What Is a DUNS Number?
Businesses receive a DUNS Number after registering with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), the private business credit reporting agency that created the system. A DUNS Number is a nine-digit identifier for individual businesses.
Though not always required, lenders and potential business partners often reference a DUNS Number to assess a company’s financial stability.
- A DUNS Number is a unique ID provided by business credit bureau Dun & Bradstreet. Your business will need a DUNS Number to get a credit report from this bureau.
- Most businesses aren’t required to have a DUNS Number, but creating one could make it easier to establish business credit and build strong business partnerships.
- You can usually create a DUNS Number online or by phone, but in some cases, D&B might create one on your behalf. This could happen if a potential vendor, supplier or creditor requests information about your business.
What is a DUNS number?
DUNS stands for “Data Universal Numbering System.” This system maintains information about more than 500 million businesses worldwide. A DUNS Number is a nine-digit ID that identifies a business’s Dun & Bradstreet profile, which includes the company name, address and subsidiaries, as well as ratings for various financial health indicators.
Dun & Bradstreet is one of three major reporting agencies that collect business credit information, along with Experian and Equifax. These agencies produce their own business credit reports that evaluate how businesses handle financial obligations.
Your business needs a DUNS Number to get a credit report from Dun & Bradstreet. Business owners can choose to create their own DUNS Number, but the agency also creates a Number any time a third-party supplier or financial institution requests information about a business.
Dun & Bradstreet collects information from business registration authorities, like local governments, suppliers and business owners themselves to create individual profiles. You can view a basic summary of your scores, ratings and other information for free with D&B Credit Insights, though higher levels of detail may require a paid subscription.
D&B’s business credit profile includes:
- Your Delinquency Predictor Score, which aims to calculate potential repayment risk
- Your PAYDEX score, which reflects the timeliness of payments to suppliers
- Information on lawsuits, judgments and liens against your business
- Maximum credit recommendations for potential lenders
- Your Supplier Evaluation Risk (SER) rating, which aims to calculate the risk of a company closing or seeking debt relief
- Your overall D&B Viability Rating, which aims to calculate the likelihood of a company going out of business
DUNS vs. EIN
Many businesses have both a DUNs Number and an employer identification number (EIN), as each serve different purposes.
Employer identification numbers are used to identify business entities for tax purposes, and they’re required if you pay employees. Small business owners can use their EIN to open a bank account, file taxes or apply for business loans. You can create an EIN for free through the Internal Revenue Service.
A DUNS Number, however, identifies businesses within the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud. It isn’t used by the IRS, and instead tracks business information like company name and branches. It’s also connected to your PAYDEX score, which is essentially a business credit score based on whether or not you pay vendors on time.
DUNS vs. UEI
Once upon a time, a DUNS Number was required to apply for federal contracts and awards. But in 2022, the federal government introduced its own business identification number called a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
Now, entities doing business with the government won’t need to visit a third-party website to create their unique ID. Instead, all you need to do is register your business in the federal System for Award Management (SAM.gov) to generate a UEI that can be used to apply for federal grants, awards and contracts.
Pros and cons of DUNS Numbers
Pros
- Can help establish and build business credit. As long as the activity is reported, timely payments to vendors and suppliers can also build your credit.
- Can make it easier to build business partnerships. Many companies use DUNS Numbers to evaluate potential partners, which means having this number could make it easier to build strong business relationships and evaluate potential partners.
- May be required if you do business overseas. Though the U.S. federal government no longer uses DUNS Numbers for federal contracts and awards, many international businesses still use this number — including foreign governments.
Cons
- May reflect judgements, bankruptcies and other unsavory findings. Once you or someone else creates a DUNS Number for your business, all public information will be recorded, including judgements, bankruptcies and other past financial missteps that you might not want to advertise.
- Vendors aren’t required to report payment history to D&B. Receiving credit from a supplier could help you build credit, but they may not report your activity unless you ask. You can submit credit details yourself, but this requires subscribing to one of Dun & Bradstreet’s paid plans, and self-reported content isn’t guaranteed to appear on your profile.
Does your business need a DUNS Number?
Most businesses can technically operate without a DUNS Number, though there are cases where one might be required. For example, it’s mandatory for food facilities to have a DUNS Number on their FDA registration.
That being said, because DUNS Numbers are used by third parties to evaluate your business, having one can help you even if it isn’t required. Your business may benefit from a DUNS Number when:
- A potential lender wants to review your DUNS profile, including your PAYDEX score, before approving a request for funding.
- A supplier wants to confirm you’re a reliable payer before officially signing a contract.
- Potential investors want to assess your financial standing before contributing capital or signing on as a partner.
Having a DUNS Number with a strong financial record can be incredibly beneficial — but even if your history is less than perfect, it can still be a good idea to get a DUNS Number.
Although financial missteps like judgements and bankruptcies will be reported, it’s generally better to have a business profile with negative information than no profile at all. Financial institutions may be suspicious if they can’t find any information about your credit history, which could lead to little or no funding.
How to get a DUNS Number
Establishing a DUNS Number is free for business owners and you can easily request a number online. Before you get started, it’s worth checking the Dun & Bradstreet database to see if one has already been created for your business. If not, you’ll need to provide the following information to apply for a new DUNS Number:
- Your name
- The legal name of the business
- The business address and phone number
- The total number of full- and part-time employees
- The legal structure or type of business
- The year the business was created
You can also call 866-705-5711 to apply via phone. Note that it could take up to 30 business days to receive your DUNS Number, which will come in an email from Dun & Bradstreet.
If you want to shorten this wait, you can pay for expedited delivery, but otherwise, applying for a DUNS Number is always free. If you come across any websites charging a fee to acquire a DUNS Number, they are likely fraudulent or part of a scam.
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