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Do You Need D&B?
By Michael Taylor
Shortly after starting Cedarcrest Capital LLC in 2004, I was cold-called by a Dun and Bradstreet representative who started asking probing questions about my business. Not wanting to broadcast my small business to strangers, and seeing no reason to take a survey, I brushed off the cold-caller and declined to offer any information about Cedarcrest.
Since then, and because I am involved in small business credit, I have learned a bit more about the company. Among other services, D&B provides business-to-business credit scores and payment history reports for between $30 and $160, depending on the level of detail sought by the purchaser.
If you are extending credit to a vendor with whom you do not have a history, or if you’re wondering if your late-paying business customers are also paying others late, you may need to access their reports.
Cedarcrest is an occasional purchaser of D&B reports in the course of researching companies, and overall I give them a C+. The data often seem thin, and their ratings systems are difficult to interpret. Still, sometimes a D&B report is the only objective information available about small business credit histories.
A D&B representative recently re-contacted me and suggested I sign up Cedarcrest for a credit-building package, in which D&B creates and then populates my business credit file with payment histories from their large network of data providers. The idea, of course, is that banks and other creditors need a way to evaluate my company. Just as the credit rating agencies focus on consumer credit, D&B has (as near as I can tell) a lock on small business credit reporting and scoring, at least in this country.
At first I was skeptical of the pitch, and put off by the approximately $600 price tag.
In fact, I was even more put off by the fact that their original pitch was to sign up to create a ‘Free’ business credit file, only to learn that the ‘Free’ version of the credit file was about as useful as a ‘Free Meal’ at the local diner, only if that meal was made entirely of papier maché.
But, having had a frustrating experience in the past dealing with banks that simply do not lend to small businesses (see my early BizBox post), I’m always looking for an edge in buffing up my business credit profile. Also, because Cedarcrest is frequently extending credit to others, I’m also interested in the mechanics of building personal and small business credit histories.
So, I splurged this week on the D&B ‘Creditbuilder’ package for the princely sum of $599 plus tax. Will this make banks or other lenders treat Cedarcrest differently in the future? I kind of doubt it.
In fact, I continue to be quite skeptical of the whole thing. But if it works, I’ll let you know.
Any Bizbox readers have an opinion on the usefulness of working with D&B?
Comments (6)June 18, 2008 3:30 PM
Comments (6)
I had a similar experience with D&B. I was very put off by the $600 price tag and walked away from their offer. I was able to get a bank loan because I have good credit and have a long standing relationship with my small local bank. I went through the frustrating loan process in order to be able to process a larger loan in the future with less trouble.
Skip D&B and work with a small local bank, starting small always helps.
Posted by Matt | July 22, 2008 10:04 PM
Posted on July 22, 2008 22:04
Hi Michael,
I enjoyed reading your post and I'm sorry that I cannot comment on the usefulness of working with them. I am currently doing some research (relating to the topic of Small Business Credit)and would love to get in contact with you to ask you a few very short questions. I would greatly appreciate it if you could contact me at edjim3471@yahoo.com . Thanks
Ed
Posted by Ed | August 5, 2008 3:39 PM
Posted on August 5, 2008 15:39
Matt -
Thanks for your comment.
So far I've been underwhelmed by the D&B Experience...I paid the $600 so that they would specifically contact creditors of mine, verify payment, which would then let them theoretically create a "Paydex Score." After 3 weeks I got a message saying they could only reach 3 of the contacts I provided (which is weak, since I know the info I provided is good), and further that they didn't glean enough info from the 3 to form my "Paydex Score." So far, a C- for D&B from me.
Posted by Michael Taylor | August 11, 2008 5:17 PM
Posted on August 11, 2008 17:17
At Initial Underwriting Group we always have a hard time dealing with Dun&Bradstreet. The comments above show me that other companies (and people) experience our pains. To pay for a credit builder is not a bad thing (considering that the service is worth the cost) but when the credit reporting agency themselves are making a profit - to me that seems like a conflict of interest.
Sincerely,
Ilya Bodner
Small Business Owner
Initial Underwriting Group
Posted by Ilya Bodner | September 4, 2008 10:03 AM
Posted on September 4, 2008 10:03
nah, i love the creditbuilder, you gotta understand it and stop thinking about the price, obviously your business isn't worth it for y'all to set this up. Just even do the basic, why put yourself at a disadvantage to begin with, i don't get it, D&B gives me good service and I know I need it, peace fools.
Posted by Tony Dumas | March 5, 2009 5:40 PM
Posted on March 5, 2009 17:40
About a week ago, I was turned down for credit by UPS Supply Chain Solutions due to an insufficient D&B report. I was surprised as I had never been turned down before. Yesterday, I received a call from a D&B representative and he offered to complete my report and send me a copy for $329. He had a lot of information about my company at his fingertips and also showed a "slow pay" on my phone bill. (Our December pmt was about 6 days late and Bellsouth reports!).
After thinking about it in the evening, I was skeptical because the whole conversation became a sales pitch about credit and websites, etc. So I did a search this morning to make sure that other businesses are paying for it as well. I just did not want to pay for something that may be offered for free if I went through a different channel.
Posted by Ken Gearin Flounder Pounder Marine | April 10, 2009 7:27 AM
Posted on April 10, 2009 07:27