Dun & Bradstreet credit reports can help your business improve its rating. You can also use these reports to make important business trading and partnership decisions. For instance, you wouldn't want to extend a credit account to a company with a poor credit report. However, if you don't understand the reports, then you might make a credit error either with your own credit or extending it to others. An excellent place to begin building this knowledge is with Dun and Bradstreet credit reports key terms.

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Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings

Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings are one of the determinants featured on the Dunn & Bradstreet credit report. A UCC filing is a business document filed with the Secretary of State to enact a lien on a business.

I recommend: Review the definition of a UCC filing available at the Texas Secretary of State.

Payment trends profile

A payment trends profile is when the Dun & Bradstreet credit report tracks and rates a company's past payment performance. This is a primary feature of the Dun & Bradstreet credit report.

I recommend: Examine the payment trends profile sample from the Dun & Bradstreet website.

Paydex score

The Paydex score is the business equivalent to the FICO score in personal credit reports. The Dun & Bradstreet credit reports include the Paydex score. The Paydex score factors in many different aspects of business's payment and credit history.

I recommend: Evaluate the Paydex score tutorial available at LLC Made Easy.

Corporate family tree

The corporate family tree is an important aspect of the Dun & Bradstreet credit report because it can reveal credit problems with parent companies that could ultimately influence the credit worthiness of the subsidiary.

I recommend: Assess the corporate family tree definition at Information Management for further details on the term.

Financial stress summary

The financial stress summary is the various economic and business scenarios that a company could face and the probable outcomes from the Dun and Bradstreet credit report. Therefore, if there could be an economic downturn it's good to know if your company or a potential trading partner could survive financially.

I recommend: Study the financial stress summary at Bamaco to know the various aspects of the term.

D-U-N-S number

The D-U-N-S number is the unique identifier that each company gets from Dun and Bradstreet. Knowing the D-U-N-S number of another company can make it much easier to find at the Dun and Bradstreet credit report website.

I recommend: Examine the D-U-N-S number explanation from Corporate Biz for more information.

D&B credit report products contain information that Dun & Bradstreet compiles. This information assesses the financial health of a company and provides prospective lenders with an indicator of the likelihood that a company will repay a loan.

A Dun & Bradstreet report contains a great deal of information on a company compiled into one easy-to-access report. Some of the more relevant information included on Dun & Bradstreet reports includes:

1. A thorough company overview including the business's D-U-N-S number as well as its address, net worth and size.
2. D&B credit reports include the D&B PAYDEX score, which is an overview with how the business pays its creditors. An industry-wide PAYDEX report is included, allowing for comparison with competitors.
3. Special events are also included in the D&B credit report. These events can include positive events such as business expansion or negative events such as cutbacks and layoffs.

There are a variety of ways that a company can improve its creditworthiness on Dun & Bradstreet credit reports. A strong Dun & Bradstreet credit report is important to a business that is seeking financial backing.

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Apply for a D-U-N-S number to build your D&B credit report

A D-U-N-S number is a 9-digit number that is unique to your business. It is used by many organizations other than Dun & Bradstreet. Organizations applying for grants or government contracts are often required to have a D-U-N-S number.

I recommend: A D-U-N-S number is available through Dun & Bradstreet. The D-U-N-S number is different than a company's 9-digit employer identification tax number issued by the IRS. While a D-U-N-S number is optional, many businesses see the benefit of having one to build a presence in the D&B credit reports listings. Use D&B's CreditBuilder to get your new business a credit rating.

Make sure Dun & Bradstreet credit reports reflect your company's credit health

The four Cs of credit are character, capacity, capital and cash flow. Dun & Bradstreet credit reporting includes all of these elements in credit reports. Dun & Bradstreet reports are a compilation of your credit and business history. The purpose of the credit report is to show your creditworthiness to a potential lender.

I recommend: Strong credit makes for a strong Dun and Bradstreet report. Business Credit Services offers a free download on ways to improve your business's credit. You can use Credit.net to check your business's credit history for mistakes and omissions. Routinely check and update your company information at eUpdate on the Dun & Bradstreet website.

Understand who looks at Dun & Bradstreet reports

While the original intent of the Dun & Bradstreet report was to provide a snapshot of a company's credit history, its use has greatly expanded. Dun & Bradstreet reports provide industry information, ownership records and banking commentary. Many grant programs require charities to have a D-U-N-S number before applying for a grant.

