Does Credit Karma offer business credit scores?

If you're already using Credit Karma to monitor your personal credit, you might wonder if the platform can help check your business credit too. The short answer is no. Credit Karma does not offer business credit scores or monitoring services.

Business owners need different tools to track their commercial credit profiles and to build credit for their small businesses. 

Here's what you need to know about checking and monitoring business credit.

Does Credit Karma show business credit?

No, Credit Karma does not show business credit scores or business credit reports. The platform focuses exclusively on consumer credit monitoring and personal financial products. 

Credit Karma is a consumer-focused platform that provides free personal credit scores and reports from two major consumer credit bureaus. The company, now owned by Intuit, also helps match consumers with credit cards, loans, and other personal financial products based on their credit profiles.

While Credit Karma is well known for personal credit monitoring, it doesn't have access to business credit data from commercial credit bureaus like Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), Experian Business, or Equifax Business. These commercial credit bureaus track entirely different information than consumer credit agencies, including business payment history, vendor accounts, and commercial loan performance.

Personal credit vs. business credit

There are some major differences between personal and business credit. 

With personal credit, consumers are entitled by law to free annual credit reports, and there are dozens of sites that offer free consumer credit scores. There is no law that requires free business credit reports or scores, and as a result, your options for checking business credit are more limited. 

Similar to the way Credit Karma introduced consumers to free credit scores, Nav is the first service to offer free access to business credit. That access comes in the form of summary reports from major business credit bureaus, along with credit health insights. 

Nav Prime, a paid account, offers detailed business credit reports from the major business credit bureaus and business credit scores.¹ Additionally, you can get personal credit reports and scores from two bureaus as well.

Alternatives to Credit Karma for business credit

Since Credit Karma doesn't offer business credit monitoring, you'll need specialized platforms designed for commercial credit tracking. 

Here are some options:

Nav 

With a free Nav account, you’ll get free business credit summaries and insights from multiple bureaus, along with personal credit.

A paid Nav Prime account offers detailed credit reports and scores from multiple business credit bureaus. It also submits monthly to major business credit bureaus, which can help build your business credit history. 

Dun & Bradstreet

D&B Credit Insights offers three tiers:

1. Free: Risk range indicators for four scores & ratings including D&B PAYDEX; summary of payments, legal events and business operations; number of inquiries; and alerts and notifications.
2. Basic ($49/month or $499 annually): Everything in Plus, along with six scores and ratings and historic trends, detailed legal events and inquiries, and dark web monitoring of your business. 
3. Plus ($149/month or $1499 annually): All the benefits of Free and Basic plans, plus credit building tools and trade reference submissions. Targets businesses that want to accelerate credit building by adding eligible payment experiences D&B might have missed.

Experian Business

You can purchase your report and Experian Intelliscore Plus℠ directly from Experian Small Business. Options include a ProfilePlus^SM Report with a onetime scored report and Intelliscore and Financial Stability Risk Rating. 

You can also purchase an annual Business Credit Advantage℠ subscription for $199/year that includes unlimited access to a scored credit report, along with Intelliscore and Financial Stability Risk Rating with tracking, improvement tips, and other benefits. 

Equifax Business

Equifax currently does not offer a free report or score. You can purchase a Business Credit Industry Report Plus 2.0 and relevant scores from eCredable for $49.95 per report.

Each of these platforms has different strengths. Most focus on single-bureau reporting while Nav offers multi-bureau monitoring. The key is finding a service that gives you visibility into how lenders and vendors evaluate your business creditworthiness.

How to check your business credit score for free

With a free Nav account, you’ll get free credit report summaries and letter grades for multiple business credit reports and scores. Find out for free where you stand. 

With Nav Prime, you’ll get detailed credit reports and scores from multiple credit bureaus. Reports and scores are updated monthly when you log in, giving you a convenient way to monitor your business and personal credit in one place. 

Your Nav Prime membership payment also gets submitted as a tradeline to multiple business credit bureaus, helping you build business credit.

One advantage of using a platform like Nav over purchasing individual reports from each bureau is cost efficiency and convenience.

How to build and improve your business credit

Building strong business credit requires establishing a track record with companies that report your business payment history to commercial credit bureaus. 

The basic process works like this: 

• Create your foundation: Choose your business name, form a business entity like an LLC or corporation (if possible), register your business with your state, and choose a business address and phone number. 
• Establish net-30 vendor tradelines: Work with suppliers and vendors that offer payment terms and report to business credit bureaus, then pay on time or early.
• Open a business bank account: Though not required, it can be helpful to separate your business and personal finances with dedicated business checking using your business name and tax ID.
• Monitor and dispute errors: Check your business credit reports regularly and dispute any inaccuracies that may hurt your scores.
• Pay on time or early: Payment history is the most important factor in business credit scores, and some scoring models even reward early payments. 

Keep in mind that not all business relationships automatically report to credit bureaus. When establishing vendor accounts or business credit cards, confirm that the company reports payment history to at least one major commercial credit bureau.

Building credit takes time, but getting accounts that report and paying on time can help you build a strong business credit history. 

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