# Business credit reference agencies explained

*Source: https://credicorp.co.uk/support/business-credit-reference-agencies-explained/*

When your company applies for credit, the lender will usually check its file with one or more business credit reference agencies. These agencies are different from the consumer ones that hold your personal credit history, and the distinction matters. This article explains who the main agencies are, what they do, and how your company can check its own file.

## What a business credit reference agency does

A business credit reference agency (CRA) collects information about companies and turns it into a credit file and a score that lenders and suppliers can use to judge how risky it is to extend credit to that business. The file draws on public records — including Companies House filings such as accounts and director information — along with payment data, county court judgments, and other signals about how the business behaves.

Lenders use these files to help decide whether to lend, how much, and on what terms. Suppliers use them to set trade-credit terms. A stronger file generally means easier access to credit on better terms.

## The main UK agencies

Three names come up most often for UK businesses:

- **Experian Business** — maintains commercial credit files and a commercial delinquency score, drawing on payment performance and public data.

- **Creditsafe** — widely used for company credit reports and scores, often by suppliers and credit teams checking who they trade with.

- **Equifax Business** — provides commercial credit reporting and scoring alongside its consumer arm.

These are the agencies we use when we run a **business credit check** on the company applying. Note that each agency holds its own data and uses its own model, so a company can score differently with each. There is no single universal business score.

## How they differ from personal (consumer) CRAs

Personal, or consumer, credit reference agencies hold information about **individuals** — your personal borrowing, repayments and defaults. Business CRAs hold information about **companies**. The two are separate systems with separate files.

This matters for directors. When your company borrows from us, the borrowing is recorded against the **company’s** credit picture, not your **personal** consumer file. We do run an identity and anti-money-laundering check on you as director, but the loan itself does not appear on your personal credit report. We set this out in [will applying for a Credicorp loan affect my credit file](/support/will-applying-for-a-credicorp-loan-affect-my-credit-file/).

One nuance worth knowing: for very small businesses, some commercial scoring can take into account information about the directors, because a micro-company’s risk is closely tied to the people running it. But the company’s trading record is the heart of a business file.

## How your company can check its own file

You can — and should — see what the agencies hold about your business. Each of the main agencies offers a way for a company to access its own commercial credit report, sometimes free and sometimes via a paid or subscription service. Checking your own file does not harm your score.

When you review it, look for: out-of-date company details, accounts that should have been filed, county court judgments (and whether any have been satisfied), and the payment-performance data suppliers have reported. If something is wrong, you can ask the agency to correct it. Keeping the file accurate and up to date is one of the most direct ways to support your company’s score over time — we go into the practical steps in [your business credit score: how it works and how to improve it](/support/business-credit-score-how-it-works/).

## Why this is worth your time

Your company’s credit file affects more than loan decisions — it influences supplier terms, leasing, and even some contracts. Because three different agencies may hold three slightly different pictures, it is worth checking each one rather than assuming they agree. A few minutes spotting an error or a missing filing can make a measurable difference to how your business is seen by everyone who extends it credit.

---

Credicorp Limited — UK lender to limited companies (Company No. 16093826). credicorp.co.uk