Your business credit report: how to read and use it

What the report contains

A business credit report gathers your company's score, filed accounts summary, payment behaviour, credit limits, and public records such as CCJs and any insolvency events. It is the full picture behind the headline number — what a lender actually reads when weighing your application.

How to obtain yours

Reports come from credit reference agencies including Experian, Equifax and Creditsafe. Many offer a paid business report or a subscription; some provide a limited view free. Pull yours from more than one, because they hold different data and can score differently.

Reading the key sections

Focus on the payment record (are late payments showing?), public records (any stale CCJ still listed?), and the financial summary (do the filed figures look right?). Each is a place an error can lurk — and an error you have not spotted is one you cannot fix.

Spotting and correcting errors

If you find a mistake — a satisfied CCJ still open, a wrong registered address, a default that is not yours — raise it with the agency and the source. Correcting it can lift your score materially. See how to check your report.

Use it to prepare, then apply

Clean your report, then approach lenders knowing what they will see.

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