Dun & Bradstreet Explained: PAYDEX, D&B Ratings & Credit Reports

Dun & Bradstreet Explained: PAYDEX, Credit Reports & Ratings

Last updated: August 2026

Your DUNS number is just the front door. Behind it sits a much bigger system — PAYDEX scores, credit reports, D&B Ratings, and a company history going back to 1841. Here's what Dun & Bradstreet actually is, and how each of its products relates to (and differs from) the DUNS number you already have.

Why Your DUNS Number Is Just the Start

Most people register for a DUNS number for one narrow reason — an Apple Developer account, a Google Play listing, an export deal — and never look past that. But the DUNS number is really just an entry point into a much larger system Dun & Bradstreet runs: scoring, rating, and profiling millions of businesses worldwide for lenders, suppliers, and partners who need to decide whether a company is worth doing business with.

Understanding this bigger picture matters for a practical reason: once you have a DUNS number, your business starts accumulating a profile with D&B whether you actively manage it or not. Vendors may report your payment history. Banks may pull your D&B Rating before extending credit. Knowing what these products are — and that they're separate from, but connected to, your DUNS number — helps you avoid confusion later.

If you're still working on your initial registration, see our Getting Started guide first.

DUNS Number vs PAYDEX vs D&B Rating vs Hoovers

Four different D&B products, four different jobs — here's how they relate.

Product	What It Is	Scale/Format	Do You Need It?
DUNS Number	Unique business identifier	9-digit number, fixed for life	Yes — often required by platforms
PAYDEX Score	Payment-timeliness credit score	1–100, updated monthly	Builds automatically over time
D&B Rating	Overall financial strength + credit appraisal	Code, e.g. "3A2"	Assigned once you share financials
D&B Hoovers	Sales intelligence & prospecting platform	Subscription tool	Optional — for finding other companies

CREDIT SCORE

What Is a PAYDEX Score and Why It Matters

PAYDEX is Dun & Bradstreet's signature business credit score, ranging from 1 to 100, and it measures exactly one thing: how promptly your business pays its bills relative to agreed terms. A score of 80 means you pay right on time; anything above that means you're paying early. It's not connected to how much revenue you make or how big your company is — only to payment behavior.

You need at least a few trade payment experiences reported by vendors before D&B can calculate a score — new businesses often start unscored.
Scores of 80+ are considered low risk; below 50 signals frequent late payments.
Lenders, suppliers, and larger partners commonly check this before extending credit terms or signing contracts.

📄 Read the Full PAYDEX Guide →

CREDIT REPORT

D&B Credit Report Explained

A D&B Credit Report is a fuller business profile than any single score — it bundles your PAYDEX score, D&B Rating, company details, ownership structure, payment history, and public records into one document. It's the report lenders and larger companies actually pull when deciding whether to work with you, rather than looking at any one number in isolation.

Your DUNS number is how D&B locates and compiles this report — it's the key, not the report itself.
Reports can be purchased by third parties who want to evaluate your business, or by you, to see what others see.
Keeping your business information accurate and current with D&B directly affects how complete and favorable this report looks.

📄 Read the Full Credit Report Guide →

DUNS VS RATING

DUNS Number vs D&B Rating: What's the Difference

These two get confused constantly because both come from D&B and both are tied to your business. The difference is what they represent: your DUNS number is a fixed identity — it never changes and carries no judgment about your financial health. The D&B Rating is a financial assessment — a code like "3A2" combining your company's size (Financial Strength Indicator) with its overall creditworthiness (Composite Credit Appraisal).

Every business with a DUNS number can have one; not every business automatically has a D&B Rating — it typically requires submitting a financial statement.
Your DUNS number stays the same even if your rating improves or declines.
Think of the DUNS number as your business's name tag, and the D&B Rating as its report card.

📄 Read the Full DUNS vs Rating Guide →

HISTORY

History of Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet's roots go back to 1841, when Lewis Tappan founded The Mercantile Agency in New York — one of the earliest credit-reporting businesses in the world, built to help merchants assess whether it was safe to extend credit to distant trading partners. The modern company took shape in 1933, when R.G. Dun & Company merged with the Bradstreet Company to form Dun & Bradstreet.

The DUNS number system itself was introduced in 1963, decades after the company's founding, to standardize business identification globally.
Today D&B maintains data on hundreds of millions of businesses worldwide, making it one of the oldest continuously operating credit-data companies globally.
Knowing this history helps explain why so many governments and platforms trust D&B identifiers by default — it predates almost every alternative.

📄 Read the Full History Guide →

D&B HOOVERS

D&B Hoovers vs DUNS Number: What's the Difference

D&B Hoovers (increasingly folded into the D&B Connect brand) is a completely different product from your DUNS number — it's a paid sales intelligence and prospecting platform that businesses use to research and find other companies to sell to, not something related to registering or verifying your own business.

Your DUNS number identifies your business; D&B Hoovers helps you look up information about other businesses.
You don't need a DUNS number to use D&B Hoovers, and using D&B Hoovers doesn't get you a DUNS number.
Confusion usually comes from both products sharing the D&B name — they solve entirely different problems.

📄 Read the Full D&B Hoovers Guide →

Frequently Asked Questions About Dun & Bradstreet

Is my DUNS number the same as my PAYDEX score?

No. Your DUNS number is a fixed 9-digit identifier assigned once to your business. Your PAYDEX score is a separate, changeable 1-100 rating of how reliably you pay your bills, and it's tied to your DUNS number rather than replacing it.

Do I automatically get a PAYDEX score when I get a DUNS number?

No. A DUNS number alone doesn't generate a PAYDEX score. D&B needs at least a few trade payment experiences reported by vendors or suppliers before it can calculate one, which is why new businesses often show as unscored.

What's the difference between a D&B Rating and a PAYDEX score?

PAYDEX measures only payment timeliness on a 1-100 scale. The D&B Rating is broader — it combines a Financial Strength Indicator (based on net worth) with a Composite Credit Appraisal (overall creditworthiness), shown as a code like 3A2.

Is D&B Hoovers the same thing as a DUNS number?

No. D&B Hoovers (now largely folded into D&B Connect) is a sales intelligence and prospecting platform used to find and research other companies. A DUNS number is your own business's identifier. You don't need one to use the other.

Is Dun & Bradstreet a government agency?

No. Dun & Bradstreet is a private company, not a government body. It has operated as a business data and credit reporting company since the 1800s, and its identifiers like the DUNS number are used by governments and platforms voluntarily, not issued by any government itself.