A business credit score is similar to a personal credit score, only it relies on data from the business. Of course, to have a business score, you have to keep your business accounts separate from your personal accounts. What does your business credit score tell lenders about your business?
 
 Your Business Creditworthiness

A business credit score relies on a huge amount of data from your company, including promptness of payments, size and scope of your organization and your financial accounts. The FICO Small Business Credit Score can even include personal credit scores from the owners and people running the business.

Dun & Bradstreet’s credit score is called PAYDEX, and it relies on your promptness of payments. It’s fairly straightforward, as the score measures the average time it takes your business to pay off your debt. Equifax, another credit bureau, assesses a company’s risk of going under or dissolving. Your company is given a score based on the likelihood that you might fold. Equifax also assigns a score based on your credit history.

Check Your Business Credit Score

The credit bureaus aren’t perfect. They do make mistakes. You should check your business credit report at least annually with the main credit bureaus. When you report an error to D&B, they must investigate. Once the error is fixed in the database, it should update all the other bureaus that rely on that database.

However, a low business credit score could cost you a loan from a lender. If you’re just starting out, you may not be too worried about that, but as your business grows, you may want an SBA or traditional loan to purchase real estate for the business.

JNI Lending can help your business build credit and find lending opportunities for your business if your credit score has taken a hit. Contact us for more information.