Business Credit Report Review

Your business credit report can be the deciding factor on whether your business will succeed or fail. Knowing what your credit report says about your business is vital for your business to thrive in any economy. A good credit score can improve your chances at obtaining financing, and help target vulnerabilities internally and externally.

Your credit score equates your overall credit worthiness. If you pay your bills on time you’ll earn a better score than if you are negligent. Negligent business owners have the potential to pay higher loan rates with terms that may not be very accommodating. Business credit scores range on a scale from 0 to 100 with 75 or above considered an excellent rating. Personal credit scores on the other hand can rate anywhere between 300 and 850. An average American score falls in the 600-700 range.

This site features articles on business credit reports, products for monitoring and anything associated with them such as your credit score. Many small business owners don’t know their scores and think it’s not important to their business, but keeping track of this information and ensuring its accuracy can greatly increase commercial success. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To. ™

Business Credit Reports: What to Look for

Personal credit records are tracked through your social security number. A businesses credit report is gathered using your business name, address and federal tax identification number, assigned by the IRS. The business credit bureaus use this data to generate a report about your company’s financial history. The report could include banking records, insurance information, bankruptcy filings, judgments filings, tax lien filings, and much more. You will need this information to make critical business decisions, whether it’s finding potential customers and vendors, or taking out a loan.

Keep in mind that lenders aren’t the only ones looking at your credit. Other companies that may pull your credit information include property managers, services clients, and even utility companies.

It is recommended that you review your business' report on an annual basis to check for inaccuracies or signs of identity theft. Although each product on this site can be used to obtain a copy of your credit report, AnnualCreditReport.com is the only organization authorized under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide your legally-mandated free annual credit report.

To rate each of the credit report providers featured on this site, we used the following criteria:

Credit Monitoring
Businesses decide to monitor their credit for a variety of reasons including preparing to purchase a new property, invest in other businesses, or even when applying for accounts with suppliers. Whatever the reason, remember there are three major credit reporting agencies and they may be reporting different information. Looking at one and not the others will only show you a piece of the puzzle.

Identity Theft Prevention
An overwhelming majority of identity theft takes advantage of personal identification, but businesses can also be at risk too. Many products provide protection against identity theft and will even help your company recover from an attack if you do become a victim. Most even offer identity theft insurance which helps to pay for recovering your company’s identity.

Business Solutions
Businesses that extend credit to consumers or rely on work from external contractors should also be concerned about credit. Products that provide credit reporting, marketing services and collections management are extremely beneficial to businesses and minimize financial risk.

Help/Support
As with just about any other consumer product, help and support are of the utmost importance. If you can’t figure out how to make it work it isn’t worth the purchase. Luckily, the products in this category all provide support.

The price shown in the product matrix represents the cost of obtaining a complete business credit report that includes reports from all three credit bureaus, and a copy of your credit score.

Following good business practices is essential to maintaining financial stability. Start practicing now by checking out three products that can help you monitor your business’ credit -- Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.