I recommend: Know who will have your information. D&B reporting is available at SkyMinder, AutoTrack and Westlaw. When you realize how extensive a Dun & Bradstreet credit report is, it becomes apparent how important having a D-U-N-S number and a strong report are.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  For strong Dun & Bradstreet credit reports, contribute as much information as possible to your profile.
• •  Your company's Dun & Bradstreet credit reports can be affected by your personal financial situation. Particularly in a start-up business, Dun and Bradstreet credit reporting takes your personal finances into consideration.
• •  Monitor changes to your Dun & Bradstreet credit reports. This is much easier than attempting to correct an error when you apply for credit.

Dun & Bradstreet credit reports applications and uses help small businesses in a lot of ways. Dun & Brad Street reports gives you financial information on suppliers and businesses that you use, helps you monitor financial risks and builds your company's credit rating.

With Dun Bradstreet credit reports you're able to monitor the true financial condition of your suppliers, customers or competition. Also, Dun & Bradstreet credit reports' products provide industry, marketing and business analysis—a statistical snapshot of industry in which you work.

1. Use Dun & Bradstreet credit reports to check the financial health of suppliers and subcontractors.

2. Let Dun and Bradstreet credit reporting help you build your company's credit rating.

3. Collect debt owed you with the help of a Dun & Bradstreet credit report.

4. Get help finding potential partners or customers with Dun and Bradstreet credit reporting.

5. Assess the financial risks before you take them with Dun and Bradstreet credit reporting.

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Use Dun & Brad Street reports to build your credit rating

Dun & Bradstreet was formed during the mid-1880s and has grown to be one of the largest credit rating companies in the world. One of the applications of a Dun & Bradstreet credit report is to help businesses develop good credit ratings.

I recommend: If you aren't sure what a business credit profile is, Dun & Bradstreet explains it here. Building a credit profile can help you get better interest rates on loans and such. Dun & Bradstreet offers three types of credit profiles to begin building your own good credit report.

Get help finding new customers with Dun Bradstreet credit reports

One of D&B credit report's products is basic company research. This includes researching a company or researching an industry and identifying potential customers.

I recommend: Dunn and Bradstreet credit reporting provides statistics that help you analyze your market and provide you with marketing lists derived from your sales targets. Also available are industry reports with statistics on every kind of industry.

Take advantage of the Dun & Bradstreet credit report value packages

There are a pretty good number of Dun & Bradstreet Credit Reports applications and uses--Dun & Bradstreet has six different types of reports and bundled packages of these priced for greater value.

I recommend: DNBi CreditAdvisor includes financial and business information on particular businesses, email alerts on important information and useful statistics. The Business Information Report is used for making medium- to high-risk business decisions.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  You can register for a DNB number--something that is necessary if you're doing work for the US government--free of charge.
• •  Most, if not all, of Dun & Bradstreet credit reports and products are interactive. You can monitor and make changes to your credit report to ensure its accuracy from your office.

Dun & Brad Street reports are by used by credit managers, government professionals and compliance officers. Dun Bradstreet credit reports also help small businesses. Its reports provide solutions for business credit ratings, monitoring financial health of suppliers and competitors, analyzing industries, targeting customers and assessing financial risk.

The Dun & Bradstreet Credit Reports pricing and costs run from low to high. There are six kinds of credit reports which are sold individually. There are also bundled packages of credit reports that save money if the credit reports are bought individually. Consider what D&B credit report products can provide:

1. Dun and Bradstreet credit reporting is based on 140 million records on companies.

2. Dun and Bradstreet credit reporting is useful to small businesses for creating good business credit, assessing competitors and suppliers, collecting debt and finding new customers.

3. A Dun & Bradstreet credit report will help you assess the risk of business and financial decisions.

Action Steps
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Find new customers with Dun & Bradstreet credit reports

Finding new customers is the constant job of any company that wants to continue its growth. Investing in solutions from Dun and Bradstreet can help you do just that.

I recommend: A Company Profile Report costs about $20. This report is available for six months and gives information such as leads and contact information. An Industry Report prices about $30--here you will receive stats on the industry as a whole and are supplied with the names of companies in that field.

Get financial information on companies with a Dun & Bradstreet credit report

Do you want to partner with another company? Should you extend credit to a customer? A Dun & Bradstreet credit report will prevent you from making a wrong, and costly, decision.

I recommend: There are three types of credit reports: basic, standard and premium. Standard and premium provide info on international companies. They are priced from about $60 for the most basic to about $160 for the most comprehensive credit report-- which includes risk indicators. An example of what you will get with the comprehensive credit report can be found here.

Analyze risks to your business with Dun Bradstreet credit reports

Making decisions for any of your business needs entails some risk to your company's financial health.

I recommend: The DNBi CreditAdvisor is more expensive than other reports--depending on the number of companies you want analyzed the price could go up to about $1,500. This product is specifically designed for small business use. The Credit eValuator plus Report is designed for less risky decision-making situations for about $60.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  See D&B's website for more products.