Article
How to Check and Correct Your Business Credit Reports
Short answer
Request or buy your report from each business bureau, compare the company details and accounts against your records, and use each bureau's own dispute or update process for errors. Federal consumer dispute rules generally apply to consumer reports, so business disputes follow each bureau's procedures and can take persistence.
Key points
- Check all three main bureaus; each keeps its own file and errors don't carry across.
- Fix identity errors first: wrong name, address, industry code, or a file mixed up with another company.
- For a wrong payment record, start with the supplier who reported it, then the bureau.
- Keep copies of invoices, proof of payment and every message.
Most owners never look at their business credit until a supplier declines terms or a lender mentions "something on your report." It's worth checking before that happens, because errors in business files are common and you're the one most motivated to fix them.
Where to look
- Dun & Bradstreet: your file is tied to your D-U-N-S Number. D&B lets companies view and update basic company information, and sells fuller reports and score monitoring.
- Experian Business: sells business credit reports and scores, and has a process for businesses to review and update their information.
- Equifax (commercial): sells business credit reports; its file may be thinner for very small companies.
Experian points out that business scores are public: anyone can buy a report on your company, which is one more reason to know what it says.
What to check, in order
- Identity. Legal name, trade names, address, phone, EIN, year started, industry code, number of employees. A wrong industry code can affect risk scoring; a wrong address can split your history into two files.
- Mixed files. Accounts or liens that belong to a different company with a similar name. This is the most damaging error and the first to dispute.
- Trade lines. Accounts you don't recognize, late payments you made on time, closed accounts shown as open.
- Public records. Liens, judgments or UCC filings that were satisfied or released but still show as open.
- Ownership and officers. Old owners or officers still listed.
How to correct errors
Company details: update them directly through the bureau's business portal or update process.
Payment records: go to the supplier first. Ask them to correct what they report and send the correction to the bureau. Then file with the bureau, attaching proof such as the invoice and bank record showing payment date.
Public records: get the release or satisfaction document from the court, the county recorder or the secured party, and send it to the bureau.
How it differs from personal credit disputes
Consumer credit reports come with federal dispute rights, deadlines and a free annual report. Business credit files are commercial products that sit largely outside those consumer rules, so each bureau sets its own process and timeline. In practice that means:
- write everything down and keep copies,
- send documents, not just explanations,
- follow up if nothing changes after a few weeks,
- and correct the source (supplier, court, lender), not just the bureau.
If an error on your business file was also reported on your personal credit report, that part does fall under consumer dispute rules, and you can dispute it with the personal credit bureaus.
Sources
- Experian: How business credit scores are calculated (business scores are public)
- Dun & Bradstreet: D-U-N-S Number
- SCORE: Understanding the three major business credit bureaus
Checked November 9, 2026. Program rules and scoring models change; the source is the authority.