it’s how lenders interpret inconsistencies. Fixing this is in the business owner’s hands. You can change and correct this.
This means your business name, address, phone number – everything! – must look the same in these places and more:
Copy/paste this information; do not chance it with retyping.
What distinguishes the three different main credit bureaus? Why is your Experian credit report such an outlier? And can you use this information to your advantage?
There are three different large credit bureaus for business: Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax. FICO SBSS and CreditSafe are also players.
In the business world Equifax and Experian are up there, but it is Dun & Bradstreet which is the major player.
Dun and Bradstreet has more than 10 times the records of the next closest reporting agency. In the business credit world there really is one major player, with two other much smaller ones. See dnb.com/about-us/company.html. It makes sense to start with Dun and Bradstreet when comparing the business CRAs. This is because you’ll have to start the business credit building process with them anyway.
Dun and Bradstreet is the oldest and largest credit reporting agency. Go to Dun and Bradstreet’s website and look for your business, at dnb.com/duns-number. Can’t find it? Then get a free D-U-N-S number. You will always need a D-U-N-S number to start building business credit. Go here to get a D-U-N-S number: dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html.
A D-U-N-S number is how Dun and Bradstreet gets your company into their system. And a D-U-N-S number plus 3 payment experiences leads to a PAYDEX score. A payment experience is a record of a purchase from a business which reports to a credit reporting agency. In this case, Dun and Bradstreet. Once you are in Dun and Bradstreet’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for your business. You can do so at creditsuite.com/reports.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
Business credit is in a business’s name, and it depends on how well a company can pay its bills. But Experian uses both consumer and business credit data to gauge risk.
“By combining personal and commercial credit information in one report, Experian provides a complete picture of the creditworthiness of small businesses”
Get a BIN (Business Identification Number) from Experian. Experian’s BizSource assigns a BIN.
Per Experian Business, bankruptcies stay for 7 to 10 years on your Experian credit report. Chapter 13 bankruptcy rolls off your credit report 7 years from the filing date. While Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays for 10 years from the filing date. Trade data stays on for 36 months. Judgments, collections, and tax liens stay on for 6 years and 9 months. UCC filings stay on for 5 years. See experian.com/small-business/how-long-credit-report. There are similar time frames for the two other main credit bureaus.
We’ll look at a Typical Experian Business Credit Advantage SM Report. Experian provides a sample report where you can get an idea of what to expect. Experian changes its reports at times. So the best, most accurate and up to date source for this information is the Experian website. Find it online at https://sbcr.experian.com/pdp.aspx?pg=Sample-BCAI&hdr=report.
The first part of a report contains:
Business Credit Scores range from 1 to 100. Higher scores indicate lower risk. This score predicts the chance of serious credit delinquencies in the next 12 months. It uses tradeline and collections data, public filings as well as other variables to predict future risk. This section of the report has a graph to visually indicate the score.
Key Score Factors:
Financial Stability Risk Ratings range from 1 to 5. Lower ratings indicate lower risk. A Financial Stability Risk Rating of 1 indicates a 0.55% potential risk of severe financial distress. So this is in the next 12 months.
Experian puts all businesses in one of the five risk segments. This rating predicts the chance of payment default and/or bankruptcy, in the next 12 months. This rating uses tradeline and collections information, public filings, and other variables to predict future risk.
Key Rating Factors:
This section contains several counts of various data points. For the most part, the details are available further into the report.
The information outlined contains:
This section also contains:
This part also contains:
Company background includes information on founding date, and where the company’s headquarters are. Also, there’s a basic background of what the business does.
This section starts with two graphs. They show the company in question versus its industry on Monthly payment trends and Quarterly payment trends.
These are the percentages of on-time payments by month and quarter, respectively.
This part then shows tables with recent payment information by month and quarter. Then there are three more graphs:
This next part shows details on payment experiences (financial trades). There is also data on lender consortium experiences (financial exchange trades):
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
The Inquiries part contains the industry making the inquiry and a total made during a given month. The Collection Filings sector has the date, name of the agency, and status (open or closed). If a collection is closed, the Collection Filing sector also contains the closing date. The Collections Summary shows: status, number of collections, dollar amount in dispute, and amount collected (even if $0).
