4 Business Credit Cards That Report to D&B
Build strong business credit
with your EIN
We researched and found four business credit cards that might help you establish credit with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). Capital One, Chase, Citi, and Discover report payments and all account activity to D&B for business credit cardholders.
American Express business credit cards might appear on your D&B business credit report too, but only if your account becomes delinquent. So American Express may not be the best choice if your primary goal is to build your corporate credit rating with D&B.
Business Credit Cards That Report to D&B
When you open any of the following business credit cards, there’s a good chance they will show up on your D&B business credit report:
- Capital One
- Chase
- Citi
- Discover
- American Express*
Note: An American Express business credit card won’t help you build business credit with D&B. Instead, the account will only show up as a negative mark on your D&B credit report if you fall behind on your payments.
Using Business Credit Cards to Earn a Good PAYDEX® Score
Qualifying for a small business credit card can be a step forward in your journey to establish corporate credit. But there’s more work to do if you want that new account to help you establish a good business credit score.
Below are three tips on how to use a business credit card to earn a good PAYDEX score with Dun & Bradstreet.
1. Confirm That the Business Credit Card Is Reporting to D&B
Each business credit card issuer above — Capital One, Chase, Citi, and Discover — typically reports business credit cards to D&B for their account holders. However, when it comes to credit, you should never assume anything.
As a small business owner, you should review your D&B credit report after opening a new account. Business tradelines, like credit cards or loans, can only help you build business credit when they appear on your credit report.
If you can verify that you’re a business owner, director, or officer of your company, you can access your D&B credit file through the D-U-N-S® Manager system.
D-U-N-S Manager lets you complete several different actions, such as:
- View your business credit profile.
- Request basic changes.
- Dispute inaccurate tradeline details.
2. Pay Your Business Credit Card Early Every Month
The PAYDEX score by Dun & Bradstreet is a popular business credit score among commercial lenders. The score ranges from 1 to 100, and the number you earn is a representation of your business’s creditworthiness.
Lower scores indicate that your business is less likely to pay its debts on time. Higher PAYDEX scores, by comparison, mean that your business is likely to pay on time or early.
You need three or more trade references (i.e., net 30 accounts, business credit cards, etc.) on your D&B report to qualify for a PAYDEX score. Once you have enough accounts to generate a score, D&B bases your credit rating on your company’s payment history.
The following chart breaks down the type of PAYDEX score you could earn based on your payment habits.
PAYDEX Scores and Payment Habits
| PAYDEX® Score | Explanation: |
| 100 | Payment comes 30 days before due date |
| 90 | Payment comes 20 days before due date |
| 80 | Payment comes on due date |
| 70 | Payment comes 15 days after due date |
| 60 | Payment comes 22 days after due date |
| 50 | Payment comes 30 days after due date |
| 40 | Payment comes 60 days after due date |
| 30 | Payment comes 90 days after due date |
| 20 | Payment comes 120 days after due date |
| 1-19 | Payment comes over 120 days after due date |
3. Maintain a Low Credit Utilization Rate
You should also exercise restraint when it comes to the credit utilization rate on your business credit cards. Credit card utilization describes the relationship between your credit card limits and your credit card balances.
Let’s say you use $5,000 of your total $10,000 credit limit on a business credit card account. In this scenario, your credit card would have a credit utilization ratio of 50%. In other words, you’re utilizing 50% of your credit card limit.
Some credit scoring models — business and personal — will reward you with a higher credit score if you maintain a low credit utilization rate. But if your credit card utilization rate climbs too high, those same credit scores might decline instead.
Important details about credit utilization:
- D&B does not consider credit utilization when it calculates your company’s PAYDEX Score. Yet other business credit scores do factor credit utilization into their algorithms.
- In the personal credit score space, credit utilization can have a big impact on your FICO® Score. A lender might review your business and personal credit when you apply for a business loan or other financing.
Remember, it’s also critical to pay your credit cards in full each month if possible. Unless you have a 0% introductory APR, revolving an outstanding balance between billing cycles could cost your company a lot of money in interest fees.
There Are Other Business Credit Bureaus
Dun & Bradstreet is a well-known name in the business credit reporting and scoring industry. Yet D&B isn’t the only business credit reporting agency that matters.
Other business credit bureaus may also gather information about your company and its bill-paying habits. Depending on the type of financing your company applies for, a business lender might check your credit score from any of the following business credit bureaus.
- Experian
- Equifax
- PayNet
- Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE)
Learn more about each business credit reporting agency above in this Credit Strong guide: Business Credit Scores and Business Credit Basics.
Get a Business Credit Builder Account with Credit Strong
One of the easiest ways to establish a financial tradeline for your company is to open a Credit Strong Business credit builder account. Eligible businesses can use this account to build credit with several business credit bureaus.
You can apply for a Credit Strong Business credit builder account with your EIN. If you qualify, you’ll receive an instant business installment loan. However, the loan proceeds will be locked in an FDIC-insured business savings account to secure the loan.
As you repay the loan, Credit Strong will report your payment activity to major business credit bureaus each month. Assuming you pay on time and manage your account responsibly, you have the opportunity to build a solid business credit history.
Once you make your final payment, your loan proceeds are released (minus any interest and fees). You also have the option to cancel your business credit builder loan at any time, free of charge.
Bottom Line
As a small business owner, there are many factors to consider when you search for a small business credit card. Should you apply for an unsecured or secured business credit card? Does the account have an annual fee? Will you have to sign a personal guarantee?
Yet if building business credit is your primary goal, there’s one feature that stands out among the rest. You want to find a business tradeline that reports to the business credit bureaus.
CreditStrong for Business is the only 0% interest business credit builder in the nation
