Frequently Asked Questions About
Business Reports & Business Credit Reports

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Reports & Business Credit Reports

Frequently Asked Questions about our Business Credit Report Services may assist with some of the questions that you have about your report, but of course, feel free to call us with any additional questions that you may have.

• What is the difference between a business credit report and a tenant or employment report?

  Legally, the difference between a business credit report and a tenant or employment report is that business credit reports are not “consumer reports,” that is, they do not report information on individuals, therefore, they are not governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
  
  Business reports will report minimal information on the business owner (primarily only their status as the owner, and any other additional principal(s) or key person(s) within the company). A business report’s focus is reporting information pertaining to the company. In the case of business credit reports, this includes information about that company’s commercial tradelines.





• Do business reports require the authorization of the company to run?

  No. Unlike consumer reports, business reports can be ordered and completed without a consumer’s authorization.
  
  

• What information should I provide when ordering a business report?

  The following information is REQUIRED when ordering a business report:

  
  

  • Business Name

  • Business Address (Street address, City, State, Zip Code)

  
  

  The following information is SUGGESTED when ordering a business report:

  
  

  • Business Telephone Number

  • BDA (if applicable)

  • P.O.Box (if applicable)





• What is the difference between a Business Summary, a Commercial Intelliscore, and a Business Profile?

  The difference between a Business Summary, a Commercial Intelliscore, and a Business Profile lies primarily in the level of detail given in the report. The business summary provides a credit report and legal snapshot of the business, with no dollar figures. The Commercial Intelliscore provides the same credit report and legal snapshots, plus dollar amounts of the total tradelines developed and days beyond terms (DBT) that the company has gone past the payment due dates on their invoice agreements. The Business Profile provides all of this information, plus detailed tradeline and debt information, and detailed legal filing information.
  
  Something unique to the Commercial Intelliscore is the Intelliscore Plus, a rating number similar to a credit score, which ranks the company against other businesses in the same industry, based on its tradeline information. This report is typically most suitable for clients who want a quick yes or no “at-a-glance.”





• What is a List of Similars? What do I do with this document that was emailed to me?

  When AAA Credit Screening Services cannot find a business in Experian’s database with an exact match to the information given to us, or there are too many businesses with similar names and addresses to the company, we will send you a list of businesses with similar names and/or addresses. When you receive this document, please select one of the businesses listed or notify AAA Credit Screening Services if none of the businesses match the company that you are looking for. This can be done via email reply, fax, or phone call.
  
  If none of the businesses on the List of Similars match the company you are looking for and there are no other DBAs that you wish for AAA Credit Screening to search for the company under, the price of your report will be lowered to a lesser search charge.





• Why didn’t the company I ordered a screening on show up in the database? Does this mean that it is not a real business?

  From time to time, businesses will not appear in Experian’s extensive database. This could be for one of a few reasons.

  
  
  

  • Firstly, the address you provided may not be the address that Experian has on file for this business. Try reaching out to your applicant and asking if there are any alternative addresses that the business has had in the past seven years.

  • Secondly, the business may be recorded in the database under a different name, such as a DBA. Be sure that you have provided any and all DBAs to AAA Credit Screening Services so all names can be searched.

  • Thirdly, the business may not have been established for a long enough time to have a credit record on Experian’s files. While the scope of businesses that are captured in our business credit reports is very wide, some businesses that were established in the past year may not have established credit history which has been reported to any credit bureau. In this case, an alternative report would be a business license search, along with an individual tenant credit report on the principal(s) of the company.

  
  

  For more information, click on Business Credit Reports.

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