For leasing, this section shows:
This sector includes:
This sector includes cases where the company in the report is the plaintiff or the defendant
This part has:
This section has:
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This part shows:
Cautionary UCC Filings include one or more of the following collateral:
Experian offers suggestions on how to improve your reports, such as:
None of the different business bureaus will change your scores without proof. They are starting to accept more and more online disputes. But include proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks.
Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically spell out any charges you challenge. Make your dispute as crystal clear as possible. If you need to snail mail anything in, then use certified mail. This is so you have proof you sent in your dispute. Also, be specific about the concerns with your report.
You can correct Experian issues at: experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.
The costs of monitoring at all three big business credit reporting agencies can add up fast. At Experian, your best (least expensive) bet would be a Business Credit Advantage. Subscription Plan. It currently costs $189 per year. See sbcr.experian.com/pdp.aspx?pg=Sample&link.
Experian’s reports are expensive! But did you know you can get business credit monitoring for all 3 of the big business CRAs, and all in one place – for less? Credit Suite offers monitoring through its Business Finance Suite (through Nav). See what credit issuers and lenders also see, so you can directly improve your scores and get the business credit & funding you need. See suitelogin.com and creditsuite.com/monitoring.
Make sure vendors are reporting your payments, and not just with Experian. Pay bills early or on time, in full. For Experian, historical behavior (payment history) = 5-10% of total score. Try to maintain your personal credit utilization at about 20 – 30% of your limits or less. Don’t close positive accounts even if you no longer use them. And try to avoid derogatories like liens.
Experian has revamped their reports dramatically. Also, this major business credit reporting agency is committed to correct data, and to helping companies improve their reports. So to monitor Experian, Equifax, and Dun and Bradstreet for a lot less, monitor through Credit Suite!
The post What is Your Experian Credit Report All About? appeared first on Credit Suite.
It is time to learn about your Equifax credit report.
But let us start with some definitions and background on business credit.
This is credit in the name of a business. It is not tied to the creditworthiness of its owner or owners. Instead, business credit scores are going to depend on how well a company can pay its bills. Hence consumer and business credit scores can vary dramatically.
There are no demands for a personal guarantee. You can quickly get business credit regardless of personal credit quality. And there is no personal credit reporting of business accounts. Business credit utilization is not going to affect your consumer FICO score. Plus the business owner is not going to be personally liable for the debt the business incurs.
Being accepted for business credit is not automatic. Building business credit requires some work. Some of the steps are intuitive, and some of them are not.
Fundability is the current ability of our business to get funding. Some factors are within your control. Others (like your time in business) are not. Your online presence and data are one area which is at or close to 100% with your control.
The better your business credit and fundability are, the more likely you will get approval for business financing. Today, let us concentrate on your Equifax report.
Keep your business looking fundable (legit) with:
If your business is over the road trucking, then it needs to be listed that way. Pro tip: when your industry can be called several different names, like long distance trucking, mention those other phrases on your website.
What distinguishes Equifax reports from reports from the other two main credit bureaus? And can you use that information to your advantage?
There are three different credit bureaus for business: Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax. FICO SBSS and CreditSafe are also players.
In the business world Equifax and Experian are up there, but it is Dun & Bradstreet which is the major player.
Dun and Bradstreet has more than 10 times the records of the next closest reporting agency. For more information, see dnb.com/about-us/company.html. It makes sense to start with Dun and Bradstreet, even when looking at your Equifax credit report. This is because you are going to have to start the business credit building process with them anyway.
Dun and Bradstreet is the oldest and largest credit reporting agency. Go to Dun and Bradstreet’s website and look for your business, at dnb.com/duns-number. But what happens if you are unable to find it? Then get a free D-U-N-S number. You will always need a D-U-N-S number to start building business credit. Go here to get a D-U-N-S number: dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html.
A D-U-N-S number is how Dun and Bradstreet gets your company into their system. And a D-U-N-S number plus 3 payment experiences leads to a PAYDEX score. A payment experience is a record of a purchase from a business which reports to a credit reporting agency. In this case, Dun and Bradstreet. Once you are in Dun and Bradstreet’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for your business. You can do so at creditsuite.com/reports.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
But your Equifax credit report is going to be different. The company gets its data from:
Equifax scores answer one basic question. How likely is a business to go severely delinquent in its payments? The score is an indication of whether a company is likely to make late payments.
