What is a D&B Report?
A D&B Report, also known as Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report, is a business credit report issued by the business credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet. The Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report measures the creditworthiness of a company.
Why is a Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report important?
Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Reports are used by vendors and creditors to assess the financial stability, as well as reliability, of a business.
D&B Business Credit Reports are used to help determine financing terms or interest rates. If a business does not have a D&B business credit report, it would be difficult to negotiate favorable terms or gain approval.
D&B Reports are available to anyone for purchase, so monitoring your D&B business credit report for accuracy is crucial. Any business negotiating terms, seeking out SBA loans or financing, signing leases, bidding on contracts, investing, and more, should be regularly monitoring their D&B business credit report.
How do I get a D&B report?
Any business can get a D&B report. Use the Dun & Bradstreet DUNS lookup to see if your company is already assigned a DUNS number. If you do not see your company listed, you can apply for a DUNS number.
Who can access a business’s D&B Business Credit Report?
Either the company itself or a creditor is able to generate a D&B Business Credit Report. Once a D&B credit report is generated and a company is assigned a DUNS number, anyone can purchase access to the business’s D&B credit report, including vendors, lenders, partners, or even competitors.
What is available on a Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report?
A Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report has many different parts to it, including company and industry information. Some data is provided by the company, while other data is taken from public record, vendor, creditor, and lender payment history, and collection agencies.
Aside from the 7 D&B scores, also included in a D&B Report is:
- General company information
- History of the business
- Business registration information
- Government activity summary
- Company operational data
- Industry data
- Three years of financial statements
- Public filings, including liens, judgements and UCC filings
What are the scores shown on my Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report?
There are 7 different scores calculated through Dun & Bradstreet alone, which is by far the largest business credit reporting agency.
- PAYDEX score: The Paydex Score ranges from 1 to 100 with the higher number reflecting the lowest risk of paying beyond terms. Most businesses have a Paydex Score between 30 and an 80. A high Paydex Score indicates excellent payment history and other factors.
- Delinquency Predictor: The Delinquency Predictor score is designed to predict the likelihood that a company will pay its bills in a severely delinquent manner (90 days or more past terms), obtain legal relief from creditors, or cease operations without paying all creditors in full over the next 12 months. The Delinquency Predictor Class ranges from 1 – 5, with 1 representing the lowest predicted risk of paying late, while the Score ranges from 101 – 670, with a higher score reflecting a lower risk of paying late. The Delinquency Predictor model is based upon the observed characteristics of hundreds of thousands of businesses in Dun & Bradstreet’s database and the relationship these characteristics have to the probability of a company experiencing severe delinquency over a period of 12 months.
- Financial Stress: The Financial Stress Score was designed to help decision-makers predict the likelihood that a business will require legal relief from creditors or cease operations without paying all creditors in full over the next 12 months. Financial Stress is made up of both a class and a score. The Financial Stress class ranges from 1 – 5, with 1 representing a low risk of business failure. The Financial Stress score ranges from 1001 – 1875, with a higher score representing a lower risk. The Financial Stress Score uses the full range of Dun & Bradstreet’s information, including financials, comparative financial rations, payment trends, public filings, demographic data and more.
- Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating (SER Rrating): The Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating is a score ranging from 1 to 9, with 9 representing the highest risk. The SER Rating is used by decision-makers in the Supply Chain industry to measure the level of risk associated with a particular supplier or business. The Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating is used to determine if a supplier is more or less likely to cease business operations or become inactive over a 12 month period. The Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating considers statistics, probability, and predictive data to assess a supplier’s likelihood of failure and provides vendors with the resources to compare suppliers on a global scale. Since the Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating takes more into consideration, a business might have a Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating that changes more frequently than its Dun and Bradstreet Financial Stress Score.
- Credit Limit Recommendation: Listed as a dollar amount on reports, the intention of the credit limit recommendation is to help creditors/lenders make credit decisions. The amount is based on “historical analysis of credit demand of customers in D&B’s U.S. payments database which have a similar profile to yours.” (D&B)
- Dun & Bradstreet Rating (D&B Rating): D&B Ratings are generated with company information such as size, industry and financials (if available).
- D&B Viability Rating: the D&B Viability Rating is a performance rating that predicts the likelihood a business will go out of business, cease operations, or file for bankruptcy over the next 12 months.
How do I positively impact my D&B Credit Report?
Each credit bureau has their own way of gathering and evaluating data on businesses. However, there are a few things to observe when improving your business’s credit health in a D&B business credit report. Making payments on time is arguably the most important factor for your business credit score, so paying on time or even early is a great way to begin positively impacting your Dun and Bradstreet rating. Building strong relationships with lenders and suppliers is also beneficial, as they are the ones sharing data with the bureaus and can share data to Dun & Bradstreet on your behalf. This positive feedback can improve the business credit score shown in your D&B credit report. Other things to look at include making sure public records are up to date and accurate, actively monitoring changes to your business credit score.
How do I repair my D&B Credit Report?
The best way to repair your D&B credit report is to work with a business credit repair specialist. Repairing your business credit on your own can be time-consuming, and could potentially do more harm than good.