Once the business owner understands how important it is to establish and maintain a Corporate Credit Profile, it then becomes important to understand how this profile’s performance is rated and graded by the various reporting agencies. This is important so that the business owner might find ways to improve his corporation’s profile and thereby its creditworthiness and success. Although most of these agencies and organizations follow similar reporting and collecting guidelines, they all have unique, proprietary methodology that need to be considered.
Dun & Bradstreet (D&B™)
D&B™ has a vast database of credit profiles on millions of companies–it is probably the most often referred-to organization when it comes to seeking business or corporate credit ratings. D&B uses a multi-tiered approach to the rating of these businesses that involves a proprietary “Paydex” numerical scoring system for credit worthiness, along with a federal, and international government-recognized “D-U-N-S” system (Data Universal Numbering System) that is a very unique, and efficient, way to categorize a company. The Paydex system combines payment history, and current re-payment capabilities to assign a basic numerical score. In addition to the Paydex score, D&B also utilizes a very simple 1 to 4 credit rating system. Listed below is the Paydex scale:
| Score | Payment |
|---|---|
| 100 | Anticipate |
| 90 | Discount |
| 80 | Prompt |
| 70 | Slow to 15 |
| 50 | Slow to 30 |
| 40 | Slow to 60 |
| 30 | Slow to 90 |
| 20 | Slow to 120 |
| UN | Unavailable |
Standard & Poors
Standard & Poor’s, also known as “S&P” rates companies on a scale from AAA through D, with an “NR” for companies that are too new or not yet rated. There are ratings between each letter grade that denotes position among that grade. In addition, many times S&P will also offer an opinion or informed statement known by them as a “credit watch” that denotes whether there is an impending change in the rating. The credit watch may denote a potential upgrade, downgrade, or forecast some uncertainty. Their rating scale is as follows:
| Score | Rating |
|---|---|
| AAA | The Best rating – this denotes very stable, reliable companies. |
| AA | A Very Good rating – this denotes reliable companies with a bit more risk than AAA |
| A | Good rating – financial standing can be affected by the economy or market forces. |
| BBB | A Satisfactory rating. – financial standing can be affected by the economy or market forces |
| BB | A Less than Satisfactory rating – financial standing prone to be affected by the economy |
| B | Much Less than Satisfactory – financial standing very unsteady |
| CCC | Vulnerable to financial environment – unsteady |
| CC | Highly Susceptible to financial environment – heavily dependent on favorable economic situation – Speculative prospect |
| C | Very Speculative – May be in a state of arrears on some credit, or even in bankruptcy |
| CI | Behind on interest payments |
| R | In Bankruptcy and in the hands of Regulatory agency due to financial standing |
| SD | Selectively Defaulted on certain loans or credit |
| D | Defaulted – has defaulted on many obligations and S&P presumes this profile will default on most or all obligations |
| NR | Not Rated |
Equifax
Equifax provides a Small Business Credit Risk Score that intends to predict delinquency on financial accounts, and is designed for the financial services industry. This score is numeric, between 101 and 992, with a lower score denoting a greater risk of delinquency. Along with the numeric code, Equifax delivers up to four “reason codes” that serve to indicate which factors more greatly affected the score. Equifax also utilizes a unique “Commercial Score” system that separates “trade” credit from other credit (leases, etc.), based on the premise that business owners are more likely to meet real estate, lease, or banking lines of credit obligations over trade-related obligations. These scores attempt to predict the type of accounts most likely to be defaulted upon.
