Which Business Credit Cards Report to Dun & Bradstreet? 

Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) is arguably the most famous of the business credit bureaus. Not only is it the most well-established, but it’s also the only one to deal exclusively in business credit and is responsible for issuing the widely used DUNS numbers. 

As a result, when building business credit, it’s often wise to select business credit cards that report to D&B. Here are the card issuers that share data with them and some specific account recommendations to consider. 

Which Business Credit Issuers Report to Which Business Credit Bureaus? 

Credit Card Issuer Dun & Bradstreet Equifax Experian SBFE American Express Yes* No No Yes Bank of America No No  No Yes Capital One Yes Yes Yes Yes Chase Yes Yes Yes Yes Citi Yes Yes Yes Yes Discover Yes Yes Yes No U.S. Bank Yes No No Yes Wells Fargo Yes No No Yes *Only negative activity. As you can see, there is significant variation between the business credit bureaus that the major credit card issuers report to. Most of them share data with D&B, but only a few report to the rest of the major bureaus too.

If you’re not familiar with the SBFE (Small Business Financial Exchange), this is a “members only” business credit bureau that only tracks financial accounts that are reported by members.  

This information is only accessible by authorized vendors that include D&B, Equifax, Experian,and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. These companies use the data from the SBFE combined with their own data to create credit reports and credit scores used by lenders when considering small business applications for various types of credit.  

You cannot see your SBFE report, but rest assured it’s being used by almost all major business credit card issuers when evaluating your creditworthiness.    

With that in mind, let’s look at some business credit card options that are likely to be the most effective at building business credit and generating cash-back rewards. 

Which Business Credit Cards Do NOT Report to the Personal Credit Bureaus? 

Choosing a credit card issuer that reports to your desired business credit bureau is essential. You can’t build credit with it otherwise. However, it’s also wise to choose one that won’t report your activities to the personal credit bureaus. 

That helps insulate your personal credit from the financial volatility of being a business owner, which can be significant. Above, you’ll see a list of the major card issuers and their policies on reporting business activities to the personal credit bureaus. 

When selecting a credit card, focus on those that report to your target business credit bureau but won’t show up on your personal credit report. For example, U.S. Bank lets you build business credit with D&B without risking your personal credit score. 

Business Credit Cards that Report to the Personal Credit Bureaus 

 

Capital One 

Capital One is one of the few business credit card issuers that reports to all three major business credit bureaus and the Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE).  

If you’re going to be using credit cards to build business credit, you should strongly consider getting one of theirs. 

Fortunately, Capital One has many different business credit cards for you to choose from. Most of them require an excellent personal credit score, which Capital One defines as meeting the following requirements: 

• No loan defaults or declarations of bankruptcy 

• Not be 60 days late on a credit card, medical bill, or loan in the last year 

• Have a loan or credit card for three years with a credit limit above $5,000 

Meeting these requirements doesn’t guarantee you can qualify for their business credit cards, but you should have a reasonable chance of obtaining an account. 

If you have an excellent credit score, consider their Spark 1.5% Cash Select. It offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases without restriction, plus 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 

In addition, you can earn a one-time $500 cash bonus after spending $4,500 within the first three months after opening your account. To top it off, there’s no annual fee. 

If you’re less confident in your personal credit history, try the Spark 1% Classic. It offers 1% cash back and 5% on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One with no annual fee. 

However, it only requires fair credit, which Capital One defines as having defaulted on a loan in the past five years or having a limited credit history of less than three years. 

Chase 

Chase is another credit card issuer that reports to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax, and the SBFE. Since it also has one of the best selections of business credit card accounts on the market, it’s a top-tier option for building business credit. 

Once again, you’ll need good to excellent personal credit to qualify for most of its accounts. It doesn’t specify what that means, but if your credit score is at least in the mid-700s, you should have a reasonable chance of securing an account. 

In that case, the Ink Business Cash Credit Card is one of your best options. It offers 5% cash back on the first $25,000 you spend each year on certain business expenses, including office supply stores, internet, cable, and phone services. 

