Staying on top of the changes to your business credit scores can make a big difference when you are trying to source new funding, purchase equipment, or open a new location. This is because your business credit can be a key factor considered by lenders, suppliers, etc. when they decide what terms they are willing to offer.
The best way to keep of how your business credit is developing is to monitor your scores and reports yourself. In this article, we’ll take a look at four business credit monitoring services that can help you track the state of your business credit.
Business Credit Monitoring Services
In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at 4 companies that offer business credit monitoring services. Each has a variety of services/subscriptions that can help you monitor and/or build your business credit.
- Dun & Bradstreet – 🏆 Best for credit building
- Nav – 🏆 Best for free business credit monitoring
- Experian – 🏆 Best for one-time credit report/score checks
- Tillful – 🏆 Best for business credit education
Next, we’ll summarize each company’s services and highlight all of the credit monitoring subscriptions that each offers.
1. Dun & Bradstreet Credit Monitoring Products
🏆 Best for Credit Building
One of the biggest names in the business credit world is Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). This business credit company has existed for almost 200 years (established in 1841).
D&B offers a variety of credit monitoring products as well as products for lead generation and marketing. All of these products are subscription-based and are charged monthly or annually. There is also a limited free trial option for checking your business credit scores.
And for those looking to improve their D&B credit scores, D&B also offers two credit-building subscriptions that allow you to submit your own trade references.
Pricing
Dun & Bradstreet offers over a dozen subscription-based products that allow you to check your D&B scores and reports. Below are 4 subscription plans geared towards checking and monitoring your business credit.
| CreditSignal | CreditSignal Plus | CreditMonitor | CreditBuilder Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scores Provided | D&B Paydex plus 3 other D&B scores for 14 days | D&B Paydex plus 4 other D&B scores with unlimited access | All 9 D&B scores with unlimited access | All 9 D&B scores with unlimited access |
| Dark Web monitoring | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Credit Building | None | None | None | Submit up to 12 references |
| Price | $0 | $15/month | $39/month | $149/month |
If you want to save a little money on a D&B subscription, most plans offer a pay-annually option that saves you 15% – 20% off the monthly price.
In addition to the above options, D&B offers a premium version of their CreditBuilder subscription (with unlimited trade references and subscriptions tailored for sales and marketing.
2. Nav Business Credit Monitoring Products
🏆 Best for Free Business Credit Monitoring
Nav is essentially a business lending marketplace. They pair you, the small business owner, with business loans, credit cards, business banking products, and more. And as a part of this matching service, they offer free business credit scores and credit monitoring.
One of the best parts about Nav’s free service is that you get your credit scores from the 3 main business credit bureaus: D&B, Experian, and Equifax. Plus, you get your Experian and Transunion personal credit scores (Vantage) as well.
Nav also offers a paid subscription that includes identity theft protection, your FICO SBSS, and a unique Nav Tradeline reported to all 3 business credit bureaus.
Pricing
Nav offers two subscription plans for business credit monitoring; Business Basic, which is free, and Business Boost, which costs $49.99/month. Here are the key differences between the subscriptions.
| Business Basic | Business Boost | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores Provided | Key business scores from Equifax, D&B, and Experian, plus personal scores | Same scores as Basic plan plus FICO SBSS |
| Identity Theft Protection | No | Yes |
| Credit Building | None | 1 Nav tradeline reported |
| Price | $0 | $49.99/month |
If you want to save money on the Business Boost subscription, you can choose quarterly payments with 20% off your first payment.
It is worth noting that since Nav earns money through partner referrals, this could result in you receiving unwanted calls and emails.
3. Experian Business Credit Monitoring Products
🏆 Best for One-Time Bredit Report/Score Checks
Most of the business credit services Experian offers are geared toward sales and marketing instead of helping business owners track their credit.
That said, Experian offers a credit monitoring subscription that lets you monitor your business credit scores for a flat yearly price. And it includes identity monitoring.
Additionally, Experian offers one-time credit report pulls (for a fee) that can help you get a clear picture of what your business credit looks like right now.
Unlike many other resources on this list, Experian does not offer any kind of credit-building account.
