Experian for Small Business Credit Scores Review 2023

Want to know how you can―and if you should―use Experian for small-business credit scores? Well, Experian offers two ways to check on your business credit score: one-time reports and ongoing monitoring.

Both business credit score products offer a lot of value. With either product, you can get comprehensive business credit information. You can even see UCC lien and trade payment information and get business identity monitoring with some plans. But you’ll only see Experian scores and info. And Experian doesn’t offer monthly monitoring plans, which makes it kind of pricey.

We’ll dig deeper into all that (and more!) in this Experian business credit review.

Like we told you already, Experian offers both business credit reports as well as ongoing business credit monitoring.

Experian has one credit monitoring plan and three credit report plans.

Business Credit Advantage is Experian’s business credit monitoring service. If you’re a small-business owner who wants to keep an eye on your business credit report, this is the product for you. It gives you access to your Experian Intelliscore, credit alerts, and tons of information about your business credit profile. This is also the only product that comes with business identity monitoring.

Business CreditScore Pro is designed for vendors that want to know about other businesses’ credit scores. This plan lets you view credit scores, bankruptcies, banking, and other financial information about 30 businesses each month. It even offers credit limit recommendations. And you can optionally add on detailed information about trade payments and UCC liens.

If you just want to see your own business credit report, ProfilePlus Report gives you a comprehensive look at it. You’ll get your Experian business credit score, information about judgments, liens, trade payments, and more. But remember, this is a one-time report. You don’t get any monitoring, alerts, or updates when you purchase a ProfilePlus Report.

Finally, a CreditScore Report offers the cheapest way to get an Experian business credit report. You still get your Intelliscore credit score and essential business financial information. But you can’t get any details about trade payments or UCC liens, and you don’t get ongoing monitoring either.

Experian lets you view sample reports for each different tier. That helps you understand what information your report may include before you commit.

So now that you’ve seen Experian’s credit monitoring and credit reports, what do we like about them?

Well, for starters, we like that Experian offers both kinds of products.

Some small-business owners don’t need ongoing credit monitoring. If you want to verify that you can qualify for a business loan or a business credit card, for example, you may just want to look at your credit score on time. Or if you simply want to check for liens or judgments against your business, a one-time credit report can come in handy―at a lower cost than monitoring.

But plenty of small businesses can benefit from monitoring. If you’re trying to build business credit, for instance, you’ll like checking in on your credit score and making sure it’s going up. Or if you have concerns about fraud, credit monitoring and identity monitoring can give you peace of mind.

In other words, it’s great that Experian lets you choose the kind of business credit product you want.

And as we pointed out, all these Experian credit products give you more than just a credit score. You get your Experian Intelliscore, yes, but you also get access to way more business information:

• Banking information
• Bankruptcies
• Corporate registration
• Debt collection information
• Insurance information
• Judgments
• Tax liens

And that’s not even the whole list. Put simply, any Experian business credit product can offer you a ton of business information.

But how do Experian’s features compare to other business credit services out there?

Let’s look at how Experian business credit monitoring compares to credit monitoring from other companies.

Notice, first, that Experian monitors only (surprise) Experian credit scores and profiles. So you’re only keeping an eye on one business credit bureau. Some other business credit services, like Credit Suite and Nav, let you monitor all three major business credit bureaus (Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian).

You may also note that Experian offers just annual payment plans for monitoring. Pretty much every other service offers monthly payments (if they cost anything to begin with).

And sure, when you divide Experian’s cost out over 12 months, it ends up looking pretty affordable ($15.75 per month). But since you have to pay it all at once, Experian may cost too much for some business owners―meaning they’d be better off with an alternative credit monitoring service instead.

But remember how Experian includes identity monitoring with its credit monitoring plan? Most other services don’t do that. You can get identity services with a paid Nav plan (starting at $29.99 a month), but Experian definitely offers the cheaper option.

So Experian has its upsides and downsides when compared to the competition. It really just depends on what bureaus you want to monitor and what features you want.

We’ve already mentioned some of Experian’s big flaws, but let’s make them really clear. After all, we want you to know exactly what you’re getting if you sign up.

First, Experian credit monitoring only monitors Experian credit. You won’t see any information about your Dun & Bradstreet credit profile or your Equifax credit profile.

Likewise, you won’t see your FICO SBSS score (a less-common version of  business credit score used mostly for SBA business loans).

That may not matter much to you, especially if you stick with lenders that check your Experian Intelliscore (instead of, say, your Dun & Bradstreet Paydex score). But if you want a more holistic view of your business credit profile, Experian’s one-bureau reports and monitoring may be too limited.

Second, Experian offers just annual plans for its monitoring.

As we told you already, Experian’s $189 annual plan works out to a pretty cheap monthly price of just under $16. But if you don’t have the cash flow to drop almost $200 at once on credit monitoring, then Experian can still feel really expensive.

And yes, you can just choose a cheaper one-time report―but that means you miss out on credit alerts, identity monitoring, and more.

Every other business credit monitoring service we’ve seen offers monthly payment plans (some in addition to annual payment plans). We wish Experian did too.

We’ve focused our review on using Experian for small business credit scores. But we did want to mention that Experian offers way more than just credit reports or credit monitoring.

Experian also has plenty of other business financial products and services:

• Business valuation reports
• Consumer credit checks
• Debt collection software
• Mailing lists

Plus, Experian offers personal services too:

• Personal credit reports
• Personal credit score checks
• Personal credit score monitoring
• Personal credit boost
• Identity theft protection
• Credit card, insurance, and loan marketplace

Of course, you don’t need to use Experian business credit monitoring or buy Experian credit reports to use these other services―or vice versa. We just thought you might like to know that Experian has more to offer you and your business.

You can use Experian for business credit scores to either get a snapshot of your business credit or to get ongoing credit monitoring. Either way, you can expect to get more than just a credit score. Your Experian credit report will give you access to all kinds of business information (even letting you check for liens, trade payments, and more).

Just remember that Experian credit services let you see only your Experian business profile―not your credit history with other business credit bureaus. And note that Experian offers only annual plans for its credit monitoring, which can make it an expensive purchase. 

Want to check out your personal credit score too? Take a look at our list of the best credit monitoring services for business owners.

Your small business may or may not already have a business credit score. The Experian credit bureau, for example, automatically creates credit profiles (and therefore credit scores) for most businesses. Other bureaus, like Dun & Bradstreet, may require you to create a credit profile (and get a credit score) manually.

If you don’t already have a business credit score, you can request to set up a business credit profile and get a credit score from each business credit profile. Our guide to checking your business credit score explains how.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.