How are business credit scores calculated?

A business credit score is a prediction of risk. Credit reference agencies use scoring models to estimate how likely your business is to experience financial difficulties or fail to meet its financial obligations, usually within the next 12 months. Because each UK credit reference agency uses its own model, they can rely on different data, calculations and scoring scales. This means the same business can receive different scores from different providers. Understanding how these scores are calculated can help you interpret your credit report and take steps to improve your credit profile.

What is a business credit score actually measuring?

Every business credit score, regardless of which agency produces it, is trying to answer one question: how likely is this business to fail to meet its financial obligations within the next 12 months? Credit reference agencies build their models by analysing large historical datasets of businesses, identifying the characteristics that businesses which later defaulted or became insolvent shared before the event occurred, versus those that remained financially stable. Statistical techniques are then used to weight those characteristics proportionally to how strongly each one predicted the outcome. Your current score is the result of your business's data being run through that trained model today.

This has two important implications:

• A credit score is designed to predict future risk, not just reflect past behaviour. So, while your payment history and financial track record are important, the score is also an estimate of what may happen in the future based on the information currently available.

• Scores are relative to the model that produced them. A score of 65 at Experian does not mean the same thing as a score of 65 at Creditsafe. Each agency's scale reflects its own model, its own outcome definition, and its own data universe.

Which data sources feed into the calculation?

Business credit scores are built using information from several different sources. Each source helps create a broader picture of your company's financial stability, payment behaviour, and overall risk profile.

Companies House filings

Credit reference agencies continuously monitor information filed at Companies House. This includes:

• Annual accounts.

• Confirmation statements.

• Director appointments and resignations.

• Changes to company details.

Filing information on time is important as late or missing filings can be viewed as a warning sign because they may indicate administrative or financial difficulties. The level of financial information you provide can also have an impact. Companies that file full accounts generally give agencies more information to assess, which can lead to a more accurate view of the business. Some models may also take account of factors such as frequent director changes, periods of dormancy, or other unusual filing patterns.

Trade payment data

Trade payment performance is one of the most influential factors in many business credit scoring models. Suppliers, lenders, and other creditors may share information with credit reference agencies about how promptly a business pays its invoices. This data can show whether payments are typically made on time, late, or very late. Consistently paying suppliers on time helps demonstrate strong financial management and can support a healthier credit profile. However, not every supplier reports data to every agency. This is one of the main reasons why your business may have different scores with different credit reference agencies as your supplier may report to one, and not another. 

Bank and credit account data

Some modern scoring models also incorporate information from business bank accounts and credit facilities. This may include current account activity, loan repayments, overdraft usage, asset finance agreements and commercial mortgages. The inclusion of banking data allows agencies to assess how a business manages its cash flow on an ongoing basis. This can provide a more current view of financial health than annual accounts alone, which may already be several months old by the time they are reviewed.

Public records

Credit reference agencies also monitor public records that may indicate financial distress. These records include County Court Judgments (CCJs), winding-up petitions, statutory demands, administration appointments and insolvency notices. Events such as these are generally viewed as strong indicators of increased financial risk and can have a significant impact on a business credit score. The severity of that impact depends on factors such as how recent the event was, the value involved and whether any debt remains outstanding. For example, a recent unsatisfied CCJ will typically have a much greater effect on a credit score than an older CCJ that has already been paid and resolved.

Director information

For smaller businesses, director information can also play a role in the assessment process. Where a company has a limited trading history or little credit data of its own, agencies may look at information connected to the directors behind the business. Depending on the model being used, this may include a director's personal credit history, previous involvement with failed businesses and other relevant public record information.

Industry and sector

Business credit scores do not assess companies in isolation. Credit reference agencies also consider the broader economic environment in which a business operates. Some industries have historically experienced higher levels of insolvency, financial distress or late payment than others. As a result, agencies often adjust their models to reflect the level of risk typically associated with different sectors. This means two businesses with very similar financial profiles may receive different assessments if they operate in industries with different risk characteristics. A hospitality business, for example, may be assessed against a different risk baseline than a professional services firm because the long term performance of those sectors has historically been very different.

How Experian calculates business credit scores

Experian's business credit scoring model in the UK is the Commercial Delphi Score. It runs on a scale of 0 to 100, where a score of 0 indicates a business that has already been dissolved or has formal adverse information such as a liquidator, receiver, or administrator appointment. A score of 1 reflects a recent winding-up petition or intention to dissolve. The current version is Commercial Delphi Generation 6, launched in 2024. According to Experian, it combines four categories of data:

• Company accounts

• Payment performance

• Director information (including director consumer credit data)

• Current Account Turnover data (via Commercial Credit Data Sharing)

The addition of Current Account Turnover data in Generation 6 means the model can assess cashflow patterns in near real time, rather than relying solely on filed accounts, which can be 12 to 18 months out of date. Experian also introduced updated scoring segments specifically for nano and micro businesses in Generation 6, recognising that the risk characteristics of very small businesses differ from those of larger SMEs. Experian publishes the following official score bands:

Source: Experian Commercial Delphi Score guide

Experian also assigns each business a credit limit. This is a recommended maximum credit limit for a 30 day trading period, ranging from £500 to £10 million. This is based on both the Delphi score and the size of the business, and is separate from the score itself. If you offer credit to other businesses, you can use their credit limit as suggested guidance for how much you should extend them at any one time. Similarly, you can use your own credit limit as a gauge for how much supplier credit you are likely to be offered.

Experian’s credit scores are updated approximately every 30 - 45 days as new trade, payment, and financial data comes in. However any publicly recorded events, such as a new CCJ, will trigger an earlier recalculation. Experian is the primary credit reference agency used by the majority of UK high street banks and mainstream business lenders, making the Commercial Delphi Score the most widely referenced score in UK lending decisions.

