Your business does not have one credit file. It has three, kept by three different companies, fed by different reporters, scored on different scales. Understanding how the business credit bureaus work is the difference between building credit on purpose and hoping it happens. Here is the map.
The three major business credit bureaus
Dun & Bradstreet
The oldest and, for trade credit, the most important. Dun & Bradstreet keys everything to your DUNS number, which you request for free directly from them. Vendors and suppliers overwhelmingly check D&B before extending net 30 terms, which makes it the first file your business needs to exist.
What it issues: the Paydex score (0 to 100, driven by payment timing), plus delinquency and failure risk ratings that deeper underwriting uses. Our Paydex guide covers how the score works and how to reach 80.
Experian Business
Experian’s commercial arm builds files automatically from reported accounts, public records, and collections data. Lenders and card issuers pull it heavily. What it issues: Intelliscore (1 to 100), which weighs payment history, credit utilization, account age, account mix, and public records: closer in spirit to a consumer score than Paydex is.
Equifax Business
Equifax’s commercial files combine reported payment data with public records and firmographics. What it issues: a payment index (how you pay relative to terms) plus credit risk and business failure scores. Fewer small creditors report here, so files are often thinner, which makes the accounts that do report to Equifax disproportionately valuable.
How data gets into your files
Nothing flows automatically from your bank account or your bookkeeping. Bureaus only know what reporters tell them:
- Vendors and suppliers report trade credit payments, mostly to D&B
- Business card issuers and lenders report mostly to Experian and Equifax
- Public records (state filings, liens, judgments, UCC filings) flow into all three
- Collections get reported when accounts go badly wrong
Reporting is voluntary, which produces the single most important practical fact in business credit: most vendors do not report at all, and building a file means deliberately choosing the ones that do.
Why your three files will never match
A vendor that reports to Dun & Bradstreet only builds your D&B file and nothing else. A card issuer reporting to Experian builds Intelliscore while your Paydex sits still. Different creditors check different bureaus, so a business with a strong D&B file and an empty Equifax file will sail through vendor applications and stall at certain lenders.
The strategy that follows: build across account types so all three files develop, and monitor all three so you know what any given creditor will see before they see it.
What each score means at a glance
| Bureau | Score | Scale | Driven by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dun & Bradstreet | Paydex | 0 to 100 | Payment timing on reported trade credit |
| Experian Business | Intelliscore | 1 to 100 | Payments, utilization, age, mix, public records |
| Equifax Business | Payment Index | 0 to 100 | Payments relative to terms |
Across all three, the same behaviors win: pay early, keep utilization low, keep company records consistent, and let accounts age. There is no bureau where paying late is fine.
Building a file with all three, in order
- Request your DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet. Free, and the foundation for trade credit.
- Open reporting vendor accounts. This is what brings your D&B file to life and, with the right mix, starts feeding Experian too. The LLC build-out guide covers the full sequence.
- Add account variety as you climb. Store cards, fleet cards, and a credit builder account spread reporting across bureaus.
- Monitor everything. Watch for new trade lines, wrong balances, stale company information, and surprise public records. Monitoring across all three bureaus is built into our Business Credit Builder program, along with the coaching that tells you which account feeds which file next.
The bottom line
Three bureaus, three files, three scores, one playbook: choose accounts that report, pay them early, and watch all three files grow. If you want to know what your three files look like right now and which one is holding you back, the free consultation covers exactly that, backed by over $8 million in documented funding results. A $199 value, free.