You can check out a sample Equifax credit report for small business at https://assets.equifax.com/assets/usis/small_business_sample_credit_report.pdf.
Here’s what’s in that report.
The first section is devoted to identifying information about your company, namely your business name and address and telephone number. This section will also include your Equifax ID. An Equifax ID is how Equifax can tell your business from similarly-named businesses.
The next section is about the Credit Risk Score. This score runs from 101 to 992. Higher numbers are better. This section also shows key factors.
Key factors are positives and negatives about your business, such as how old your oldest account is, and whether you have any charge-offs, and the size of your business.
The next section shows credit utilization. This is shown as a pie chart. It graphically shows which percent of your available credit line you are using. It also has identifying labels to show how much each percentage truly is. But it is only for your financial accounts.
The next part is your Payment Index. The score runs from 0 to 100. Higher numbers are better. It also shows Industry Median.
There is also a table explaining the numbers:
This is a line graph. It shows the average days beyond terms by date reported. It is for non-financial accounts only. Plus it shows any recent trends, so if you’ve improved your payment habits, it will show up here.
The next piece is on your Business Failure Score. This score runs from 1000 to 1880. It shows its own key factors, like recent balance information.
The next section is devoted to inquiries. It shows the date, and whether it was an inquiry on a financial or non-financial account. This is a rather short part of the report.
The bureau messages part, appears to be a free form field. It seems its purpose is to add notes to a profile. These can be notes on the number of locations, or business aliases.
The bureau summary data section contains a wealth of information. It shows:
It also shows Recent Activity, which includes:
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
The public records section has information on:
If there are none reported, then the date field will indicate as much.
The final section appears to contain somewhat miscellaneous information, which probably doesn’t fit in well anywhere else. such as alternate company Names and DBAs.
It also contains:
Now that you know what goes into it, you can see that some of the more important pieces of data Equifax looks into are:
Improve your Equifax score by:
Whatever improves your Equifax report is bound to improve your reports at D&B and Experian. Paying off accounts pays dividends, as does avoiding bankruptcies.
Equifax will not change your scores without proof. They are starting to accept more and more online disputes. But include proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks.
Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically spell out any charges you challenge. Make your dispute as crystal clear as possible. If you need to snail mail anything in, then use certified mail so that you will have proof that you sent in your dispute. Correct Equifax issues at: equifax.com/small-business-faqs/#Dispute-FAQs. Be specific about the concerns with your report.
At Equifax, you would use Equifax Complete. It currently costs $19.95 per month, after an offer of 30 days for $4.95. See equifax.com/equifax-complete/Equifax.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
But add together monitoring for the three biggest credit reporting agencies for a year and the cost is staggering. It costs $468 for Dun and Bradstreet, $189 for Experian, and $224.40 for Equifax (with a special). For a grand total of $881.40!
You can monitor your business credit at Dun and Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian through Credit Suite, for considerable savings over what it would cost you at those different credit bureaus. And all in one place! Credit Suite offers monitoring through the Business Finance Suite (through Nav). See what credit issuers and lenders see so you can directly improve your scores and get the business credit and funding you need. See suitelogin.com and creditsuite.com/monitoring.
Equifax gets much of its data from the Small Business Financial Exchange.
Monitoring all of your business credit reports is always going to be expensive. But you can save 90% by monitoring your Dun and Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax scores through Credit Suite.
The post Learn About Your Equifax Credit Report appeared first on Credit Suite.
Did You Want to Learn About Your Equifax Credit Report? It is time to learn about your Equifax credit report. But let us start with some definitions and background on business credit. Business Credit This is credit in the name of a business. It is not tied to the creditworthiness of its owner or owners. … Continue reading Learn About Your Equifax Credit Report
A derogatory account on credit report doesn’t have to sink your chances for getting business funding. But let’s start with fundability.
Fundability is the ability of a business to get funding. This is everything from getting credit to business loans. Because every business needs money, it quite literally pays to enhance your fundability whenever and wherever you can.
