Regularly reviewing your credit report is an important practice if your company wants to boost its credit rating and improve its chances of getting approved for business finance. Did you know you can access a free business credit report from certain providers?

In this article, we discuss the benefits of regularly monitoring your financial profile, what to look for and how to get a free business credit report.

What is a business credit report?

A business credit report is an in-depth document containing the information held about your company by a credit reference agency (CRA). This includes your key company details, credit history and other information gleaned from public records.

The report can be accessed by lenders, suppliers and other organisations (where consent is given) and is used to determine your credit score and judge your risk level. Businesses can request their credit report to understand their company’s financial health, identify issues/areas for improvement and validate details or detect discrepancies.

Like your business credit score, a business credit report is an evolving entity that changes with your payment history, credit use and financial-related activity.

Why is it important to check your business credit report?

The importance of checking a business credit report is due to it being an objective view of your company’s credit history and a reflection of your financial health. If you want to build your business credit score the report indicates activities have had a positive and negative impact, so you can address key problems or double down on the things helping your score to climb.

Monitoring and improving financial health is vital, with around a fifth of new companies failing within two years and 49% of businesses stating that getting funding had become more challenging over the past three years (according to recent BCoC data).

What is included in a business credit report?

Each credit report provider has its own methods, data sources and risk management tools, but the majority of business credit reports include the following information:

• Business background – details of company ownership, parent companies and subsidiaries
• Financial data – information about your financial health that helps lenders dictate appropriate credit levels
• Banking and trading history – transactional data that shows a company’s regular payment activities and patterns
• Credit history, score and risk rating – details of your credit, levels of debt, utilisation ratio and insights on your ability to make repayments
• Records of any CCJs, tax liens and bankruptcy – details of defaults or judgements that show irresponsible money management or payment issues based on available public records

Benefits of checking your credit report regularly

Keeping a close eye on your credit report is good practice. Here are some of the main benefits of monitoring your credit report: 

• Getting an overview of what CRAs have logged about your company
• Detecting potential fraudulent activity
• Gaining insights about where your credit strengths and weaknesses lie
• Using insights to make improvements and improve your credit score
• Spotting errors and disputing inaccurate records to creditors and CRAs to correct issues and adjust your report
• Adopting better debt management processes to help you get better future credit agreements and terms

How to access a free business credit report

Regularly monitoring your credit report usually comes with costs but you can get a free business credit report from various sources. 

Not all CRAs offer complimentary reports, but many have free trials or basic reports that can be upgraded to an ongoing paid credit report monitoring package. Also, some financial providers offer basic free credit insights from CRAs through integrations with banking apps.

The main CRAs and sources of business credit reports in the UK

1. Experian

One of the leading CRAs in the UK, Experian’s data integrity is highly regarded within the credit industry.

You can get a free Experian business credit report on a three-month free trial through the My Business Profile service. Then it’s £24.99 per month after the trial ends. The solution includes the following:

• your credit score and alerts for when changes occur
• insights about what's affecting your score and how to improve it
• a comprehensive view of your credit profile, including CAIS data, which helps you learn what lenders see when making credit decisions

2. Equifax

As a trusted global data and analytics provider, operating in numerous countries, Equifax provides innovative credit reporting, insights and risk management solutions.

Although Equifax offers a 30-day free credit report trial and reasonably-priced monthly packages for ongoing credit reports, it’s for individuals, not businesses. 

You currently can’t get a free Equifax business credit report. However, its commercial credit report and scoring service offers key information about organisations, helping you make informed decisions on who to do business with.

3. TransUnion

Like Equifax, TransUnion offers free consumer credit reports but doesn’t offer free business credit reports.

Although the agency provides credit scores and risk ratings for individuals and organisations, powered by the industry-standard VantageScore model, TransUnion’s business solutions are focused on providing information and analysis on creditworthiness and risk levels of other companies. TrueVision is TransUnion’s suite of data solutions that offers detailed insights to support customer acquisition, compliance and portfolio management.  

4. Dun & Bradstreet

This US-based credit agency has a large global footprint. Dun & Bradstreet provides an extremely granular view of business risk levels and creditworthiness. The agency offers a range of solutions with annual pricing for accessing business credit reports on potential and existing partners, suppliers and customers.