Credit Information Score
| Score | Risk |
|---|---|
| 0-9 | Lowest Risk |
| 10-20 | Average Risk |
| 21-30 | Above Average Risk |
| 31-40 | High Risk |
| 41-69 | Highest Risk |
| 70 | Information has been reported to Equifax from the Bankruptcy Court Office |
Credit Information Score is Figured Using the Following Chart:
| Years active in Equifax database | 0-1 | 1.1-2 | 2.1-4 | 4.1-9 | 9.1+ | |
| Score | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 0 | |
| Current Payment Index | 51+ | 41-51 | 31-40 | 21-30 | 0-20 | |
| Score | 10 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 0 | |
| Number of payment references in the last 90 days | 0-1 | 2-3 | 4-6 | 7-10 | 11+ | |
| Score | 10 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | |
| Last quarter Payment Index vs. same quarter last year (difference in points) | 41+ | 21+40 | 11+20 | 6-10 | 0-5 | |
| Score | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 0 | |
| Number of derogatory items in the past 2 years | 10+ | 8-9 | 5-7 | 2-4 | 0-1 | |
| Score | 10 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | |
| How recent was the latest derogatory item (in months) | 1-2 | 3-4 | 5-6 | 7-12 | 12+ | |
| Score | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 0 | |
| Amount of derogatory items as a % of dollars owed to suppliers | 100% | 51-99% | 11-50% | 1-10% | 0% | |
| Score | 10 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | |
Payment Index
| % of Database | |||
| 0 | 65 | All trade suppliers report payment within terms | |
| 1-10 | 8 | Average days to pay is slightly beyond terms | |
| 11-20 | 6 | Average days to pay is 10 to 20 days beyond terms | |
| 21-30 | 5 | Average days to pay is 20 to 30 days beyond terms | |
| 31-40 | 6 | Average days to pay is 30 to 40 days beyond terms | |
| 41-90 | 5 | Only 5% of business in Equifax fall into this range | |
| 91-100 | 3 | All trade suppliers report severe past due or default | |
| NA | NA | No trade suppliers reported to Equifax |
ClientChecker
ClientChecker bills itself out as the “freelancer’s credit bureau,” and relies on the reports of users of its invoicing software in order to assign a numerical rating to a given business or corporation. This number denotes the creditworthiness of the company being rated, and is known as the PayQuo score. This score accompanies an “Aggregate Business Credit Report” that includes the number of reported non-payments and the average number of late payments in days.
The PayQuo Score is issued according to the following table:
| Score | Rating |
|---|---|
| 90 | Paid Early or According to Terms |
| 80 | Paid 10 or Fewer Days past Terms |
| 70 | Paid 20 Days or Fewer past Terms |
| 60 | Paid 30 Days or Fewer past Terms |
| 50 | Paid 60 Days or Fewer past Terms |
| 40 | Paid 90 Days or Fewer past Terms |
| 30 | Paid 120 Days or Fewer past Terms |
| 20 | Paid 120 or more past Terms, ,or was Written Off |
The chart is used to take an average in order to assess a score.
Experian
Experian is one of the mega-3 credit bureaus (along with Equifax and Transunion), and also uses specific Corporate Credit Profile ratings in order to grant credit worthiness scores to businesses and corporations. Experian relies on a couple of systems. One is the Intelliscore system that is designed to predict payment delinquencies in excess of 90 days. Used for businesses of any size, the IntelliscoreSMsystem assigns a risk score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores denoting less risk.
The other method used by Experian is the Vantage Score system. This system is intended to level the playing field, so to speak, so that differences in rating scores among the different rating agencies are a result of different parameters, and not merely different scores for the same credit issues. These scores were aligned consistently across each credit reporting company to create a score range from 501-990 that correspond to a simple grade-school type (and almost universally understood) A, B, C, D, and F.
The grades range as follows:
| Score | Rating |
|---|---|
| 901-990 | A |
| 801 – 900 | B |
| 701 – 800 | C |
| 601 – 700 | D |
| 501 – 600 | F |
There are, of course, many more credit reporting agencies and organizations, although we have summarized the more popular organizations.
BusinessCreditUSA™
This agency is a sub division of InfoUSA™, and Is geared towards providing a simple, inexpensive, yet informative credit report. It issues a report that contains such things as the names of the officers or managers of a company, their contact information, references, the number of UCC filings, and a simple rating system that is basically an “A through C” chart, with a “U” rating for “unknown.” It gathers much of the information from the business owners themselves, but verifies this information independently.
This is the BusinessCreditUSA Ratings chart:
| A+ | 95+ | |
| A+ | 90-94 | |
| B+ | 85 – 89 | |
| B | 80-84 | |
| C+ | 75-79 | |
| C | 70-74 | |
| U | Unknown |
FactualData™
FactualData (once known as FDInsight) offers a unique reporting venue for potential creditors or business partners by offer a menu-like selection of reference or search parameters. Using their unique data gathering system, they can check, bank references, business financial summary, and even public criminal records. The second largest reporting company in the mortgage/real-estate field, they wield a powerful research arm that collects and verifies the information supplied.
There are, of course, many more credit reporting agencies and organizations, although we have summarized the more popular organizations.
