Industry
Part of How to open vendor accounts without giving away free information
Vendor accounts services compared: Nav, D&B, Credit Suite and five questions to ask
Vendor accounts services sell lists, applications and setup as one bundle. This guide names Nav, Dun & Bradstreet and Credit Suite with the prices found, lists the free help and gives five questions to ask before you pay.
Vendor accounts services sell lists, applications and setup as one product. The free help comes first: SBA-funded Small Business Development Centers and SCORE will walk the same list with you at no charge. Paid services then differ by what arrives after you pay: a dashboard, a set of introductions, or a reconciled file.
This article names the services most often met in this category, gives the prices found for each and ends with five questions that sort them. It does not rank them, because no ranking can be checked against supplier lists that change monthly.
What to take away
- Nav's own pricing page lists $0, $39.99, $49.99 and $74.99 per month plans. The paid tiers include a Nav-reported tradeline.
- Dun & Bradstreet's paid Credit Insights plans cost $49 and $149 per month in a February 2026 review. Only the higher plan lets you submit trade references.
- Credit Suite's Core Program is reported at roughly $3,000 to $4,000, with a 30-day refund policy set out in the agreement.
- A supplier directory is worth only as much as its last verification date. Ask for that date before you ask for a price.
- Setup and consistency work improves a young file more than any purchased list. The IRS issues an employer identification number (EIN) free of charge.
- Any offer of history you did not earn is a reason to walk away.
The named services, by tier
Prices below were read on October 17, 2026. Nav's figures come from its pricing page. The D&B figures come from a February 2026 third-party review, and the Credit Suite figures from a Finder review updated October 15, 2026. Confirm each with the provider before you pay.
| Tier | What it sells | Named examples | Price found |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not a service | The three bureaus | Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, Equifax Business | Your own file; a D-U-N-S number is free |
| 1 | Free counsel, no product | SBA-funded Small Business Development Centers, SCORE | $0 |
| 2 | Monitoring, a reported tradeline and matching | Nav (Free, Track, Build, Expand) | $0; $39.99, $49.99 and $74.99 per month |
| 3 | Paid D&B monitoring and trade references | D&B Credit Insights (Basic, Plus) | $49 and $149 per month |
| 4 | A done-with-you program | Credit Suite Core Program | About $3,000 to $4,000 |
| Avoid | Placement on someone else's account, or a substitute number | Tradeline resellers, credit privacy number sellers | Nothing you can keep |
Dun & Bradstreet. Not a vendor accounts service at the free level, but a common first stop, because many vendor-credit files are kept there. Registering for a D-U-N-S number is free. The paid Credit Insights plans are optional. Per a February 2026 review, Basic ($49 a month) shows the full PAYDEX score and monitoring, while Plus ($149 a month) adds trade reference and financial document submission.
Experian Business and Equifax Business. These are the other two bureaus, and not vendor accounts services either. Both let you check your file and dispute a wrong record through their own published channels. They stay on the list only because a service that cannot say which of the three a given supplier reports to is guessing.
SBA-funded Small Business Development Centers, and SCORE. Counselors and mentors, not vendors. They can sit with you through registration, the EIN and the first applications at no charge. The tradeoff is scheduling and pace.
Nav. A monitoring and matching service that pulls business credit data and surfaces supplier offers. Its pricing page lists Free at $0, Track at $39.99, Build at $49.99 and Expand at $74.99 per month. The paid Prime plans include one Nav-reported business tradeline. Build adds bookkeeping tools and access to the Nav Credit Builder Card, listed as in beta. Expand adds monthly one-on-one business credit coaching and FICO SBSS score tracking. The page says paying quarterly saves 20 percent. Nav does not replace applying directly to a supplier.
Credit Suite. A paid program rather than a list. Finder's review puts the Core Program at about $3,000 to $4,000, depending on whether you pay upfront or monthly, with higher VIP and Ultimate tiers. It lists a customized credit-building roadmap, introductions to vendors, suppliers and lenders, and dispute help. The same review names no vendor or lender, so ask for the supplier list and its verification date before you sign. It describes a 30-day refund policy set out in the agreement, and notes that some customers disputed it.