If you want a free business credit report from Dun & Bradstreet to assess your own company’s financial health, you can get its Credit Insights offerings. The free version offers an overview of your business risk level and credit score, plus alerts when your score changes. But it’s not a detailed, exportable report. The paid version, currently costing £245 per year, is a comprehensive view of your credit profile, with ongoing monitoring and actionable insights from the D&B’s six key indicators.

5. Creditsafe

Creditsafe is one of the leading providers of business credit reports in the UK, offering extensive services to help businesses manage risk, assess creditworthiness and make informed decisions, whilst helping to maintain good financial stability.

You can access a business credit report for free with Creditsafe, which provides real-time access to your credit score, insights into factors impacting your score and alerts about changes. If you want a more in-depth view of your profile, Creditsafe has paid offerings with greater insights and customised reports – after a free trial you can arrange bespoke pricing.

6. Free government-supported credit reports

While you can’t get a free UK business credit report directly through government channels, you can get useful information about your business, related to what information CRAs hold. For example, you can access various financial records and business structure overviews through Companies House.

Also, you can legally request a free statutory business credit report – a static report showing details held on your business by a CRA. However, it doesn’t provide credit scores, educational insights or the granularity of a business credit report.

How to use your free business credit report

So, once you’ve got your free online business credit report, what’s next and how can small businesses get the most value from the data? Reports help you monitor your company’s financial health and creditworthiness, keep on top of credit score movement and identify potential issues. 

As your report can be accessed by lenders, suppliers and potential clients, it can be a key trust factor in your company winning or losing business or securing funding.

8 ways to apply the insights from the credit report in your business

1. Identify areas that are negatively impacting your credit score and make adjustments accordingly
2. Ensure you pay your bills on time and meet financial obligations
3. Start to reduce your credit utilisation ratio if it has got too high (over 30%)
4. Maintain existing suitable forms of credit and explore additional credit sources to broaden your credit use 
5. Reduce borrowing costs and negotiate better terms as your credit score rises
6. Establish trade credit relationships and share your report to suppliers (if your score is in good shape) to build trust
7. Identify any inaccuracies and submit dispute claims to get errors corrected
8. Monitor changes in your score, analyse trends and maintain up-to-date records

How iwoca can help 

iwoca is a leading UK business loan provider empowering small businesses with fast and flexible finance. We know the challenges facing SMEs and our alternative financing solutions offer easy ways to build business credit while easing cash flow. 

With short-term financing tailored to your needs, iwoca business loans are ideal for companies of all kinds, even those without great credit scores. We assess a wide range of factors, beyond your credit score, including business plans and revenue potential.

Explore our Flexi-Loans and see how we can help your business. It’s easy to apply and you could be approved within 24 hours. Plus, we don’t charge early repayments fees and you’ll only pay interest on the funds you actually use.

Business credit report FAQs

How often should I check my business credit report?

It can take time for reports and scores to change, so you don’t have to check your report that often. Monthly or quarterly checks are beneficial for seeing patterns, ensuring accuracy and spotting potential errors. However, many free business credit reports are one-offs and you may need to pay to regularly monitor your report.

Will checking my business credit report affect my score?

No, checking your own business credit report won’t impact your credit score. However, actions taken that require lenders or third parties to review your credit report will leave a footprint on your profile, meaning it can affect your score.

What should I do if I find errors on my business credit report?

If you detect any errors in your business credit report, you should contact the CRA you got it from. You can submit a dispute claim, backed with evidence supporting your claim, and creditors/CRAs must act within 28 days, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK's Credit Reporting Code of Practice. If disputes are successful, your credit report will be adjusted, which will change your score – but allow a little while for this to kick in.

How can I improve my business credit score?

There are numerous ways to improve your credit score. Some are quick-fix actions, like registering your business and avoiding hard credit inquiries. Others take months to bear fruit, such as demonstrating responsible debt management (including diversifying your credit use, making prompt repayments and reducing your credit utilisation ratio). 

Read our article on how to improve your business credit score to learn more.

Sources:

• Understanding Your Credit Information and How Lenders Use It [TransUnion]
• Access to Finance Challenge for SMEs [British Chamber of Commerce]
• D&B, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion & Creditsafe Product Pages
• Understanding Business and Company Credit [Experian]
• How to Build Business Credit [iwoca’s Finance Explained Series]

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