I received an offer recently from Dun & Bradstreet telling me that my company needs a DUNS number.  Essentially, D&B is the credit reporting agency for businesses, just like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are personal credit reporting agencies.  The DUNS number identifies your business like your SSN identifies you to the government.

So, my next question is:  “What can D&B do for me?”

Just like your personal credit, business credit can help you leverage your business finances to grow your business.  For instance, if you are late paying your phone bill on a regular basis, the phone company will report your activity to the credit agencies, and your credit score drops.  Likewise, if your business is negligent in paying it’s bills, your vendors can report your activity to D&B, and your credit score drops.  On the other hand, they also report your on time payment history, reflecting well on your business credit.

OK, so why does my business need good credit with D&B?  If I want to buy something in the future, expanding my oil business, I can use that good credit report from D&B to help finance my purchase. 

My dilemma is that if I were to buy something, or make new acquisitions to expand my business (such as acquiring another oil interest), I’d go through my bank who has loaned the company money for its initial acquisition, and already knows my payment history.  Unless I need credit from somewhere other than my bank, a DUNS number really doesn’t do me much good.

So I think I’ll turn down the DUNS number for the time being, although it couldn’t hurt.  However I have heard that companies get frequent calls from D&B with offers for their products, such as a credit watcher program, credit manager, etc, often intimidating the company into buying their programs to protect their credit scores.

So until my oil company really starts to expand, thanks but no thanks.

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