In addition, you can get 2% cash back on the first $25,000 you spend at gas stations and restaurants each year. All other purchases are subject to unlimited 1% cash back. 

The introductory offer is also attractive. If you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening your account, you can earn a $750 cash bonus. 

In addition, your purchases won’t accrue interest for your first 12 months with the card, which makes it an excellent option for businesses that may struggle to pay off their balances in full for the first few months. There’s also no annual fee. 

Just make sure not to let yourself carry a balance after the 0% introductory period ends because your interest rate will jump back up to the typical credit card level at that point, which is expensive. 

Citi 

Citi is the last credit card issuer on this list that reports to D&B, the rest of the major credit bureaus, and the SBFE. Unfortunately, it has a much less diverse selection of business credit cards.  

In fact, only two accounts are currently available, and one of them is the Costco Anywhere Visa, designed exclusively for Costco members. It offers the following cash-back reward rates for no annual fee other than your Costco membership: 

• 4% on the first $7,000 you spend on gas and 1% afterward 

• 3% on restaurant and travel purchases 

• 2% on other purchases from Costco and Costco.com 

• 1% on all other purchases 

Since that’s a relatively niche use case, the most widely rewarding account is likely the CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard, especially if you have to travel frequently for your business. 

This account offers 65,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after you spend $4,000 within the first four months of your account opening. You’ll also earn two AAdvantage miles for every dollar you spend in business categories, such as: 

• Telecommunications merchants 

• Cable and satellite providers 

• Car rental merchants and gas stations 

You’ll also receive two miles for every dollar you spend on American Airlines purchases, plus one mile per dollar spent on all other purchases. There’s a $99 annual fee, but it’s waived for the first 12 months. 

Discover 

Discover doesn’t report to the SBFE, but it shares your business credit history data with all three major business credit bureaus, including D&B. After Capital One, Chase, and Citi, its accounts are the most effective at building business credit. 

Unfortunately, Discover business credit cards are no longer available to new applicants in 2023. However, the credit card issuer used to offer them and may choose to do so again one day. 

Just for reference, their previous flagship business credit card was called the Discover it Business Card. It provided 1.5% cash back on all purchases, plus an automatic match for the rewards you earn in the first 12 billing periods. 

That effectively gave account holders 3% cash back on all their purchases in the first year. In addition, it had a 12-month introductory period during which you wouldn’t accrue interest on any of your purchases. 

As a result, it was an attractive option for a small business owner with high startup costs, especially since it had no category restrictions. If you’re interested in a similar card, it’s worth checking every so often to see if Discover has opened them up again. 

U.S. Bank 

U.S. Bank doesn’t report to Equifax or Experian, so it can’t compete with Capital One, Chase, or Citi for building business credit. However, it does report to D&B and the SBFE, so it’s still worth considering, especially if you like its account rewards. 

Currently, U.S. Bank has three credit cards vying for the top spot. Each of them has something valuable to offer, and which one you prefer will depend primarily on your spending categories and your preference for points or cash back. 

First, there’s the Business Leverage Visa Signature Card, which offers $750 in cash after you spend $7,500 in purchases within the first 120 days of opening your account. It also provides 2% back in your top two spending categories. 

Second, there’s the Triple Cash Rewards Visa Business Card. It only offers a $500 bonus upon signing up, but you only need to spend $4,500 within 150 days to secure it. 

In addition, it offers 3% back on purchases at gas stations, office supply stores, cell phone service providers, and restaurants, plus a $100 annual statement credit for software service purchases like Quickbooks. 

Finally, there’s the Business Altitude Connect World Elite Mastercard.  

Instead of a cash-back bonus, it offers 60,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 with the card in the first 180 days after opening your account. It also provides the following point rewards: 

• 5x points on hotels and car rentals through the U.S. Bank reward center 

• 4x points on up to $150,000 or airfare, hotels, and gas purchases 

• 2x points on dining, takeout, restaurant delivery, and cell phone services 

• 1x points for all other purchases 

The Triple Cash card has no annual fee, while Leverage and Altitude cost $95 per year. However, they both waive the fee for the first 12 months. 

