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Business Credit Scores Compared: D&B, Experian, Equifax and FICO SBSS

By the GoHarvest editorial team · Updated · 2 min read · Building business credit

Short answer

Each business bureau scores its own file. Dun & Bradstreet's PAYDEX (1–100) reflects how promptly you pay suppliers; Experian's Intelliscore Plus (1–100) and Equifax's Business Credit Risk Score (101–992) predict serious delinquency; FICO SBSS (0–300) blends business and owner data to pre-screen small loans. Higher is better on all four.

Key points

  • There is no single business credit score. Lenders choose which ones to pull, and many still weigh the owner's personal score.
  • PAYDEX is about payment speed only. An index of 80 means suppliers are paid on time; above 80 means early.
  • Experian and Equifax scores are risk predictions that also use public records, utilization and company details.
  • Since 2026, SBA has been phasing out its own use of FICO SBSS for federally regulated lenders.

Ask five lenders which business score they check and you may get five answers. That's because the business credit market has several bureaus and several scores per bureau, each built for a slightly different question.

The four you'll hear about most

Score Keeper Scale What it measures
PAYDEX Dun & Bradstreet 1–100 How promptly the business pays suppliers, from trade data
Intelliscore Plus Experian 1–100 Likelihood of paying on time; risk of serious delinquency
Business Credit Risk Score Equifax 101–992 Risk of severe delinquency or charge-off over the next 12 months
Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS) FICO 0–300 Combined business and owner credit risk, used to pre-screen small loans

Higher numbers mean lower risk on all four, but the scales don't translate into each other. A 75 on PAYDEX and a 75 on Intelliscore say different things.

Dun & Bradstreet: PAYDEX and friends

PAYDEX is the easiest to understand because it measures one thing: how quickly you pay the suppliers who report to D&B. D&B's documentation says an index of 80 reflects prompt payment and anything above 80 reflects paying before the agreed terms. Below 80 means paying late, and the lower the number, the later. D&B says you get a PAYDEX once three approved accounts are reporting. More in our PAYDEX explainer.

D&B also sells risk scores. Its Delinquency Predictor Score (101–670, also shown as a class from 1 to 5) estimates the chance of severe late payment, and its Failure Score estimates the chance that a business seeks legal relief from creditors or stops operating without paying creditors in full within 12 months.

Experian: Intelliscore Plus and FSR

Experian's business credit score runs from 1 to 100, with higher scores meaning lower risk. Experian says it uses credit data (number of trade experiences, balances, payment history, utilization and trends), public records (liens, judgments, bankruptcies) and company details (years on file, industry code and size). Experian also offers a Financial Stability Risk rating from 1 to 5, where lower means less risk of bankruptcy or severe distress in the next year.

Equifax: two risk scores

Equifax's commercial scores include a Business Credit Risk Score from 101 to 992, where lower scores point to more risk of severe delinquency or charge-off in the next 12 months, and a Business Failure Score from 1,000 to 1,610, where lower scores point to more risk of failure through bankruptcy.

FICO SBSS

FICO's Small Business Scoring Service score runs from 0 to 300 and can mix the business's credit, the owners' personal credit and financial data. For years it was best known as the SBA's screening score for small 7(a) loans: SBA's 2025 procedures raised the minimum from 155 to 165. In January 2026 SBA announced it would stop using SBSS for federally regulated lenders, effective March 2026, so its role in SBA lending is shrinking. Banks may still use it in their own underwriting.

What to do with this

  • Don't chase a single number. Pay suppliers on time or early, keep public records clean and keep your company details consistent. That moves every score in the right direction.
  • Check each bureau separately. An error at one won't show at the others. See checking and fixing business credit reports.
  • Expect the owner to be scored too. For businesses only a few years old, personal credit usually still carries the most weight.

Sources

  1. Dun & Bradstreet: Understanding business credit scores and ratings
  2. Dun & Bradstreet Direct documentation: predictive analytics (PAYDEX definition)
  3. Experian: How business credit scores are calculated
  4. SCORE: Understanding the three major business credit bureaus
  5. Starfield & Smith: SBA SOP 50 10 8 update on 7(a) Small Loan underwriting (SBSS discontinued for federally regulated lenders, March 2026)
  6. Congressional Research Service: SBA SOP 50 10 8 changes (minimum small business credit score raised to 165)

Checked November 9, 2026. Program rules and scoring models change; the source is the authority.

Questions people ask

What is a good business credit score?

It depends on the score. For PAYDEX, D&B says 80 or above is generally considered good, because 80 reflects paying on time. For Experian's 1–100 score, higher numbers mean lower risk. For Equifax's Business Credit Risk Score, lower numbers mean higher risk. A lender's own cut-offs are what count, and they rarely publish them.

Which business score do banks use?

There's no standard. Some lenders buy one or more bureau scores, some use FICO SBSS, many build their own models from bank statements and tax returns, and for small companies most also pull the owner's personal score.

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