How to Check a Company's Credit Report

Businesses have the ability to become an entity that is completely separate from their owner or owners by obtaining a federal tax ID number. This means that businesses have their own company credit report not connected to anyone's social security number. However, you do not have to obtain a federal tax ID number to build business credit. A social security number can also be tied to the company in lieu of the federal tax ID number. In order to learn how to check a company's credit report, a business credit report file must already be established with business credit bureaus. After the file is established, anyone can check a company's credit report by following a few steps.

Steps

    1
    Obtain the company's legal name, city, and state. Make sure you have the owner's permission to pull a company credit report. If they do not grant permission, do not obtain the credit report.
    2
    Gain access to the business credit database of a business credit bureau. The 2 most frequently used business credit bureaus are Experian and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). Type in the name of the company, the city, and the state the company is registered in.
    3
    Purchase a business credit report and credit score package for the company you are looking up. UK Credit Info, Duport, Experian and D&B both offer several options that vary in price. Some plans are designed for business owners looking up their own business credit report. Other plans are for creditors, potential business partners, or others outside a business who might want to pull a company's credit report for various reasons that are typically financial in nature.

Tips

    If you are a business owner, you can voluntarily provide business credit bureaus with information about your company for a more complete business file. Many times, this action is required in order to start a business file and build business credit. Contact all the major business credit bureaus as soon as possible after establishing your business to start this process.
    The more complete a file is, the more likely investors, banks, and other lenders may be to extend credit to a business. Make sure your file is as thorough as possible for the best opportunities to be available to you.

Warnings

    The amount and validity of the data contained in each company credit report will vary. Credit bureaus must compile reports based solely on information they have received about a particular company, and sometimes this information may be incomplete. Credit bureaus use various methods to gather and verify information. The information can be received from the company itself, the company's suppliers, and existing lenders.
    Some suppliers and lenders do not report to business credit bureaus, so do not rely on them to help you build business credit. You may want to have relationships with various suppliers and lenders so that at least some of them will report positive credit history on your company's behalf.