One of the most important sections of your D&B Business Credit Report Is the payment summary section. There are two scores in this section that
Are critical to the report and can separate a good report from a bad one.While the two scores – the PAYDEX score and the PAYDEX score key
Are related, they deal with separate issues that you need to know and Understand.
Your PAYDEX score is a statistical measure of your business creditworthiness … your ability to pay your debts … similar to your personal creditworthiness FICO score. A PAYDEX score of 80 is similar to that of a 700 personal FICO score.
You’ll need a PAYDEX score of 80 to obtain the most favorable financing … meaning you pay all your bills on time. To obtain a PAYDEX score, you need at least five trade accounts reporting to your file … but the score itself is calculated by using as many as 875 payments.
You will also want those accounts to report favorable payment history. If you pay your bills on time, they will. If you pay your bills late, your PAYDEX score will drop. Depending on how early or late you pay your bills, your PAYDEX score will adjust accordingly. If you pay early, then you can achieve a score that is over 80.
How timely you pay your bills (your PAYDEX score) is a good indicator to lenders of how likely you are to pay your bills in the future. Lenders look at this score carefully when deciding whether or not to give you a loan.
I've included a D&B PAYDEX score key chart below for your reference. Getting a PAYDEX score key of 80 means you have a perfect score. When you pay all your bills on time, meaning on or before the due date, you'll get a perfect score. Remember, to get this score, you need to have 5 trade references reporting to D&B on your company.
CHECK FILE PAYDEX SCORE CHART.PNG in newsletter file
100 Anticipate
90 Discount
80 Prompt
70 Slow to 15 Days
60 Slow to 22 Days
50 Slow to 30 Days
40 Slow to 60 Days
30 Slow to 90 Days
20 Slow to 120 Days
Admittedly, this can be one of the most difficult credit-building requirements to meet … because you’re at the mercy of your vendors to bother reporting. One of the best things you can do here is ask your suppliers for 30-day payment terms … and ask them to report your payment history to Dun & Bradstreet.
About the Author - Kim Carpentier is Owner and General Manager of Valley Credit Builders (www.valleybusinesscredit.com). He is using his 35 years of successful business ownership, and transition, to help small business owners build business credit so they can separate the financial responsibilities between business and personal credit. He specializes in helping business owners establish excellent business credit scores and then leverages those scores to access cash and credit for their businesses without their personal guarantees. The Business Credit and Funding Suite is the leading business cash and credit access system in the world today.
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