How to Run a Credit Check on Your Customer

Credit checking helps small business professionals make more informed business decisions. Your prospective customer’s credit report contains details about their financial behavior, including public records, hard inquiries and the payment history on their credit accounts.

Steps for How to do a Credit Check

  1. Create an account on Experian Connect. There’s no cost or credit card required for a small business professional. Your customer is the one who purchases their report for $19.95 for 30 days of access to view and share their report.
  2. After your identity is verified, you will complete a short credit check request form. All you’ll need to know is your customer’s name and email address. Then click the button to submit the form and we'll take care of the rest.
  3. You will receive an email notification when your customer’s credit report is ready to be viewed. Simply, click the link and login to Experian Connect to view the report.
Run a credit check

Learn More about Credit Checks

Running a credit check at the bureau

Credit plays a vital role in everyone’s life, affecting the purchases consumers make, the loan terms they can get and much more. For more than a decade, Experian has been the leading provider of consumer credit information. We provide accurate and comprehensive credit and non-credit data on more than 220 million individuals nationwide.

Experian collects and organizes information about your customers and their credit history from public records, their creditors and other reliable sources. In general, creditors forward information to the credit reporting agencies monthly. We make consumer's credit history available to current and prospective creditors, employers and others as allowed by law. We do not grant or deny credit; each credit grantor makes that decision based on its own guideline.

 

What's included on a Credit Report?

A credit report is a snapshot of your customer's experience with credit-related accounts. Aside from some basic personal information, like your customer's name and address to help identify their report, there are three main types of information on their credit report:

  • Credit Score: View your customer's VantageScore® 3.0 with a score range of 300-850
  • Public Records: Court-related information, including bankruptcies, state and county court records, tax liens, monetary judgments and, in some states, overdue child support payments.
  • Credit Inquiries: Names of businesses or individuals that have obtained a copy of your customer's credit report, including lenders, landlords, and employers.
  • Accounts: Payment history on all their Real Estate, Installment, and Revolving Credit Accounts. 

Get Customer's Credit Report