How Creditsafe calculates business credit scores

Creditsafe scores run on a scale of 1 to 100, where a higher score means lower insolvency risk. According to its Credit Scoring Guide, the score is a direct expression of one thing: the probability that your business will become insolvent within the next 12 months. Creditsafe calls this the Probability of Default (PD). To calculate it, Creditsafe uses multiple different scoring models rather than one. The main segmentation characteristic for these different models is size of the business. This is because the warning signs of insolvency in a large established company look different to those in a two year old micro business. A single model applied to both would be less accurate for each.

Each model is built by analysing company data, such as filed accounts, payment behaviour, director information, and public records and identifying which characteristics most reliably predict insolvency. Only variables that are both statistically significant and make logical business sense make it into the final model. Creditsafe also uses a Stepwise logistic regression (SLR) model to develop their scorecards, this ensures that they have an accurate and binary outcome from the calculation. One important thing to note is that the score is not a ranking against other businesses. Your score means that you sit within a specific range of default probability and does not mean you are in that percentile. The score reflects your own risk profile, independently of how other businesses are performing.

How Equifax calculates business credit scores

Equifax provides commercial credit reports and scoring to UK lenders. These reports include a credit score alongside financial data, payment history, director information, and public records such as CCJs. Some lenders will use these reports when making commercial lending decisions.

Unlike Experian and Creditsafe, Equifax does not publish a named business credit scoring methodology or a publicly documented score scale for UK businesses. Their commercial scoring is primarily a lender facing tool rather than something a business owner can directly check and manage. If a lender tells you they use Equifax data as part of their assessment, the most useful thing you can do is ensure your underlying data is accurate, particularly your payment history, filed accounts, and public record entries.

How Dun & Bradstreet calculates business credit scores

Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) is a global data company that holds credit information on UK businesses. Most UK limited companies are automatically assigned a D-U-N-S number, a unique nine digit identifier D&B uses to track your business. You will often need it when tendering for public sector contracts, onboarding with large corporations, or working with international partners. Unlike Experian or Creditsafe, D&B does not produce a single credit score. Instead, your D&B credit file contains several scores, each measuring something different:

• The Viability Rating evaluates your company's current financial health and forecasts whether it is likely to go bankrupt or become inactive within the next 12 months.

• The Failure Score (1 - 100) predicts the likelihood of your business becoming insolvent within the next 12 months, leaving creditors unpaid. A score of 1 represents the highest risk; 100 the lowest. It is calculated using payment history, financial data, and business sector.

• The Delinquency Score (1 - 100) predicts how likely you are to pay suppliers severely late within the next 12 months, based on invoice payment data. As with the Failure Score, 1 is highest risk and 100 is lowest.

• The PAYDEX score (1 - 100) measures your historical payment performance. A score of 80 means you pay on time, above 80 means you tend to pay early and below 80 means late. Importantly, this score only exists if your suppliers are actively reporting payment data to D&B.

D&B is less commonly used than Experian in UK domestic lending, but matters most if you are bidding for public sector work, supplying large organisations, or trading internationally.

Why do the same businesses get different scores at different credit reference agencies?

One of the most important aspects of business credit scoring, and one of the most commonly misunderstood, is why the same business will have a different rating from different credit reference agencies.The main causes of difference are:

• Different data inputs. Not all creditors and lenders report payment data to every credit reference agency. A business trading with companies who report to Experian but not to Creditsafe will have a richer payment history file at Experian. This affects both the confidence of the model and the score it produces.

• Different model architectures and outcome definitions. Even with identical input data, two models trained on different historical populations, with different definitions of what constitutes a "bad" outcome, will produce different scores. 

• Different data freshness and update cadences. If a CCJ was registered recently, one credit reference agency may have processed it while another has not yet updated its records. During that window, scores will be different across the different credit reference agencies.

• Different handling of thin data files. When a business has limited trading history, common for newer or recently registered companies, each reference agency handles the information gap differently. Some apply conservative default scores, while others may draw more heavily on director data or sector benchmarks. This produces the widest difference for young businesses.

What a score predicts and what it does not

A business credit score predicts one specific thing: the probability of a defined negative event within a defined window. It does not predict cash flow, profitability, growth prospects, or long term viability. A highly profitable, well run business can hold a moderate score if it has limited data on file, common for businesses that are new, that trade predominantly on cash terms, or that have not yet filed full accounts. A business can carry an excellent score and still fail. The score represents a statistical probability based on available data, not a guarantee of any outcome. This is particularly relevant for interpreting scores on newer businesses. A score of 55 for a two year old company with no adverse history reflects data scarcity more than it reflects genuine financial risk. The same score for a ten year old business with a pattern of late payment reflects a materially different profile.

Most lenders understand this distinction and look at the full credit report, not just the headline number, to interpret the score in context. Scores should also be understood as snapshots. They reflect the data available at the time of calculation. File a strong set of accounts, clear an outstanding CCJ, or build several months of clean payment data, and the model recalculates to reflect the improved picture.

Understand and check your business credit profile

With a free Capitalise account, you can check your own Experian powered Commercial Delphi score, credit band, and credit limit, while gaining insight into the factors that influence your rating. You can also run credit checks on any UK business, giving you access to their credit score, credit limit, payment history, CCJs, and director information. If you're looking to compare providers, you can also see how much it costs to check business credit scores with different services in our dedicated comparison article. 

Whether you're protecting your business from late paying customers, assessing a new supplier, or simply keeping track of your own credit profile, Capitalise makes it easy to stay informed. Sign up for free today and start checking business credit scores with confidence.