When you submit a business dispute, a Commercial Relations Agent is assigned to conduct a thorough investigation of your credit file. Depending on your request, the investigation may take about a month or, in complex cases, longer. Your request will go through several steps before being completed:
1) The request is received and logged, pending assignment. In this phase, your email has been read and posted to the Commercial Relations case management repository. All documents you have provided are also stored in the repository. Cases are logged in the order received and placed in a queue to be assigned to an agent. Experian automatically escalates disputes regarding bankruptcies for prompt attention. Cases are typically assigned to agents within 5 to 7 business days.
2) Next, the request is assigned to an agent, in queue to be worked in order of date received. Once an agent is assigned, your case will be queued to be worked in the order of the email "sent" date. First come, first served. Expect your case to be queued for a few days to two weeks.
3) The next stage, when the investigation is in progress with an agent, your file is first reviewed to confirm that the data in your file relates to only your business. This process can sometimes be complicated and take a long time. The agent confirms, using public record sources, the acceptable variations of addresses and business names to be included in your file. It is always helpful to provide all current and past names and addresses in your dispute so this portion of the investigation is done quickly and accurately. Depending upon the type of changes requested, this process may occur over several days or weeks, with changes becoming visible to you as the agent processes them. In all situations, the agent is only authorized to make changes that are verified by supporting documents. Until you are notified that your case is closed, continual changes may occur.
4) In some, but not all cases, the agent will reach out to verify your disputed items with the reporting organization. For example, in the event your dispute involves creditor trade payment data or legal filings, the agent will contact Experian data providers on your behalf to support your disputed items. Your dispute status will be: case is awaiting information from external trade, legal data reporter, or internal contributor. During this phase, Experian is required to provide the data reporter ten business days to reply. The status of your case may change if the data reporter replies promptly, or the case may take longer if there is back-and-forth communication.
5) When the agent updates your credit file, your case status will be: awaiting report production to confirm updates. After updates are made to your file, a revised credit report, score etc. is generated. This process generally takes one business day, but in same rare cases, may take as long as one month. In many cases, the production processes run over the weekend.
6) When the production process has completed, your case is closed. Please see email from businessdisputes@experian.com for more information. Before the agent closes the case, they will review a current version of your credit report. Remember that the agent is only authorized to make updates that they can verify through supporting documentation. In some cases, the report will be under a new BIN. The agent will compile and send an email describing the updates made along with other pertinent information. You should have an email from businessdisputes@experian.com. The email will include your case number and the current Experian BIN for your business credit report.
Should you have questions regarding your dispute, please feel free to contact Experian Commercial Relations at BusinessDisputes@experian.com or 888-211-0728 to speak to an agent.
FAQs
Business credit scores range from 0 to 100, with 0 representing a high risk and 100 representing a low risk. Generally, business credit scores above 75 are considered excellent. Scores are based on a number of factors contained in your business credit report.
How to read a business Experian credit report? ›
Experian's business credit score ranges from 0 to 100, with 80-100 considered excellent credit. They also provide a Financial Stability Risk Rating that's a number from 1 to 5 that suggests a company's risk level of going into severe financial distress or bankruptcy in the next 12 months.
Why is my business Experian score so low? ›
Circ*mstances that can lower your business credit score include, but are not limited to: Current collections, liens, judgments, bankruptcies or other derogatory public records on your business profile. The status, recency, frequency and dollar amounts of any applicable liens, judgments or bankruptcies.
What is an acceptable business credit score? ›
A score of 90 or higher is generally considered to be good, indicating that a company pays its bills early or on time. A score of between 89 and 80 shows that at least one bill within the last 12 months has been made between 1 and 30 days beyond terms.
How do I raise my Experian business credit score? ›
How To Improve Your Business Credit Score
- Check your business credit report regularly and verify that the information is accurate and up-to-date.
- Establish business credit with companies that report trades. Remember, not all business creditors report their trade information.
- Pay your creditors on time.
Dun & Bradstreet uses a PAYDEX® score, which measures a business's payment history on a 1-to-100 scale. A score of 1–49 indicates a high risk of late payment, 50–79 indicates moderate risk, and 80–100 represents low risk. To view your credit file, you'll need the CreditBuilder™ Plus product.
What credit score does a business start with? ›
Business credit scores range from zero to 100 and most small business lending companies require a minimum business credit score of 75.
How to increase Dun and Bradstreet score? ›
Ask suppliers to report to Dun & Bradstreet: Some vendors may not automatically report to D&B, but you can ask them if they'll submit the trade experiences to the firm. Increasing the number of on-time or early payments reported to D&B will help your PAYDEX score.
What factors determine business credit score? ›
Business credit scores help separate your personal and business finances, lower insurance rates and make business financing more accessible. Business credit scores are determined by payment history, age of credit history, debt, industry risk, company size and other factors.
What does B mean on Experian Business Credit Report? ›
A credit score of between 81 and 90, also known as a “B” credit score, will mean that: You receive good terms from lenders, subject to the merits of the individual proposition. Ie you should meet their credit hurdle and your interest rates should be lower than a company with a worse credit score.
Forming an LLC or corporation creates a separate legal entity with its own credit score different from the business owner(s) 's personal credit score. This differs from sole proprietorships and partnerships, where the business's credit is tied to personal credit profiles.
What is a good Duns and Bradstreet score? ›
Dun & Bradstreet assigns scores on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the best possible PAYDEX Score. Scores are divided into three Risk Categories, with 0 to 49 indicating a high risk of late payment, 50 to 79 indicating a moderate risk, and 80 to 100 indicating a low risk.
What is a good credit score for a small business? ›
The higher your score, the better your business credit rating. To improve your company credit score, your aim is to get as close to 100 as possible. Here's an overview of what high, medium, and low risk might look like to a lender2. 80 or over: A business credit score above 80 is typically considered excellent.
What is an acceptable Experian credit score? ›
Different companies will be looking for different things in potential customers, so while you may be one lender's cup of tea, you may not tick all the boxes for another. We provide a score from between 0-999 and consider a 'good' score to be anywhere between 881 and 960, with 'fair' or average between 721 and 880.
What is the range of Experian commercial credit score? ›
The commercial score with a range of 300-900, has been designed such that it provides a comprehensive view of commercial obligations of proprietors.
