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Credit bureaus compared: Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax
Credit bureaus each keep a separate file on your business. How Dun & Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax identify it, score it and let you see your own file.
Dun & Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax each keep their own file on your business. They identify it differently, score it on separate scales and open their own doors to the owner. A lender that pulls one of them may never see what is in the others.
Putting the three side by side is the useful exercise, because a score from one bureau does not translate into a score from another. Most of what confuses owners comes from treating the three as one.
What to take away
- Each bureau matches your business to records by its own identifiers, so one company can be a solid file at one bureau and a thin one at another.
- PAYDEX, Intelliscore Plus and Equifax's scores are separate scales. Never compare numbers across them.
- Go to each bureau directly for your own file, and check its site for current products and prices.
- A correction at one bureau does not carry over to the others.
The three bureaus side by side
The three business credit bureaus most often pulled in the United States are Dun & Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax, and they differ on three things: how each identifies your business, which scores it publishes and how you reach your own file.
Six questions that separate
| Bureau | How it identifies your business | Main scores | Self-access route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dun & Bradstreet | A nine-digit D-U-N-S Number, linked to the legal name and address. Getting a number is free. | PAYDEX, scored from 1 to 100, where 80 has long marked prompt payment. D&B also publishes failure and delinquency scores under its own names. | Through dnb.com, direct from the bureau. The range runs from a free alert product to paid reports and subscriptions, and the price depends on the product and the term. |
| Experian | Matches records on legal name, address, phone, and tax ID rather than on one public number. | Intelliscore Plus, scored from 1 to 100, plus a financial stability risk rating. | Through experian.com, direct. Experian sells single reports and an owner-facing subscription. Check the site for current names and prices. |
| Equifax | Matches records on name, address, phone, and other data it holds. | Equifax publishes business risk and failure scores under its own names, and the report states the scale that applies. | Through equifax.com, direct. Equifax sells business credit reports to owners. Check the site for current terms. |
Business bureaus are not interchangeable
Dun & Bradstreet
- Database
- Separate
- Identification
- Own method
- Scores
- Own names
- Report access
- Semi-public
Experian
- Database
- Separate
- Identification
- Own method
- Scores
- Own names
- Report access
- Semi-public
Equifax
- Database
- Separate
- Identification
- Own method
- Scores
- Own names
- Report access
- Semi-public
Prices and access terms change, so each bureau's own site is the place to read what it currently offers. What each product costs is a separate question, covered in credit bureaus cost.
How each bureau finds your business
Each bureau matches incoming records to your business by its own identifiers and its own name-and-address logic. Dun & Bradstreet anchors on a D-U-N-S Number, while Experian and Equifax match on the details they hold.
Because the logic differs, a detail entered differently on different applications can seed a partial record. The credit you built lands on one record and the lender pulls another. The legal name, trading name, street address, suite number, phone number and entity type are all places where this happens.
Here is how that looks in practice. The formation document reads "Acme Services LLC, Suite 210". One supplier form is filled in as "Acme Services", no entity type, Suite 2. A card issuer keys in "Acme Service LLC", dropping one letter.
Fragmented vs consistent identity
Fragmented file
- Legal name
- Variants
- Trading name
- Variants
- Address and suite
- Variants
- Phone number
- Variants
- Entity type
- Variants
Consistent file
- Legal name
- One exact form
- Trading name
- One exact form
- Address and suite
- One exact form
- Phone number
- One exact form
- Entity type
- One exact form
Invoices carry the trading name "Acme Home Services". Add the phone number and the registered agent, and the same business can sit in the data as three or four related records.
The fix is to write your details one exact way, as they appear on your formation and registration documents, and use that form everywhere without variation. The credit foundations checklist walks through where to apply it.
Why the files hold different things
Which creditors send data to which bureau is the single biggest driver of what a file looks like, because a creditor may report to one bureau, to some, or to none. Nobody opens an account with a bureau and starts filling it in. The file
How a business file is assembled
- Trade data: suppliers, lenders, card issuers
- Public records: registrations, filings, judgments
- Firmographic data: industry, size, address history
- Reporting is usually voluntary
- Check if a creditor reports before opening
- Trade data.Suppliers, lenders, card issuers and service providers who choose to send in how you pay them.
- Public records.Entity registrations, secured-lending filings, judgments, bankruptcies and similar filings.
- Firmographic and third-party data.Industry classification, company size, address and phone history, links between related entities.
Public-record coverage differs too. A filing visible in one file may be absent from another. Reporting to a business bureau is usually voluntary, so a supplier that has given you terms for years may never have sent a single line to anyone.