Tradeline resellers. Listed only to be named as the thing to avoid. See below.
What actually arrives
Unbundle the pitches and you find four products under one label.
Four things sold as one
Supplier directory
- What it is
- List of suppliers
- Real value
- Lasts while accurate
- Who can do it
- Anyone, if list is good
- Watch for
- Unannounced changes
Application handling
- What it is
- Forms filled in
- Real value
- Clerical work
- Who can do it
- You or a clerk
- Watch for
- Priced as clerical?
Setup and consistency
- What it is
- Details made identical
- Real value
- Improves a young file
- Who can do it
- You, tediously
- Watch for
- Nobody advertises it
Claims about the file
- What it is
- Outcome promises
- Real value
- Where trouble lives
- Who can do it
- Nobody honestly
- Watch for
- Phrased as benefit
- A directory of suppliers said to report. The most common product sold, and the one whose value dates fastest.
- Application handling. Forms, calls and follow-up, done by someone else.
- Setup and consistency work, making the business's details identical everywhere, is the dull part that most improves a young file.
- Claims about the file. Promises about what a purchased list will do to your scores. This is where the money and the trouble both live.
Five questions that sort them quickly
- What exactly arrives, and in what form? A named list, a set of submitted applications, a reconciled record. If the answer is a benefit rather than an object, ask again.
- When was the supplier list last verified, and how? "Regularly" is not an answer. Ask which supplier they checked most recently.
- What is the price, and what does it include? A firm that answers with a number and a deliverable is more trustworthy than one treating the process as proprietary.
- What are you asking me to sign? Read anything granting authority to act, and check what it permits without asking you first.
- Whose logins are these at the end? If the relationship ends and you lose access to your own records, you were renting your own file.
Five questions before you sign
- What exactly arrives, in what form?
- When was the supplier list last verified?
- Which steps could I do myself?
- What am I being asked to sign?
- Whose logins are these at the end?
What should end the conversation
An offer to sell placement on someone else's aged account, however packaged: seasoned history, authorized-user positions, or a tradeline package. Its only function is to show a lender a payment record the business did not create, on an application you sign.
A lender or bureau can treat a record like that as misleading, and the risk falls on the owner who signs the application. The seller does not carry it. A guaranteed approval or a guaranteed number is the same warning sign, because no seller controls a lender's model or credit committee.
A credit privacy number (CPN), offered for use on applications in place of the number the tax authority issued, is another warning sign. The FTC's credit and finance guidance is the place to start on what firms selling credit-related services must do. The Credit Repair Organizations Act, enforced by the FTC, governs paid services that promise to change a consumer's credit record. Whether it reaches a given business-credit service is a question for a licensed credit attorney.
Pricing it honestly
The comparison is not between two vendors. It is between a vendor and a few hours of your own attention spread over a few weeks, with the list from vendor accounts in front of you.
At monthly billing, a year of Nav Track costs $479.88, Build $599.88 and Expand $899.88. A year of D&B Basic is $588 and Plus is $1,788, though the review also lists yearly plans of $499 and $1,499. Credit Suite's Core Program is a one-time cost of about $3,000 to $4,000. Compare any quote against what arrives for that money.
Where the real losses happen is set out in vendor accounts mistakes. The groundwork itself is in credit foundations.
Common questions
Is a supplier directory ever worth buying?
Sometimes, as a starting point, if it is cheap and you treat every entry as a lead to verify rather than a fact. Verify by asking the supplier's accounts function, which is the only source that is current. A directory with no stated verification date is a snapshot of an unknown month.
How do I check a firm before paying?
Ask for the scope in writing and read it for outcome language rather than tasks. Ask what happens to the work if you cancel, and who owns the documents then. Straight answers to both are a better signal than any testimonial.
They say they have a relationship with a bureau. Does that help me?
You can approach every bureau yourself, so the claim is worth very little on its own. Ask what the relationship lets them do that you cannot, and expect the answer to be vague. For a dispute on a wrong record, use the bureau's own published channel or a licensed credit attorney.