In addition to how well your business pays its bills, and your personal credit score, and whether your industry is a risky one, there’s the matter of public records.
Public records include bankruptcy (both personal and business), liens, judgments, and UCC Filings.
Errors in any of these kinds of public records will affect fundability, so correcting such mistakes will enhance your ability to get funding.
Bankruptcy is a process a business goes through in federal court. The idea to help a business eliminate or repay its debt under the guidance and protection of the bankruptcy court. Business bankruptcies are often described as liquidations or reorganizations. This depends on the type of bankruptcy an entrepreneur takes.
There are three main kinds of business bankruptcy:Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13. The type to use will depend on organizational structure. See thebalancesmb.com/what-is-business-bankruptcy-393017.
Corporations are legal business entities separate from their owners. They are more truly separate than partnerships. But in the event of a bankruptcy, either type of structure commonly will file of Chapter 7 (bankruptcy protection), or Chapter 11 (reorganization). The chapters refer to the US Bankruptcy Code.
This one may be the best choice when the business has no viable future. It is typically used when the debts of the business are so overwhelming that restructuring them is not feasible. Chapter 7 bankruptcy can be used for sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations. It is also appropriate when the business does not have any substantial assets. For Chapter 7, see: law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-7.
If a business is a sole proprietorship, and an extension of an owner’s skills, it often does not pay to reorganize it. Hence Chapter 7 would be appropriate.
Before a Chapter 7 bankruptcy gets approval,the applicant is subject to a “means” test. If their income is over a certain level, their application does not get approval. But if a Chapter 7 bankruptcy gets approval, the business is dissolved.
In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court appoints a trustee. The trustee’s job is to take possession of the assets of the business and distribute them among all of the creditors. The order in which creditors get their payments can depend on the type of debt (secured vs. unsecured).
After the distribution of the assets, and the trustee is paid, a sole proprietor receives a “discharge” at the end of the case. It means that the owner of the business is released from any obligation for the debts. But partnerships and corporations do not receive a discharge.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
Chapter 11 may be a better choice for businesses with a realistic chance to turn things around. It is usually a choice for partnerships and corporations. It can also be an option for sole proprietorships if their income level is too high to qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. For Chapter 11, see: cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-11.
Chapter 11 is a plan where a company reorganizes and continues in business under a court-appointed trustee. The company files a detailed plan of reorganization explaining how it will deal with its creditors. The company can terminate contracts and leases, recover assets, and repay some of its debts, while discharging others to return to profitability.
The business presents the plan to its creditors who will vote on the plan. If the court finds the plan is fair and equitable, it will approve it. Reorganization plans provide for payments to creditors over some time. Chapter 11 bankruptcies are rather complex and not all of them succeed. It usually takes over a year to confirm a plan.
The Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 enacted a new subchapter V of Chapter 11. This subchapter of Chapter 11 seems to favor the side of the applicant for business bankruptcy. But it only applies if the applicant wants it to apply. See cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-11/subchapter-V.
For example, subchapter V does not require the appointment of a committee of creditors, or that creditors have to approve a court plan. Per the U.S. Department of Justice, the act:act: “imposes shorter deadlines for completing the bankruptcy process, allows for greater flexibility in negotiating restructuring plans with creditors, and provides for a private trustee who will work with the small business debtor and its creditors to facilitate the development of a consensual plan of reorganizations. See justice.gov/opa/pr/us-trustee-program-ready-implement-small-business-reorganization-act-2019.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a form of bankruptcy for individuals. Since a sole proprietorship is an extension of its one owner, the owner is responsible for all assets and liabilities of the firm. It is most common for a sole proprietorship to take bankruptcy by filing for Chapter 13. This is a reorganization bankruptcy. See Chapter 13: law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-13.
Chapter 13 is good for small businesses when a reorganization is the goal instead of liquidation. The entrepreneur files a repayment plan with the bankruptcy court. This details how they are going to repay their debts. Note: Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 bankruptcies are very different for businesses.
Chapter 13 is vital for individuals whose personal assets are tied up with their business assets, because they can avoid problems like losing a house if they file Chapter 13 versus Chapter 7. Chapter 13 lets a business stay in business and pay its debts. But Chapter 7 does not.
