Unlike personal credit, there is no AnnualCreditReport.com equivalent for business credit — no mandated free annual report from each bureau. Business credit reporting is a for-profit system, and the bureaus charge for full reports. But free access does exist, and knowing exactly where to find it is the first step to understanding where your business credit stands.
The Three Bureaus and What Each Reports
Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)
D&B is the most widely used business credit bureau for commercial lending decisions. Your D&B file contains:
- Your Paydex score (0–100) — the primary payment timing metric lenders pull
- Trade lines from vendors who report to D&B (Uline, Grainger, Quill, Office Depot, Staples, and others)
- D&B Financial Stress Score — probability of business financial distress
- D&B Delinquency Predictor Score — probability of late payment in next 12 months
- Business verification data — entity name, address, NAICS code, officer information
- Public records — liens, judgments, UCC filings
Experian Business
Experian Business maintains its own file on your business, separate from your personal Experian file. Your Experian Business file contains:
- Intelliscore Plus (1–100) — Experian's primary risk score
- Trade payment data from Experian's network of reporting vendors and lenders
- Business credit card activity (from cards that report to Experian Business)
- Business loan and lease history
- Public records — judgments, liens, and bankruptcies
- Business demographic information and verification data
Equifax Business
Equifax Business tracks similar data with their own scoring model:
- Business Credit Risk Score (101–992)
- Payment trends and delinquency history
- Trade line data from Equifax's network
- Business age, size, and industry classification
- Public records
What You Can Get Free vs. What Costs Money
D&B: Free Monitoring via CreditSignal
D&B's CreditSignal is a genuinely free product that gives you:
- Your current Paydex score
- Alerts when your D&B file changes (new trade lines, score changes, inquiries)
- Basic business profile information
What CreditSignal does NOT give you free: the full detail of your trade lines, the Financial Stress Score, the Delinquency Predictor Score, or the full public records section. Full D&B reports with all scores cost $39–$199 depending on the report tier.
How to access CreditSignal free: Go to dnb.com, search for your business, and register for the free CreditSignal monitoring product. You will need your D-U-N-S number.
Experian Business: Free Basic Profile
Experian Business provides a free basic business profile view at businesscredit.experian.com that includes:
- Your Intelliscore Plus score (the number itself)
- A summary of your business profile
- Indication of how many trade lines are reporting
Full Experian Business reports — with trade line detail, payment trend analysis, and score factors — cost $39–$99 per report. Experian's Business Credit Advantage subscription runs approximately $189/year for ongoing monitoring with full report access.
Equifax Business: No Free Tier
Equifax Business does not offer a free score check or free monitoring product as of 2026. Checking your Equifax Business credit report requires purchasing a report directly at equifax.com/business or through a third-party monitoring service that includes Equifax data. Full Equifax Business reports run $99.95–$129.95.
Free Third-Party Options
Nav.com
Nav is the most useful free business credit monitoring tool available. The free tier provides:
- Your D&B Paydex score summary
- Your Experian Business Intelliscore summary
- A basic Equifax Business profile indicator
- Your personal credit score summary (helpful for seeing how the two files compare)
- Funding recommendations based on your credit profile
Nav's free tier gives you enough data to know where you stand. The paid tier ($49–$149/mo) adds full report access, credit monitoring alerts, and dispute assistance. For most businesses in the early credit-building phase, the free tier is sufficient to track progress.
CreditSafe Free Trial
CreditSafe is a global business credit data provider primarily used by enterprise lenders and B2B companies evaluating their customers. They offer a free trial that includes business credit report access. The trial is limited in duration — typically 7–14 days — but it is a useful way to get a baseline read on your Experian Business and Equifax Business profiles before committing to a paid plan.
FICO SBSS via Some Banks
The FICO Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS) is the score SBA lenders use to make initial approval decisions on SBA loans. It blends personal credit, business credit, and financial data into a single score ranging from 0 to 300. A score above 155 passes SBA's pre-screen threshold.
Some business banks — particularly those with active SBA lending programs — provide FICO SBSS score access to business customers. Chase, Wells Fargo, and certain community banks include SBSS access in their business banking portals. Check with your business bank to see if this is available without charge.
What to Look for When You Pull Your Report
Pulling your report is only useful if you know what you are looking at. Here are the four sections that matter most:
Trade Lines
Review every trade line for accuracy. Confirm the vendor name, credit limit (if applicable), payment terms, and — critically — the reported payment status. Any late payment that was actually paid on time is an error worth disputing. Also note which vendors are actively reporting and which are not — if a vendor account is open but not showing on your report, the vendor may not be reporting to that bureau.
Payment History
Look at the payment history section for any derogatory marks — 30-day lates, 60-day lates, or 90+ day lates. A single 90-day late can drop a Paydex score significantly. If you see a late that was not your fault (a payment processing error, for example), document it and dispute it.
Public Records
Check for liens, judgments, and UCC filings. Tax liens are a score killer across all three bureaus. If you have paid off a lien or satisfied a judgment, verify that it is showing as satisfied — not just open.
File Errors and Business Information Accuracy
Verify your business name, address, EIN, and formation date. If any of these do not match your official records exactly, bureau algorithms may flag your file as incomplete or inconsistent. This is one of the most common and easiest-to-fix issues that slow credit builds down. For a deeper guide on interpreting what you find, see our how to read your business credit report guide.
Setting Up Ongoing Free Monitoring
Checking your business credit once is a start. The businesses that build credit fastest are the ones that monitor consistently — catching errors early before they compound and tracking score progress month over month.
Here is the free monitoring setup that covers all three bureaus:
- D&B CreditSignal — sign up at dnb.com for free Paydex score alerts and file change notifications. Takes 10 minutes to set up.
- Nav.com free account — connects your D&B and Experian Business scores in one dashboard with monthly refresh. Takes 15 minutes to set up.
- Experian Business free profile — register at businesscredit.experian.com for baseline Intelliscore visibility.
Review your monitoring dashboard monthly. When a new trade line appears, confirm it is reporting correctly. When your Paydex changes, look at the payment data to understand why. When you see an inquiry, confirm it was from a vendor or lender you recognize.
For a full comparison of paid monitoring services and what each one offers, see our best business credit monitoring services comparison.
Ready to Build Business Credit the Right Way?
Knowing your score is the starting line — not the finish line. The DIY Accelerator at $97/mo gives you the exact vendor accounts, payment strategy, and monitoring process to build the scores your report will measure into something lenders actually want to see.
Published by Famp Business Concierges | Business Credit & Funding Specialists