Equifax business credit score
Just as your personal financial history is tracked on an Equifax personal credit report, an Equifax small business credit report is a look at your company’s payment history and other information. This report can affect the way potential lenders or partners view your business.
What’s in an Equifax business credit report?
An Equifax small business credit report provides in-depth information to help you make better business decisions and to help others to make decisions about their dealings with you. Using payment data reported by lenders and public information, Equifax creates a credit report that includes:
- Company profile: Legal name, address and phone numbers
- Credit summary: A listing of all credit accounts, including those with banks, suppliers and service providers
- Public records: Business registration with the Secretary of State as well as any judgments, liens or bankruptcies
- Payment trend and payment index: Your company’s payments from the past 12 months compared with normal payment trends in the industry
- Risk Score: A measure of your company’s financial stability, also known as your business credit score
- Other financial scores and information: Equifax has many ways to score both businesses and the people who own them. The small business credit report is one of their ways to report on business owners, but not the only one. The information you see will depend on the exact report a lender ordered.
Scores included in your report
Unlike the single number of an Equifax personal credit score, Equifax offers several different scores for small businesses. Because you’ll generally only get a report after being denied credit, what scores you see on your report can vary based on what lender you applied with and the contract they have with Equifax.
Scores lenders see in your report may include:
1. Business credit risk score
This is a numerical score from 101-992 that predicts the likelihood a business will become delinquent (make payments over 90 days late) in the next 24 months. Similar to a personal credit score, a lower score represents a higher risk for lenders.
2. Business failure score
A business failure score is intended to predict how likely a business is to file for formal or informal bankruptcy in the next 12 months. Informal bankruptcy occurs when a debtor avoids paying off their debt without formally filing for bankruptcy because a lender decides that it will be too costly to collect that debt. A lower business failure score means a higher chance of bankruptcy.
3. Payment index
The payment index value is based on a business’s past and current payment habits. The value ranges from 1 to 100, with a score of 90 or above meaning that the business has made payments on time.
4. Business delinquency score
Similarly, a delinquency score aims to predict the likelihood of a business being late on payments, or not paying at all. It can be based on many factors, including payment history, the industry you’re in and even your personal credit. The score ranges from 0 to 999, with a history of bankruptcy leading to an automatic 0.
5. OneScore for Commercial
Like the two scores above, Equifax’s OneScore product aims to predict how likely a business is to be late on payments. This is a newer score that Equifax just started using in 2023, and whether you see it on your report will depend on your lender’s relationship with Equifax.
Equifax doesn’t publicize exactly how the score is calculated, but it includes financial, non-financial and public data.
What’s considered a good small business credit score?
When evaluating business credit scores, generally a higher number is the most desirable. Improving your small business credit score will make you more enticing to potential collaborators.
Although Equifax has information on what makes a good personal credit score, it does not specify similar targets for business credit scores. Your business credit report analyzes various factors that make your company a higher or lower risk for lenders, like company size, the age of your financial accounts, available credit and on-time payment history.
For the payment index, at least, the goal is more specific. Ideally, your company should score above 90, which means you make all payments on time. A score between 80 and 89 indicates that one or more payments have been one to 30 days past due, while a score of 60 to 79 means some payments have come in 31 to 60 days past due. The lower the score, the later the payments.
How to get your Equifax business credit report
Depending on your situation, there may not be an easy way to order a copy of your business’s Equifax credit report online. Some business owners have reported that they had trouble obtaining their own business credit report without having first applied for credit with a lender member.
To get a copy of your report, you have four options:
- If you recently applied for credit and were denied, you can email [email protected] to request a copy of your report.
- If you want to talk with someone at Equifax, you can call them at 1-888-407-0359. To skip the robo menu, press 2, 2 and then 4, to get through to a person in the small business department. You can wait on hold or request a callback.
- You can visit Equifax’s website and enter your company information to connect with a sales representative. If you’ve recently applied for or been denied credit, you can access your business’s credit report for free.
- If you’re willing to work with a third party, Nav offers a subscription service for monitoring business credit for $49.99 a month. It won’t give you access to all of your Equifax scores, but you will be able to track your business delinquency score.
Unfortunately, yes. Although the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ensures that consumers can access a free copy of their personal credit report annually, the same does not apply for business credit reports — so Equifax, a for-profit company that sells its reports as a product, is under no obligation to provide them without a cost.
How to dispute errors on your credit report
To dispute errors on your business credit report, you can email [email protected]. While Equifax offers a dispute process online, it’s only for personal credit reports — you can’t dispute errors on your business credit report online.
If you have questions about what you find on your credit report, you can also call Equifax at 1-888-407-0359. To skip the robo menu, press 2, 2 and then 4 to get through to a person in the small business department.
3 ways to use an Equifax small business credit report
You know that checking your personal credit score is a smart financial move. But here’s why getting an Equifax small business credit report is also a smart financial move for your business.
1. Check for errors
Your business may at some point depend on outside financing — possibly a loan from a bank or a line of credit from a supplier. When you apply for financing, it’s likely that a lender will check your business credit report as well as your personal credit report. It’s a good idea to make sure that information is accurate before you apply for credit.
If there are any errors, you’ll need to contact your credit reporting agency and open an investigation into the error.
2. Improve your current credit scores
Even if there aren’t errors on your business credit report, you may not be happy with your scores. Checking your report helps give you insight that you need to improve your standing.
If you are able to improve your credit scores before you need to borrow money or open a line of credit with a supplier, you’ll be in a better position for favorable rates and terms. Credit score is one of several small business loan requirements lenders will consider when assessing your financing application.
3. Evaluate another business
If you’re considering purchasing another company — or just want a little more insight into a competitor — a credit report can give you a wealth of information. You’ll be able to see what liens are held against a business, to whom they owe money and how quickly they repay their debts.
Other business credit scores
Equifax is one of three major reporting agencies alongside Experian and Dun & Bradstreet, and each company offers a slightly different set of information.
The most important sections of Experian’s business credit report are the business credit score (Intelliscore Plus), which predicts whether a company will pay its debts on time, and the Financial Stability Risk Rating, which assesses the probability of default or bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, Dun & Bradstreet’s credit report offers a PAYDEX score, delinquency predictor score, failure score, and Supplier Evaluation Risk (SER) Rating. PAYDEX scores predict how likely a business is to pay its debts on time. The delinquency predictor gauges the opposite — the likelihood that a company will either pay severely late, seek legal relief from creditors, or fold operations without paying off its debts within the next 12 months. The Failure Score and SER both anticipate the same.
Here’s how Equifax, Experian and Dun & Bradstreet’s offerings compare:
| Agency | Key measurements |
|---|---|
| Equifax | Scores can include:
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| Experian |
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| Dun & Bradstreet |
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