Pricing
Experian’s business credit products are more geared towards one-time checks of your business credit instead of ongoing monitoring. Experian only offers one credit monitoring subscription, the Business Credit Score Advantage.
| CreditScore Report | Business Credit Score Advantage | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores Provided | One-time access to Intelliscore Plus and Financial Stability Risk Rating | Unlimited access to Intelliscore Plus, Financial Stability Risk Rating, and Industry Benchmark Score |
| Identity Monitoring | No | Yes |
| Credit Building | None | None |
| Price | $39.95 | $189/year |
In addition to the two above-mentioned business credit check options, Experian also offers the Business Credit Score Pro, which lets you check up to 30 businesses’ credit. Other business credit check options include the purchase of international business credit reports.
4. Tillful Business Credit Monitoring App
🏆 Best for Business Credit Education
Like Nav, Tiillful is a service that matches customers (small business owners) with lending products. The main difference is that Tillful is exclusively an iOS app.
Using the Tillful app, you can view your Experian Business Intelliscore for free. This is a one-time feature, and the scoring model used is version 3. This model is not widely used outside of Tillful.
Tillful will also use your credit and banking information to generate a Tillful score to help you estimate the financial health of your business. This score is purely educational; it is not used by creditors.
In addition to the free business credit monitoring service, Tillful offers business owners a secured business credit card. This card has no annual fee, personal guarantee, hard inquiry, or APR. All you need to qualify is a Tillful account and a security deposit.
Pricing
All Tillful accounts are free. But Tillful does offer an optional credit-building secured credit card as part of its services.
| Tillful Account | Tillful Credit Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores Provided | Experian Intelliscore & Tillful score | Experian Intelliscore & Tillful score |
| Credit Building | None | Reports a revolving business tradeline to Experian & Equifax |
| Price | $0 | $500 minimum security deposit |
In addition to helping you build credit, the Tillful secured business credit card also earns up to 1.5% cash back on purchases and does not charge any interest.
Comparing the Best Business Credit Monitoring Services
Below is a quick comparison of each individual credit monitoring subscription that these 4 companies provide. All of these subscriptions send score change alerts to you. Subscriptions previously mentioned in this article that do not provide alerts have been omitted.
| Credit Bureaus & Scores Pulled Pulled | Price | Unique Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D&B CreditSignal | 4 D&B scores/ratings | $0 | 14-day trial |
| D&B CreditSignal Plus | 5 D&B scores/ratings | $15/month | Alerts on new business events |
| D&B CreditMonitor | All 9 D&B scores and ratings | $39/month | Dark web monitoring and score guidance |
| D&B CreditBuilder Plus | All 9 D&B scores and ratings | $149/month | Benchmarking tools and submission of up to 12 trade references |
| Nav Business Basic | 3 business scores/ratings plus 2 personal credit scores | $0 | 1 on 1 with lending specialists |
| Nav Business Boost | 4 business scores/ratings plus 2 personal credit scores | $49.99/month | Identity theft services, follow up to 5 businesses and gain a Nav tradeline. |
| Experian Business Credit Score Advantage | Experian Intelliscore Plus, Financial Stability Risk Rating, and Industry Benchmark Score | $189/year | Identity monitoring and score guidance |
| Tillful Account | Experian Intelliscore (V3) and Tillful score | $0 | iOS app, optional secured business credit card |
How is Business Credit Monitoring Different?
If you are used to consumer credit monitoring services (like Credit Karma), you might be a little surprised at the lack of detailed information you are provided when monitoring your business credit. This lack of information stems from the business credit bureaus themselves.
Unlike personal credit reports, most business credit reports will have limited information on tradelines and inquiries. This omission of tradeline data is done for privacy and safety reasons. This is designed to protect you and your suppliers.
Because of this limitation, many business credit monitoring services will primarily show credit scores only or very limited tradeline details. If you want more detailed credit report information, particularly if you need to dispute an error, you’ll have to contact the credit bureau directly.
👉 Take a look at our article on how to check your business credit for more information on obtaining your information directly from the business credit bureaus.
