Article
How Business Credit Works, From First File to First Loan
Short answer
A business credit file is a record that commercial bureaus such as Dun & Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax keep on a company, built mostly from how it pays suppliers and lenders plus public records. It is separate from the owner's personal file, but for young or small companies most lenders look at both.
Key points
- Business files are opened by the bureaus, often when a supplier or lender first reports on you. You can't "apply" for business credit as such.
- Data comes mainly from trade payment reports, loans and cards that report to business bureaus, public filings and company details.
- Business reports can be bought by anyone with a business reason. There is no single score that everyone uses.
- For a company only a few years old, the owner's personal credit and a personal guarantee usually still matter more.
Personal credit is something most owners already understand: three bureaus, one familiar score, and a law that says who may look at it. Business credit works on different rules, and owners who expect it to behave like a second personal credit file are often surprised.
What a business credit file is
A business credit file is a record a commercial credit bureau keeps about a company. In the U.S. the three names you'll see most are Dun & Bradstreet, Experian (its business arm) and Equifax (its commercial arm). Each builds its own file from its own sources, so the three rarely match.
The bureau, not the owner, opens the file. It typically happens when a supplier, lender or card issuer reports an account, when a public record such as a lien or a judgment appears, or when you register the company with the bureau yourself. With Dun & Bradstreet the file hangs on a nine-digit D-U-N-S Number, which D&B says costs nothing to request (it charges only for faster processing).
What goes into it
The contents vary by bureau, but the broad categories are the same:
- Trade payments. How quickly you pay suppliers that extend terms, such as net 30. This is the heart of the Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX score, which D&B says relies solely on trade data.
- Credit accounts. Business loans, lines and cards, but only if the lender reports to business bureaus. Many small-business cards report to the owner's personal file instead, or to both, or only when you default.
- Public records. Liens, judgments and bankruptcies, including how recent, how many and how large.
- Company details. Age of the file, industry code and size. Experian lists years on file, industry (SIC) code and business size among the factors in its score.
How it differs from personal credit
| Personal credit | Business credit | |
|---|---|---|
| Who keeps it | Equifax, Experian, TransUnion | Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax and others |
| Main data | Your loans, cards, payment history | Supplier payments, business accounts, public records |
| Common score | FICO or VantageScore, roughly 300–850 | No single score; scales such as 1–100 or 101–992 |
| Who may view it | Restricted to permissible purposes under federal law | Sold commercially to businesses with a reason to check |
| Tied to | Your Social Security number | The company's name, address, EIN or D-U-N-S |
The last two rows matter most. Consumer reports are tightly controlled under federal law. Business reports are largely outside that framework, which means more people can see them and dispute processes are set by each bureau.
Why the owner still matters
Here is the part that marketing around "EIN-only credit" tends to skip. For a business with a short history, thin revenue or few assets, lenders have little to go on except the owner. So banks, SBA lenders and most online lenders pull the owner's personal credit and ask for a personal guarantee. SBA rules, for example, generally require a guarantee from anyone who owns 20% or more of the borrower.
That doesn't make business credit pointless. A clean, established business file can help you get better supplier terms, larger trade limits and sometimes cards or lines that rely more on the company. It is also something a lender, landlord or large customer may check before doing business with you. But the realistic path is gradual: the business file carries more weight as the company ages, earns and borrows responsibly. See EIN-based credit vs personal guarantees for where that line usually falls.
A realistic first year
- Form the legal entity and get an EIN from the IRS. The IRS says you never have to pay a fee for an EIN and warns about websites that charge for one.
- Open a business bank account and run all business money through it.
- Use one legal name, address and phone number everywhere: the state filing, the bank, the IRS, suppliers and the bureaus.
- Request a D-U-N-S Number from Dun & Bradstreet.
- Open a few supplier accounts that offer terms and report payments, and pay them on or before the due date. Our trade lines guide covers how to tell which suppliers report.
- After several months, check what each bureau shows and correct errors.
No step on that list costs much money. Some companies sell packages that promise to speed it up. Read what they actually do before paying; most of the work is steps you can take yourself.
Sources
- Dun & Bradstreet: Understanding business credit scores and ratings
- Dun & Bradstreet: Get a D-U-N-S Number
- Experian: How business credit scores are calculated
- IRS: Get an employer identification number
- SCORE: Understanding the three major business credit bureaus
Checked November 9, 2026. Program rules and scoring models change; the source is the authority.