Credicorp
UK business credit reference agencies: a director's guide
When a lender pulls your business credit file, what they're really seeing isn't one report — it's three. Here's a plain-English guide to who the UK business CRAs are, what they each know about you, and how to fix what's wrong.
If your business has applied for finance, signed a supplier credit agreement, or taken on a commercial property lease in the last few years, your business credit file has been pulled. Probably several times, by several different organisations, from several different agencies. Most directors have never actually seen what those files contain. This article is the plain-English overview.
The three main UK business CRAs
Three agencies dominate UK business credit referencing. They overlap, but each has slightly different sources and emphases:
- Experian Business. The largest. Strong on supplier-payment data ("do you pay your suppliers on time"), Companies House filings, and CCJ data. Used by most fintech lenders.
- Creditsafe. Strong on real-time updates and on smaller-company coverage. Widely used by supplier-credit decisioners and trade-account openers.
- Equifax Business. Strong on integration with director-level personal credit data (with appropriate consent). Used by some commercial lenders that look at director + company together.
What's actually in your business credit file
- Public data. Companies House filings, registered office, directors, accounts dates, late-filing markers.
- Court data. County Court Judgments (CCJs) against the company. These are the most reputationally serious item on the file.
- Supplier-payment data. When you pay suppliers (early, on time, late). Suppliers report this voluntarily to the CRAs.
- Credit-account data. When you've taken on credit (business loans, trade credit, asset finance) and how you've performed.
- Derived scores. Each CRA computes a score from the underlying data, on different scales (Experian uses 1-100, Equifax uses 0-100, Creditsafe uses 0-100). Higher is better. The scores are derived not reported; lenders sometimes look at the underlying data instead.
What's NOT in your business credit file
- Your personal credit file (consumer-credit). It's a separate file, held by Experian/Equifax/TransUnion's consumer-credit arms, and a business-credit search does not pull it without separate consent.
- Your bank account balance or activity. CRAs don't see your bank statements (open banking is a separate consent route).
- Income tax or VAT debts to HMRC, unless and until they've been registered as CCJs.
How to see your own file
All three CRAs offer a paid subscription to see your business credit file as a director. Pricing is typically £20-£40 per month. Cheaper one-off lookups are sometimes available. Some lenders, including Credicorp, will tell you what data they pulled and what their decision was based on — particularly if you've been declined and are entitled to a plain-English explanation.
How to fix what's wrong
Your business credit file matters more than most directors realise, it's checkable in your own time before the next lender pulls it, and fixing errors is genuinely tractable. If you'd like to understand how Credicorp specifically uses these data sources in our decisioning, the affordability-over-algorithms article walks through it.
- Wrong company name or address. File a correction at Companies House. The CRAs sync from Companies House nightly.
- A CCJ you've actually paid. Get a "Certificate of Satisfaction" from the court that issued the CCJ; send it to each CRA. The CCJ is then marked "satisfied" — still visible, but with the better marker.
- A supplier-payment marker that's wrong. Contact the supplier first; if they confirm the error, they can update the CRA directly. If they won't, you can dispute it with the CRA via their formal dispute process.
- A derived score you disagree with. The score itself can't be disputed — only the underlying data. Fixing the underlying data refreshes the score on the next cycle.
Common questions about business credit reference agencies
How many business credit reference agencies operate in the UK?
Three agencies hold most of the commercial credit data used by UK lenders: Experian Business, Equifax Business, and Creditsafe. Each holds slightly different data and calculates scores using its own methodology. A lender may use one, two, or all three when assessing an application.
Can a director check their company's credit file?
Yes. All three main UK business CRAs offer company directors access to their own file — either via a paid monthly subscription or on a pay-per-view basis. Experian Business and Creditsafe both have self-serve portals. It is worth checking before applying for finance so that any errors can be corrected first.
Does a CCJ on the company file affect a business loan application?
A CCJ is one of the most significant negative markers on a business credit file. Lenders see both unsatisfied and satisfied CCJs. A satisfied CCJ (paid and certificated) carries less weight than an open one. See our article on CCJs explained for company directors for the full picture.
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