Why the scores do not translate
A number from one bureau is not comparable to a number from another. Each publishes its own scores and indicators under its own names, from different inputs, on different scales.
PAYDEX runs from 1 to 100, with 80 long marking prompt payment. Intelliscore Plus also runs from 1 to 100, alongside a financial stability risk rating. Equifax states the scale that applies on the report itself. None of these is a version of the others.
A solid file at one bureau alongside a nearly empty file at another is an ordinary situation, not an error to be fixed. What a score is taken to predict is covered in business credit scores.
Business credit reports are also far more available to third parties than consumer reports are. Competitors, prospective customers, landlords and suppliers can often buy a look at yours, so treat the file as semi-public.
Six questions to put to each bureau
Work through the same six questions once per bureau. The answers differ, and the differences tell you where to look first. It is more useful than any single score.
Six questions that separate
| Question | Why the answer changes what you do |
|---|---|
| How does it identify my business? | Each bureau matches incoming records by its own identifiers and its own name-and-address logic. Inconsistent details fragment one business into several thin files. |
| Which of my creditors report to it? | A creditor may report to one bureau, to some, or to none. This is the single biggest driver of what your file looks like. |
| What does it pull from public records? | Public-record coverage differs. A filing visible in one file may be absent from another. |
| What does it sell, and to whom? | Some products are aimed at lenders, some at suppliers setting terms, some at you. The audience shapes what is emphasized. |
| How do I see my own file? | Each bureau controls access to its own data and sets its own terms for self-access. Go to the bureau directly rather than through a reseller. |
| How do I get something corrected? | Each runs its own correction process. A fix at one does not propagate to the others. |
Six questions per bureau
- How does it identify my business?
- Which of my creditors report to it?
- What does it pull from public records?
- What does it sell, and to whom?
- How do I see my own file?
- How do I get something corrected?
Pulling your own file and getting it corrected
Go to each bureau directly for your own file, not through a reseller. A bureau's own product is at least the actual record from the company that holds it, with a correction route attached.
Corrections follow the same split. File with the bureau that holds the wrong item, then check that bureau after the fix. The business credit disputes page covers the evidence to build first.
A new entity, a name change, a move or a change of registered agent is exactly when duplicate files get created. Ask each creditor in writing whether it reports and to which bureau. Prices and access terms differ, and they change; check each
What to verify, and where
- Pull your own file at each bureau directly
- Ask each creditor in writing if it reports
- Check the public-record side separately
- Re-check after any structural change
For credit reporting and disputes generally, read the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's list of common credit report errors and the Federal Trade Commission's guide to disputing errors on credit reports, not a vendor's summary. Both cover the consumer system rather than the business one; business files run under different rules, and noticing where the parallel breaks is useful.
Which bureau to look at first
Look first at the bureau your lender or supplier actually pulls, and you can often just ask them. Failing that, look at all three once. A bureau sells an input, and the lender applies its own policy on top, which is not published.
So a strong file is not an offer, a weak file is not a refusal, and no bureau can vouch for what a different bureau holds. Early missteps with the bureaus themselves are collected in credit bureaus mistakes.
If you are at the beginning: make your business details identical everywhere,
Where to start
- Make business details identical everywhere
- Find out which existing accounts report
- Look at your own files before spending
Common questions
Which bureau should I start with?
Whichever one the people you are about to apply to actually pull, and you can often just ask them. Failing that, look at all of them once.
Why does one bureau show accounts the others do not?
Because reporting is voluntary and each creditor chooses where to send data, if anywhere.
Does a fix at one bureau reach the others?
No. Each bureau runs its own correction process, so check each file after a fix rather than assuming it carried over.
Is a bureau's own product better than a reseller's?
It is at least the actual record from the company that holds it, with a correction route attached. Whether it is better value depends on how many bureaus you need and how often you need them.
How often should I look at each one?
Quarterly suits most small businesses, plus a look before and after any application. More often than that produces the same findings and less action, unless something is actively in progress.
In this guide
- What matters most in credit bureaus costCredit bureaus cost is not a price list, and no figures appear here. Where the cost sits, why buying the wrong product is the expensive error, and how to budget.
- Credit bureaus mistakes worth avoiding earlyCredit bureaus mistakes are about dealing with the bureaus themselves: how you buy, how you correct things, and what you wrongly assume they do for you.
- Credit bureaus services, seen from the other side of the reportCredit bureaus services are usually described from the wrong side. What a report on a customer can and cannot tell you, and how to pick the right product.
- Credit bureaus review claims: how to vet themCredit bureaus review claims come in the bureaus' own vocabulary. Learn how to test each claim, who to ask, and what a fair offer actually states.
