Equifax Introduces New Commercial Credit Score To Help Small Businesses

Illustration of a small business receiving a loan - depicted by a hand dropping coins into the shop.

(Image credit: Getty)

If you’re a small business owner looking to access capital, you could benefit from Equifax’s recent launch. In an effort to assist small businesses, Equifax launched its OneScore for Commercial credit scoring model.

The tool helps provide a more holistic picture of a business's creditworthiness, helping start-ups and small businesses access credit opportunities in order to fuel their growth.

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. These powerful economic engines help cities thrive by creating jobs and putting money back into communities," commented Todd Horvath, president of Equifax U.S. Information Solutions, in a press release from the company. "At Equifax, we are investing in new data and analytics to further fuel business growth and access to capital.”

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According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are over 33 million small businesses in the United States, making up 99.9% of all American businesses. The OneScore for Commercial credit score assists small businesses by helping them demonstrate their creditworthiness, which is beneficial when approaching lenders for financing, especially as many need capital in an uncertain economic environment.

The OneScore for Commercial credit score, part of Equifax’s commitment to financially inclusive lending, utilizes the power of the Equifax Cloud, Equifax’s enterprise-wide infrastructure tailored to highly regulated data workloads. This new commercial credit score, according to Equifax, links financial data on more than 33 million businesses with credit information from the Equifax commercial credit database.

The OneScore for Commercial credit score can assist lenders by scoring as many as 50% more loan applicants, “enabling lenders to approve as many as 15% to 20% more loans while maintaining the same risk profile.” Equifax reports. This could result in 3 to 4 million more small businesses gaining access to credit.

“In today's commercial credit landscape, lenders want to make more efficient credit decisions without opening themselves up to greater risk," said Bill Phelan, general manager of the Equifax USIS Commercial business. "By providing a more holistic picture of a business' ability to pay, the OneScore for Commercial credit score delivers greater predictability within a lender's portfolio. Helping to improve scorable rates and score performance for commercial accounts can assist lenders as they qualify and close more accounts – with confidence."

Erin pairs personal experience with research and is passionate about sharing personal finance advice with others. Previously, she was a freelancer focusing on the credit card side of finance, but has branched out since then to cover other aspects of personal finance. Erin is well-versed in traditional media with reporting, interviewing and research, as well as using graphic design and video and audio storytelling to share with her readers.