Learn How To Monitor Business Credit And Why It’s Important
Business Credit Monitoring
· What Is Business Credit Monitoring?
· Who Should Monitor Their Business Credit?
· What Are Some of the Benefits of Monitoring Business Credit?
· How Do I Monitor My Business Credit?
· When Should I Start Monitoring and How Frequently?
What is Business Credit Monitoring?
Business credit monitoring is considered a best practice for all businesses that either have or are establishing, business credit. Business credit monitoring is a way to remain continuously aware of your business payment performance, any inquiries from other companies, and any changes to your business credit scores and ratings.
It is a good idea to establish business credit before you need to use it because it can be more difficult to get a loan or a substantial amount of credit if your company has not already proved itself to be creditworthy. Once your business credit is established, monitoring it, much like you would monitor your personal credit, can be important when trying to maintain a healthy financial profile. You will want to track your payment performance, your outstanding balances, and any business transactions that are associated with your D-U-N-S® Number, which is the unique ID that helps identify your business in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud.
What’s in your business’s credit profile can influence whether your company is approved for additional funding; it can affect the interest rate charged when credit is approved; it can make an impact on a decision-maker who may be responsible for awarding you a contract or a professional partnership; and it can be a factor in myriad other instances that could impact your budget, cash flow, and business growth plans.
Who Should Monitor Their Business Credit, and Why Is It Important?
Whether you are an entrepreneur, a sole proprietor, or a medium- to large-sized enterprise, it is a good idea to monitor your business credit and to monitor the credit of the companies you do business with before you extend business credit.
Entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, and small businesses that are just starting out and establishing business credit will want to be diligent about paying trade accounts on time and establishing a creditworthy reputation that could be reflected in their business credit scores, which are separate and different from personal credit scores.
Mid- to large-sized companies that have established creditworthiness should also monitor their business credit so that they know what’s in their file if another company pulls it.
Once your company repays an extension of credit, it tends to be much easier for others to consider extending credit to your company, but keep in mind that those extending credit may continue to monitor your company’s payment performance – with them and with other entities – so be sure to continue to pay your bills on time and monitor your business credit to avoid becoming a credit risk.
No matter the size of your company, maintaining a strong credit profile can serve you when another company pulls your business’s file.
What Are Some Of The Benefits Of Monitoring Business Credit?
Ninety percent of Fortune 500 companies use Dun & Bradstreet scores and ratings to help make business decisions. Dun & Bradstreet business credit scores and ratings help companies evaluate the risk level, creditworthiness, payment behavior, and viability of a business. Monitoring your Dun & Bradstreet credit profile and being aware of the activity in your business credit file may help you understand the steps necessary to address your business needs.
And, knowing which industries are making inquiries about your business and the type of information they are requesting can help you prepare for new opportunities, such as financing, lines of credit, lease terms, and more.
It is also beneficial to be aware of any lawsuits, liens, or judgments that may be affecting your company. By monitoring your business credit, you will be able to identify any new activity that arises. Staying informed is important so you can respond in a timely manner, dispute, or explain when another entity questions the occurrence.
In addition, according to Dun & Bradstreet’s High Risk and Fraud Insight team, identity theft can increase after natural disasters or a national crisis. The team saw a more than 100% increase in business identity theft in 2019. Most of the credit monitoring tools available through Dun & Bradstreet include Dark Web Monitoring* to help you protect your business from potentially fraudulent activity.
And, if you are interested in benchmarking your business credit scores against others in your industry, these capabilities are also available in many of the Dun & Bradstreet credit monitoring tools.
How Do I Monitor My Business Credit?
Because Dun & Bradstreet is continuously ingesting new data, your business credit rating can change quickly and it’s important to keep track of these changes so you can take appropriate action if your file has unexpected changes. CreditSignal,** Dun & Bradstreet’s free business credit monitoring tool can notify you when there are changes to four of your scores and ratings.
If you are interested in 24/7 access or industry benchmarking, there are other options available to help you check your business credit scores and ratings.
And, if you are interested in submitting payment experiences*** to Dun & Bradstreet to help build or influence your credit report, there are options to help submit trade references.****
Using the business credit monitoring tools through Dun & Bradstreet is an easy way to monitor your business credit file.
When Should I Start Monitoring My Business Credit File and How Frequently?
Since business credit can fluctuate as a company grows, business credit monitoring is best started when you first start doing business, and you should consider including it in your routine business practices on an ongoing basis. As a startup, you can start to build your credit and reflect your reliability; as a growing business, you can leverage it to win bids and get funding; and as a medium- or large-sized business, you can use it to minimize risk and manage cash flow. No matter where you are in your business life cycle there can be a business credit benefit for you, so monitoring your business credit file can be important.
In terms of frequency, there may be times when you will want to have access 24/7, such as when you are applying for a loan or trying to win a bid or contract. You will also want to be able to access your business credit report when you are actively making payments on trade accounts or other business credit accounts because you may see those payments reflected in your scores and ratings.
Knowing that your business credit scores and ratings can change quickly, you need a business credit monitoring solution that provides insights into what is being reported about your company. Staying up to date on how other entities see your company’s creditworthiness and where you stand against your key competitors can be done by routinely monitoring your business credit.
*Dark Web Monitoring provides a monitoring and alert service associated with your business email account(s) to monitor for suspicious activity on parts of the internet that may not be visible to search engines, alert you if your email address is found on a suspicious site, and provide the potential risk level of the exposure. The Dark Web Monitoring service is not intended to secure your email or your email credentials, is provided “as is,” and neither Dun & Bradstreet nor [redacted] make any warranty or representation, either express or implied hereunder. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Dun & Bradstreet, [redacted], or through or from the Dark Web Monitoring will create any warranty of any kind.
**CreditSignal only shows four of your Dun & Bradstreet scores for 14 days, then provides directional changes to such scores. It also indicates the number of individual request(s) for information, which may include but are not limited to credit information, by a unique external customer(s) on a D-U-N-S® Number. To view additional scores and ratings, view scores and ratings following the 14-day period, or learn about what industries are making such requests, we recommend that you upgrade to one of our paid credit monitoring or credit building solutions.
*** These payment experiences are subject to Dun & Bradstreet's verification process.
****Trade References will be added subject to Dun & Bradstreet verification and acceptance. Dun & Bradstreet cannot guarantee that trade references will be accepted or that accepted trade references will impact your business credit file. Please see https://www.dandb.com/glossary/trade-references/ for eligibility, process and other information regarding Trade References.
