D & B Listing

[Julia]

I am curious what opinions are regarding a Dun and Bradstreet listing. Have you been contacted by this company and what were the results?
I received a very interesting phone call from one their reps yesterday and thought I would ask about this on this forum.
Thank you for your input!
Julia

[Bill Henry-]

When I first started out and needed to establish a credit rating, I filled out a D&B questionnaire. It doesn’t cost anything to get a listing. They make their money by selling information to others who are interested in the health of your company. IMHO, It’s mainly for the high rollers.

Now that I’ve got more vendors than I know what to do with, I don’t bother updating it. If you are trying to establish an account with a new vendor he will just call up another supplier that you’ve given as a reference.

I don’t know if B&B sells its mailing list, but since so many others already have our names, it’s like adding a grain of sand to the Sahara.

[Julia]

Bill:
Thanks for your response. The phone call I received was a solicitation that for $399.00, I would be able to list five vendors on our report and raise our credit rating from the lowest number, which is five. That number was ridiculous to me because I know it is false. I phoned my bank to find out how I obtain a credit rating for the business and they said they pull reports on the guarantors, not on the business itself. Do you, or anyone else, know a way to obtain a business credit report?
As far as the report being only for high rollers, that to me is an outrageous amount of money to spend. Does a D&B report carry that much clout?
Thanks again,
Julia

[Maryann]

Sounds like they're working on scare tactics. Send your $399 and they'll make everything okay.

If you checked out the company, I would be willing to bet that they have no connection to Dun and Bradstreet.

To get a business credit report go to: www.dnbcreditreport.com (http://www.dnbcreditreport.com)
It will not be a freebie.

[Whynot]

Not free?
Not even as a sample report?!
Then who needs it! I've got so many other reports to my life... Grade reports for instance; mine, my wife's and our children's too. smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

[Julia]

Maryann:
They identified themselves as Dun & Bradstreet. Thank you for the suggestion to check them out further. The rep is supposed to call me back in a week as I told her I needed to speak with my accountant. We'll see if she follows through. My business partner and I were talking about the same thing: scaring you into thinking you have a poor credit score. How many people, I wonder, fall for that and hand over $399?
Julia

[Maryann]

Dun and Bradstreet sells credit reports to help businesses determine whether or not to extend credit to a company; establish credit terms;gain insight into prospects, customers,suppliers and competitors; manage cash flow by reducing risk.

The above is basically a cut and paste from their website. To offer to change your credit rating for $399 is unethical at best.

Scouting around their website a little more, I found this:
ADD PAYMENT EXPERIENCES TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT PROFILE
Payment Investigation Service
A service that adds up to five new payment references of your choice, which are used to determine your ability to pay your bills. Your Price: $399.00

[ 08-15-2005, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Maryann ]