There are two other forms of individual bankruptcy. These are less common. Chapter 12 is bankruptcy protection for family farmers and family fisherman. See uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-basics/chapter-12-bankruptcy-basics. Chapter 15 is bankruptcy protection when a bankruptcy matter involves people from another country. See uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-basics/chapter-15-bankruptcy-basics.
In general, to correct bankruptcy issues, all you or your lawyer will need to do is file an amendment to your bankruptcy petition. These can be errors like forgetting to list an item of property, or disclosing an incorrect property value, or forgetting a creditor or income from a side business. See alllaw.com/articles/nolo/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-petition-mistake.html.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
Per Investopedia, “A lien is a claim or legal right against assets that are typically used as collateral to satisfy a debt. A lien could be established by a creditor or a legal judgement. A lien serves to guarantee an underlying obligation, such as the repayment of a loan. If the underlying obligation is not satisfied, the creditor may be able to seize the asset that is the subject of the lien. There are many types of liens that are used to secure assets.”
Some of the worst errors when it comes to liens can involve real estate if land was used to secure a debt. Minor or typographical errors are called Scrivener’s errors. You can often fix them through either rerecording the deed of trust or by recording an instrument explaining and correcting the error. You cannot cure more substantial errors except by a Reformation lawsuit. This type of lawsuit asks a court to correct the deed of trust to reflect the parties’ intent.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
The main ways you can lose in court are if you: default at the start and never answer a summons and complaint, lose a motion for summary judgment brought by the other side, lose a bench or jury trial, or exhaust all appeals and end up on the losing end.
If you or your business lose in court, then you may have a judgment entered against you. Judgments generally take the form of paying damages (money), or specific performance where you must do (or not do) something. Or the court enters an injunction and to prevent you from doing something. A civil judgment can’t send you to jail (that’s criminal, which is rather different).
Errors can take the form of a judgment entered against the wrong person and/or company. Or they can be a typo in the amount of money damages in the court’s records. Maybe there’s a judgment is entered but it’s already been satisfied (paid). Or there can be fraud or other misrepresentation on the part of one of the parties, or excusable neglect. For example, a city recovering from a major hurricane might not make the proper clerical entry of judgments a priority.
Correcting these errors can take several forms. Different states have differing rules. But every state wants their records to be right. They just have different ways you need to go about correcting the record.
For example, in Massachusetts, you or your lawyer will need to make a motion before the court under Rule 60(a). See mass.gov/rules-of-civil-procedure/civil-procedure-rule-60-relief-from-judgment-or-order. In Texas, you or your lawyer would need to file a motion for judgment nunc pro tunc (a motion to have the judgment corrected). See texaslawhelp.org/article/correcting-clerical-error-court-order-answers-common-questions#toc-9.
In Georgia, correcting a judgment comes under the general umbrella of relief from judgments. See law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-9/chapter-11/article-7/9-11-60. In Louisiana, it falls under an Amendment of Judgment, and you can correct calculation or language errors via motion. See law.justia.com/codes/louisiana/2015/code-codeofcivilprocedure/ccp-1951.
Like with most things, the faster you work to correct a legal judgment, the less it will cost you. In particular if the wrong person (you) is the defendant in a lawsuit, acting as fast as possible will save you in legal fees. Ignoring these problems will not make them go away.
When you secure a loan with property, creditors can tell other creditors about any of your assets in use as collateral for the secured transaction. UCC liens filed with Secretary of State offices act as a public notice by the creditor of the creditor’s interest in the property. It’s in a creditor’s best interests to check for UCC filings, so they can make sure they’re the only creditor with a claim on that collateral.
Like anything else, there can be typographical errors in UCC filings. But the law says that, unless the errors “make the financing statement seriously misleading”, the UCC filing is still in effect. So if you’re depending on a typo to get out of a UCC filing, you might want to rethink that strategy. See law.cornell.edu/ucc/9/9-506.
