No official source names a single business credit score that all lenders use, so the reliable answer is that each lender chooses its own, and the business's files at Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian are the ones to check first. For trade reporting from net-30 vendors, the useful question is which bureau actually holds the vendor's payment history, and the way to find out is to pull each file. Nav's free tier is the cheapest way to see all three at once, and the SBA's sequence puts the legal entity, the EIN and a business bank account ahead of any of it.

Which business credit score do lenders actually look at?

There is no single answer that official sources support. Lenders set their own underwriting, and the scoring formulas belong to the bureaus and other scoring companies. None of that is published by the SBA or any other government body.

What the SBA does publish is a sequence for building a business credit file. It runs in five steps: choose a business structure, get an EIN, open a business bank account, establish credit with vendors and suppliers who report, and monitor the business credit reports. A lender looking at a business can only work from what exists in that file.

Pages that name a specific score and a specific cutoff are quoting a proprietary model or guessing. No lender or regulator publishes one cutoff that applies across the market.

What does "reporting" mean for a net-30 account?

A net-30 account is a supplier agreeing to be paid within 30 days of an invoice. It only matters for credit when the supplier sends that payment history to a bureau. The SBA's wording is specific: vendors and suppliers who report, not vendors in general.

That makes the bureau the place where the account either shows up or does not. A vendor that pays attention to reporting may send data to one bureau and not another. Which vendors report to which bureau is decided by each vendor and each bureau.

This is why a head-to-head of Dun & Bradstreet and Experian is really a question about where the file lives. A business with trade accounts reported to one bureau and not the other will look different in each.

How do the bureaus compare for trade reporting?

The options below are listed alphabetically, and the order is not a ranking. Dun & Bradstreet and Experian are the two the title compares, and Equifax and Nav are included because they complete the picture. All prices were verified on each provider's own pricing page on 2026-10-06 and are stated as of that date, since they change.

Dun & Bradstreet. D&B sells its own credit products under the current name D&B Credit Insights, which replaced the older CreditSignal name. As of 2026-10-06 the tiers are Free at $0, Basic at $49 per month or $499 per year, Plus at $149 per month or $1,499 per year, and Premium at $199 per month or $1,999 per year. The D-U-N-S number is D&B's own identifier, so it matters here and nowhere in federal systems. Best for a business that wants to see and manage its D&B file directly.

Equifax. Equifax does not sell business credit reports directly. They are sold through approved resellers: eCredable for the one-time report and Nav for monitoring. As of 2026-10-06 the one-time report is $49.99 and monitoring starts from $39.99 per month. That is a real distinction from Experian and Dun & Bradstreet, which sell their own. Best for a business that wants an Equifax view and is comfortable buying through a reseller.

Experian. Experian sells its own reports and subscriptions. As of 2026-10-06 the CreditScore Report is $59.95 as a one-off, the ProfilePlus Report is $69.95 as a one-off, Business Credit Advantage is $199 per year, and Business CreditScore Pro is $1,995 per year. Best for a business that wants a one-time look at an Experian file without a subscription.

Nav. As of 2026-10-06 the tiers are Free at $0, Track at $39.99 per month, Build at $49.99 per month and Expand at $74.99 per month. The free tier shows business credit summaries from all three bureaus. Best for a first look across Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian before paying for any one bureau's full report.

Which of the two is better for trade reporting?

The honest answer is that neither can be named the winner from official sources. Which bureau a given vendor reports to is a fact about that vendor, so the better bureau for a business is whichever one its vendors actually send data to. Paying for a full report from the wrong bureau shows an empty file.

For a business that wants to be seen specifically in a D&B file, the D-U-N-S number is the relevant identifier, and D&B's own product page is where its requirements are described. For Experian, the same applies: its own materials describe what it records and how. Anything a bureau publishes about its own factors is that bureau's description of its own product, not a government fact.

The cheapest way to settle it is to look before buying. A free summary across all three bureaus shows where a vendor's reporting has landed, and only then does a paid report make sense.

Why does the DUNS number confuse so many guides?

Many guides still treat the D-U-N-S number as the federal business identifier. That ended on Monday, April 4, 2022, when SAM.gov and all other General Services Administration systems switched to the Unique Entity ID. The Unique Entity ID is obtained at SAM.gov.

A D-U-N-S number still exists as Dun & Bradstreet's own commercial identifier, and it still matters for D&B credit files. The accurate statement has two halves: the government no longer uses it, and D&B still does.

This matters for trade reporting because a D&B file is where a D-U-N-S number shows up. A business seeking federal contracts or grants needs the Unique Entity ID instead, and conflating the two sends people to the wrong place.

Does a lender-backed route change the picture?

A lender reviewing an application looks at more than a bureau file. The SBA publishes information on its 7(a) loan program, and its own page is the place to read about who qualifies and what terms apply.

What can be said is that a business with a file in its own name is in a stronger position to be evaluated at all. The SBA frames the foundation in one line: "To keep your business and personal finances separate, the first step is to start building credit in your company's name." That separation comes before trade accounts, bureau files or a loan application.

Vendor accounts are one input to that file, not a substitute for the rest of the sequence. A business that has formed an entity, obtained an EIN and opened a business bank account has the pieces any lender or vendor will look for.

What should a fast-credit service never ask for?

Packages that promise to place a business in a bureau file quickly, or to deliver a score, are a common false shortcut around trade reporting. The FTC's guidance on advance-fee loans offers a usable test. Banks and other legitimate lenders will not promise or guarantee a loan or credit before an application.

The same guidance says any up-front fee collected before a loan is granted is a cue to walk away, especially when it is described as "insurance," "processing," or "paperwork." It also lists phrases common in scam ads, including "Bad credit? No problem," "No hassle, guaranteed," and "We don't care about your past. You deserve a loan!"

A bureau selling a report at a published price is selling a report. A service that charges first and promises a score or an approval is selling something no legitimate lender or bureau promises.

How can a business check what each bureau holds?

Open the business's file at Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian, or use a free tier that summarises all three. Look for each vendor among the trade accounts and compare the payment history shown with the business's own records.

This is step five of the SBA sequence, and it is what makes the vendor step verifiable. If an account does not appear after several billing cycles, the vendor can be asked which bureau it reports to and whether reporting has to be requested. If it never appears anywhere, it was a payment arrangement and not a credit-building account.

Sources

This is general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.