Dun & Bradstreet Explained

Dun & Bradstreet is the oldest and largest business credit bureau. It collects trade payment data from vendors and lenders and turns it into scores and ratings that lenders, suppliers, and even the government use to judge a company.

Why it matters

In business credit, D&B is the bureau to understand first. Its PAYDEX score and trade data are what people usually mean when they say a company has business credit.

Key facts

• D&B's data comes mostly from vendors and lenders reporting payment experiences; D&B says the vast majority comes from third parties, never self-reported.
• Key outputs: PAYDEX (payment performance), Delinquency Predictor, Failure Score, and the Viability Rating.
• Unlike personal bureaus, D&B lets companies review and update their own company information for accuracy.
• Building a D&B file requires reported tradelines - vendors and lenders that actually send your payment data in.
• D&B sells monitoring and credit-builder products; the file itself builds from reported payments, not purchases.

In practice

1. Claim and review your D&B company profile; correct name, address, industry, and size.
2. Identify which of your current vendors report to D&B; ask the ones that do not whether they can.
3. Read the D&B report the way a lender would before applying for business credit.