The Experian business credit score is known as Intelliscore. Read our answers to frequently asked questions to help make sense of your Experian company credit score reports.

What is Experian Intelliscore?

Intelliscore is a numerical business credit score generated by Experian, one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the United States. Generated with advanced statistical models, Intelliscore is used to assess the likelihood that a business will pay vendors or suppliers on time. A high Intelliscore indicates that a business is likely to pay debts promptly, while a very low score indicates a high risk of delinquency.

What is the Experian business credit score range?

Intelliscore business credit score ranges from 1 – 100, with 1 indicating the highest risk of delinquency on payments and 100 indicating the lowest risk.

What is Intelliscore Plus?

Experian Intelliscore Plus V2 is one of the latest in a series of business credit scoring models. Previous versions included Commercial Intelliscore, as well as Small Business Intelliscore. Intelliscore Plus improves on those models through advanced statistical techniques, pulling information from Experian’s BizSource commercial database.

How does Intelliscore work?

Experian’s business credit reports consider factors such as a company’s historic financial performance, bill paying history, business background and ownership, and a credit risk score which has become known as Intelliscore. Intelliscore utilizes over 800 different variables to get a score ranging from 1-100, with a higher score being better. Experian Intelliscore is a predictive credit score that determines the likelihood of a business becoming delinquent on paying their bills or paying back a loan by over 90 days and predicts that likelihood over a 12-month timeline.

How is Intelliscore Plus calculated?

Intelliscore Plus calculates the scores of large companies and small businesses using different methods. For large companies of more than 1,000 employees and more than 50 tradelines, Experian calculates the Intelliscore using nuanced, proprietary algorithms. For smaller businesses, the Intelliscore is calculated by using blended data, pulling from both the business’s data as well as the consumer data of the business owner. The blended data score requires authorization from the consumer for the score to be pulled by a third party.

*Note that permissible purpose is required to access consumer information.
 

Although the business credit scoring model is somewhat obscured by the proprietary algorithm, it is safe to say that a business’s history of debt repayment is of paramount importance.

What is a good Intelliscore?

An ideal Intelliscore falls in the 76 – 100 range, indicating low risk of delinquency. Unlike the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) PAYDEX score, Experian Intelliscore is a percentile. As such, any score over 50 indicates that a business is medium to low risk, relative to other businesses.

What is Intelliscore V3?

Intelliscore V3 is the next generation of Experian business credit scores. The Intelliscore V3 began rolling out in August of 2021. Experian reports that Intelliscore Plus V3 offers a 36% performance improvement over the previous model. V3 also brings with it a change in scoring, with business credit scores now ranging from 300 – 850. This wider scoring range resembles consumer credit scores.

What can a business do to improve its Intelliscore?

Many factors are taken into consideration when Experian issues a business credit score. It is mainly based on predictive data that measures risk, but also historical financial behavior, the size and age of a business, credit utilization, any outstanding payments or balances as well as derogatory items. For small business owners, it is important to maintain good personal credit as well as timely payment on business purchases to improve your Experian small business credit score.

Due to Intelliscore’s complexity as well as the fact that different types of vendors/creditors and suppliers report to Experian compared to D&B, improving an Intelliscore requires diligence. Simply paying debts sooner is not guaranteed to produce quick results. To avoid wasting time and resources, we recommend speaking to a business credit repair expert to improve your Intelliscore.

The business credit professionals at North Shore Advisory come with years of experience and deep knowledge of business credit repair. Contact us today if you are ready to take charge of your business credit.