What are the Experian score bands?
Experian categorises business credit scores into bands ranging from A to G, where 'A' represents the highest possible rating and 'G' the lowest. These bands are used by lenders and businesses to assess the creditworthiness of a company.
What is a delphi score?
Each limited company operating in the UK also receives a Delphi score. This is a numerical rating ranging from 0 to 100 and available on an Experian business credit profile. The Delphi score is paired with a corresponding letter band, providing a dual-layered insight into a business's creditworthiness.
Delphi scores are important for lenders and suppliers. They reflect the level of financial risk of a business defaulting on a loan.
How is an Experian business credit score calculated?
There are a number of credit bureaus in the UK, each of these will calculate business credit scores based on a range of factors and using their own, proprietary algorithms.
Experian is the prime bureau in the UK used by major lenders and providers of trade credit. To calculate your business’ delphi score and your band, they’ll use a variety of publicly available information. This can include your latest set of accounts at Companies House, your payment performance as reported by your larger suppliers and any legal notices registered against your business. They may also use factors such as your business’ age and industry to make an assessment.
What does an “A” score band mean?
A score between 91 and 100, or an "A" credit score is the highest possible band. This brings significant advantages:
What does a ‘B’ score band mean?
A score between 81 and 90 is classified as a "B" credit score. While not the highest band, it is still a good credit score and will offer several benefits for your business:
What does a ‘C’ credit score band mean?
A credit score of between 51 and 80 is a very wide band. It is also known as a “C” credit score and will come with a few challenges:
What does a ‘D’ credit score band mean?
A "D" credit score, which ranges from 25 to 50, can be seen as high risk for other businesses so it will likely bring several challenges:
Is it possible to change your Experian business score band?
Yes, it is possible to improve your business credit score band. Keeping track of your credit score is a good place to start. With Capitalise for Business, not only can you monitor your business credit score continuously, but you also receive alerts on any changes, allowing you to quickly address and resolve potential issues. Plus, our platform shows you the specific factors affecting your score so you’ll receive tailored insights into how you could improve it.
Credit bureaus update their records monthly, and typically reassess scores following significant events, such as the filing of financial statements.
Since business credit scores are largely calculated based on publicly available information, it can take some time for your credit score to improve organically.
Through our partnership with Experian, our Credit Review Service enables you to provide up to date information to the credit bureau so that they can reassess your credit score quickly. Taking only a couple of days, in 96% of cases this results in an improvement.
Sign up to get your business credit score reviewed today.