Wells Fargo 

Like U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo reports to D&B and the SBFE but not Equifax or Experian. As a result, its business credit cards probably shouldn’t be your first choice, but they can still be viable if the other options aren’t a good fit for whatever reason. 

Unfortunately, like Discover, Wells Fargo isn’t offering business credit cards to new applicants in 2023. However, it’s previously provided several small business credit card accounts and its website promises that new card offers will be available in the coming months. 

To give you an idea of what you can expect from the card issuer, its catalog previously included the Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card, which had the following benefits: 

• 0% interest on all purchases for the first nine months 

• $300 cash back or 30,000 points for spending $3,000 in the first three months 

• 1.5% cash back on purchases or 1 point per dollar plus a 1,000-point bonus each time you spend at least $1,000 in a month 

If you’re interested in a card like this, check back in with Wells Fargo regularly over the next few months to see if an offer is available. 

How Does Dun & Bradstreet Calculate Your Credit Score? 

Dun & Bradstreet is, first and foremost, a business credit bureau, which means its core function is to consolidate information about your credit history into a comprehensive business credit report. 

When you apply for a tradeline that requires a business credit check, business lenders pull your credit report and run its data through their preferred credit scoring algorithm. That calculates your credit score and informs their decision to offer you a credit account. 

While consumer credit bureaus only ever operate in this capacity, business credit bureaus are also responsible for issuing credit scoring algorithms.  

In fact, D&B has several credit rating variations, including the D&B Failure Score, the D&B Delinquency Predictor Score (DPS), and the D&B Supplier Evaluation Risk (SER) Rating. 

However, its most popular scoring product is its PAYDEX Score, which works a lot like a FICO rating. It reflects a business’s payment performance over the last two years and ranges from 1 to 100. Paying on time or early is the only way to increase it. 

eCredable Also Reports to Duns & Bradstreet 

Business credit cards that report to Dun & Bradstreet are great tools for establishing a credit history with the credit reporting agency, but they’re not the only ones. eCredable also shares data with D&B, and our program is available to everyone. 

If you have ongoing business expenses, such as an office lease or a mobile phone subscription, the eCredable Business Lift program can transform them into tradelines and help you build business credit. 

For $9.95 per month, we can report your ongoing expense payments to Equifax Business and Creditsafe. If you have a substantial payment history, we can also report up to 24 months of previous payments to jumpstart your business credit overnight. 

To top it off, we’ll also report your monthly eCredable subscription payments to all four business credit bureaus: D&B, Experian Business, Equifax Business, and Creditsafe. Give it a try today and start building business credit with the expenses you already pay! 

Tips for Building Business Credit 

Opening a business credit card is an important step toward improving your business credit scores. It qualifies as a financial tradeline, which is generally better for building credit than a vendor credit tradeline, such as a net 60 account with a supplier. 

However, building business credit is a long-term project, and a single business credit card probably won’t be enough to get you where you want to be. Here are some other tips to help you improve your business credit rating: 

• Separate your personal and business identity: This helps establish your business’s credit profile and reduces the need for a personal guarantee when applying for credit. Take steps like requesting an Employer Identification Number (EIN), opening a business bank account, and establishing a separate legal entity.

• Open a diverse set of vendor and financial tradelines: You must have multiple business credit accounts in good standing. Start with trade credit from various vendors and work up to financial tradelines.

• Make timely payments and keep revolving balances low: Having credit accounts is only the first step to good business credit, as you must also use them responsibly. That means managing your cash flow well enough to make monthly payments on time and keep your credit utilization below 30% of your credit limit.

Generally, you can expect it to take up to a few years to build a good business credit score. Start opening tradelines and establishing your credit history as soon as possible so it’s ready when you need business financing. 

Learn More About How Business Credit Cards Affect Business Credit: 

- Which Business Credit Cards Do Not Report Personal Credit?
- Do Business Credit Cards Affect Personal Credit? 
- What Is a Business Credit Builder Card?