For the most part, unless the errors are seriously misleading, the UCC says you don’t have to correct them. This is because the policy behind the law governing secured transactions under the UCC explains financing statements provide notice of a transaction. They give enough information to later potential creditors that the debtor’s property may be covered by an earlier creditor’s security interest. Essentially, a financing statement is the starting point in a later creditor’s due diligence process, not the conclusion. See jdsupra.com/legalnews/it-may-be-foul-but-there-is-no-harm-not-11403.
You can fix errors in public documents like judgments and UCC filings, but the mechanism for doing so will differ. This depends on the error, the type of record, and the jurisdiction. The faster you act, the better (and cheaper). Ignoring these mistakes will not make them go away. Correcting mistakes can make your business more fundable.
The post Credit is More Than a Score: How to Address a Derogatory Account on Credit Report When You’re Fighting a Public Record appeared first on Credit Suite.
This is a good time to learn about your Experian business credit report.
But first we should start with some definitions and background on business credit.
This is credit in the name of a business. It is not tied to the creditworthiness of its owner or owners. Rather, business credit scores will depend on how well a company can pay its bills. Hence consumer and business credit scores can vary dramatically.
There are no demands for a personal guarantee. You can quickly get business credit regardless of personal credit quality. And there is no personal credit reporting of business accounts. Business credit use won’t affect your consumer FICO score. Plus the business owner won’t be personally liable for the debt the business incurs.
Being accepted for business credit is not automatic. Building business credit requires some work. Some of the steps are intuitive, and some of them are not.
Fundability is the current ability of our business to get funding. Some factors are within your control. Others (like your time in business) are not. Your online presence and data are one area which is at or close to 100% with your control.
The better your business credit and fundability are, the more likely you will get approval for business financing.
Keep your business looking fundable (legit) with:
There are some aspects of fundability where you should pay particular attention to what is online. Such as:
Records consistency matters here. Your website should show who owns your business. And that info must be consistent. So if the owner is named Susan Johnson on your website’s About page, then she should not be listed as Sue Johnson on your Contact page. If your business ownership changes, you need to show that here.
Abbreviations can be your downfall here, as can punctuation like hyphens, commas, and colons. Maybe your Contact page says your main office is on Main Street. Then your About page should not say it is on Main St.
If your business moves, or you add subsidiaries and other locations, then you need to update that info everywhere. This even means whether you use your 5-digit ZIP code, or a ZIP plus 4 code (9 digits).
If your business is over the road trucking, then it needs to be listed that way. Pro tip: when your industry can be called several different names, mention those other phrases on your site.
When your company domain matches your business name, it helps with fundability. Pro tip: try to match what people are searching for online. So if the word ‘brothers’ is in your company name, then determine if ‘brothers’ or ‘bros’ is used by people searching for your company online.
Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.
What distinguishes an Experian business credit report from reports through the two other big credit bureaus? And can you use that data to your advantage?
There are three major credit bureaus for business: Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax. FICO SBSS and CreditSafe are also players.
In the business world Equifax and Experian are up there. But it is Dun & Bradstreet which is the major player.
Dun and Bradstreet has more than 10 times the records of the next closest reporting agency. See dnb.com/about-us/company.html. It makes sense to start with Dun and Bradstreet even when going over your Experian business credit report. This is because you must start the business credit building process with them anyway.
Go to the Dun and Bradstreet website and look for your business, at dnb.com/duns-number. But just what happens if you are unable to find it? Then get a free D-U-N-S number. You will always need a D-U-N-S number to start building business credit. Go here to get a D-U-N-S number: dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html.
A D-U-N-S number is how Dun and Bradstreet gets your company into their system. And a D-U-N-S number plus 3 payment experiences leads to a PAYDEX score. A payment experience is a record of a purchase from a business which reports to a credit reporting agency. In this case, Dun and Bradstreet. Once your business is in Dun and Bradstreet’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for your business. You can do so at creditsuite.com/reports.
Business credit is in a business’s name. And it depends on how well a company can pay its bills. But Experian uses both consumer and business credit data to gauge risk.
They have found that blended data and reports work a lot better for them. For troubled businesses, blended scores dropped an average of 30% over the four quarters leading up to a bad event. The owner’s consumer scores showed no statistically significant decline during the same period.
53% of the time, the first signs of credit problems were on the business credit reports. 46% of the time, the first signs of credit problems were on the owner’s personal report. Blended scores outperformed consumer or business alone by 10 – 20%.
