The 80 Paydex Score Rabbit Hole
At least once a day someone will ask me how they can get an 80 Paydex score, believing that it's the be-all-to-end-all that will get them the credit they need. They've usually been skirting around the web trying to find answers and will invariably find themselves falling down the rabbit hole of business credit myths and misinformation.
Once and for all, let's take a deep dive into the D&B Paydex score so you can better understand the FACTS and set a strategy in place that will get you to your goals.
What is the Paydex score?
A Paydex score is a dollar-weighted grade assigned to your company's Dun & Bradstreet business credit report that helps to portray how your company pays it's bills. The score ranges from 0 to 100 with the optimum score being an 80.
FACT: A Paydex score is very fluid and can change anytime payment history is reported to (or removed from) your business credit file.
How do I get a Paydex score?
In order to achieve a Paydex score, a company needs to have at least three payments appearing in their D&B report, with at least one of those payments being "credit" based — meaning it cannot be a COD, cash account, ACH transaction or prepayment.
FACT: Most companies achieve a Paydex score organically simply by being in business and using creditors or suppliers who autoreport all business-based transactions to the bureaus.
How can I get an 80 Paydex score?
To achieve an 80 Paydex score, there must be at least three payments reported, at least one of which is credit-based, and all payments (or a heavily-weighted average) must be paid on time with no past due balance. Payments can flow in automatically from autoreporters or get added manually to your file.
FACT: Most creditors do not require an 80 Paydex score, but they will look more favorably at those applicants who score closer to the 80 threshold.
Can I use my existing payments to get an 80 Paydex score?
Absolutely! The business credit bureaus would prefer to see payment history that represents what your company actually does, buys, builds, sells, etc. You can submit most vendors and suppliers you've used at least once within the past year, and that existing payment history will represent your company in a much better light because it tells a much more well-rounded story about your company and how responsible you are with your credit reputation.
FACT: Adding your existing payment history is the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to build credit and boost your business credit scores and ratings.
How do I get a Paydex score over 80?
In order to achieve a Paydex score over 80, payment history needs to be "anticipatory" — meaning that your company is provided with discount terms (such as 2%10Net30 or 1%Net15), and that you pay using those discounted terms, and that the vendor reports the transactions to the bureaus as being "paid-on-discount".
FACT: Paying a Net30 bill in 10 days will make no difference in your Paydex score. The bill is due within 30 days. There is no "reward" or "enticement" for paying it ahead of time.
How much should I focus on an 80 Paydex score?
While I prefer to get my clients as close as possible to an 80 Paydex score, my focus is primarily in making sure they have all their scores and ratings, including a Paydex score.
FACT: You can have an 80 Paydex score and still not be able to achieve business credit if other scores and ratings are missing.
Why is an 80 Paydex sometimes not enough?
Some of your suppliers and creditors may put less stock on the Paydex score and focus more heavily on other scores that provide more insight, such as the one I feel is the most important (and most overlooked) of them all: the D&B Rating. Without a D&B Rating, potential creditors may not be able to even pull your report to see your 80 Paydex score.
FACT: There are actually 9 scores and ratings that require constant attention:
Paydex Score
Delinquency Predictor Score
Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating
D&B Rating
D&B Viability Rating
D&B ESG Ranking
Credit Limit Recommendations
Overall Composite Credit Appraisal
How do you boost the other scores and ratings?
The most reliable ways to boost all of your scores and ratings is by:
Providing accurate and verifiable data about your business.
Synchronizing the data about your business across all platforms.
Making sure there is only one credit report for your company.
Disputing negative information off the credit reports.
Submitting your small (or local) vendors to the bureaus.
Having multiple suppliers and creditors as needed.
Paying your bills on time.
Re-using your suppliers for future purchases.
Paying bills from a business-based bank account or credit card.
Verifying billing details match your company's credit report.
Encouraging your vendors and suppliers to report to the bureaus.
Understanding the factors that impact your scores and ratings.
FACT: The single greatest deterrent to achieving business funding is incomplete or inaccurate information in the business credit report.
Can I get free help to boost my scores?
So, now that you have the FACTS about the D&B Paydex score, maybe you can focus on what really matters: your overall business credit health. Feel free to give me a call or click to CHAT if you need any additional information to get you out of the rabbit hole and back on track. Or check out our free DIY Training Base for step-by-step instructions.