Per Experian:
“By combining personal and commercial credit information in one report, Experian provides a complete picture of the creditworthiness of small businesses”
Get a BIN (Business Identification Number) from Experian. Experian’s BizSource assigns a BIN.
Per Experian Business, bankruptcies stay for 7 to 10 years. Chapter 13 bankruptcy rolls off your credit report 7 years from the filing date. While Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays for 10 years from the filing date. Trade data stays on for 36 months. Judgments, collections, and tax liens stay on for 6 years and 9 months. UCC filings stay on for 5 years. See experian.com/small-business/how-long-credit-report. There are similar time frames for the two other big business credit bureaus.
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We’ll look at a Typical Experian Business Credit Advantage SM Report. Experian provides a sample report where you can get an idea of what to expect. Experian changes its reports at times. So the best, most accurate and up to date source for this info is the Experian website. Find it online at https://sbcr.experian.com/pdp.aspx?pg=Sample-BCAI&hdr=report.
The first part of a report has:
Business Credit Scores range from 1 to 100. Higher scores mean lower risk. This score predicts the chance of serious credit delinquencies within the next 12 months. This score uses tradeline and collections info, public filings as well as other variables to predict future risk. This part of the report has a graph to show the score.
Key Score Factors:
Financial Stability Risk Ratings range from 1 to 5. Lower ratings indicate lower risk. A Financial Stability Risk Rating of 1 indicates a 0.55% potential risk of severe financial distress. So this is within the next 12 months.
Experian puts all businesses in one of five risk segments. This rating predicts the chance of payment default and/or bankruptcy, in the next 12 months. This rating uses tradeline and collections data. It also uses public filings and other variables to predict future risk.
Key Rating Factors:
This part has several counts of various data points. For the most part, the details are further within the report.
The data outlined shows:
This part also shows:
This part also has:
Company background has info on founding date, and where the company’s headquarters are. Plus there’s a basic background of what the business does.
This part starts with two graphs. They show the company in question versus its industry on Monthly payment trends and Quarterly payment trends.
These are percentages of on-time payments by month and quarter, respectively.
This part then shows tables with recent payment info by month and quarter. Then there are three more graphs:
This next part shows details on payment experiences (financial trades). There is also data on lender consortium experiences (financial exchange trades):
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The Inquiries part shows the industry making the inquiry and a total made during a given month. The Collection Filings sector has the date, name of the agency, and status (open or closed). If a collection is closed, the Collection Filing sector also shows the closing date. The Collections Summary shows: status, number of collections, dollar amount in dispute, and amount collected (even if $0).
For leasing, this part shows:
This part shows:
This part shows cases where the company in the report is plaintiff or defendant.
This part has:
This part has:
This part shows:
Cautionary UCC Filings have one or more of the following collateral:
Experian offers suggestions on how to improve your reports. Such as:
None of the different business bureaus will change your scores without proof. They are starting to accept more and more online disputes. But include proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks.
Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically spell out any charges you challenge. Make your dispute as crystal clear as possible. If you need to snail mail anything in, use certified mail. This is so that you have proof that you sent in your dispute. With all the different credit bureaus, be specific about the concerns with your report.
You can correct Experian issues at: experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.
The costs of monitoring at all three big business credit reporting agencies can add up fast. At Experian, your best (least expensive) bet would be a Business Credit Advantage. Subscription Plan. It currently costs $189 per year. See sbcr.experian.com/pdp.aspx?pg=Sample&link.
All of Experian’s reports are expensive! But did you know that you can get business credit monitoring for all 3 of the big business CRAs. And all in one place – for less? Credit Suite offers monitoring through its Business Finance Suite (through Nav). See what credit issuers and lenders see. So you can directly improve your scores and get the business credit and funding you need. See suitelogin.com and creditsuite.com/monitoring.
So Experian has revamped their reports dramatically. They no longer use the term ‘Intelliscore’. This major business credit reporting agency is committed to correct data, and to helping companies improve their reports. To monitor Experian, Equifax, and Dun and Bradstreet for a lot less, monitor through Credit Suite!
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