Personal credit scores (FICO 300–850) measure an individual's consumer credit history. Business credit scores (FICO SBSS 0–300, D&B PAYDEX 0–100, Experian Intelliscore Plus 1–100) measure a business entity's financial obligations — they are separate files, built differently, and lenders weigh them differently depending on the product.
Personal credit scores are calculated by the three major consumer credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) using FICO or VantageScore models applied to an individual's consumer credit file. FICO scores range from 300 to 850 — higher is better. The FICO score incorporates five weighted factors: payment history (35%), amounts owed / credit utilization (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit inquiries (10%), and credit mix (10%). Personal credit scores are used by lenders in small business underwriting as a proxy for the owner's financial discipline and personal repayment behavior — particularly for businesses under 2 years old where no business credit history exists. The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Credit guidelines explain the consumer credit reporting system and borrower rights to dispute errors. Most SBA lenders pull the owner's personal FICO as part of the SBA loan application process — a personal FICO below 650 will typically require manual underwriting review.
The FICO Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS) score combines personal credit data, business credit data, and business financial data (revenue, years in business, number of employees) into a single predictive score. FICO SBSS scores range from 0 to 300. The SBA uses the FICO SBSS score as a prescreening tool for SBA 7(a) loans up to $500,000 — loan files that pass the SBA's minimum SBSS threshold (currently 155, though many lenders impose higher internal floors of 160–175) proceed to streamlined processing; files below the threshold go to full manual underwriting. For SBA 7(a) loans above $500,000, SBSS prescreening is not used — all applications proceed to manual underwriting. The FICO SBSS score is a lender-facing metric, not a score you can easily monitor directly as a borrower — it is calculated by the lender at the time of application using data from your personal credit file and your business credit reports.
Dun & Bradstreet's PAYDEX score (0–100) measures a business's payment performance on trade credit obligations — specifically whether the business pays its vendors and suppliers on time, early, or late. PAYDEX is calculated from payment experiences reported by suppliers, vendors, and trade credit providers to Dun & Bradstreet. A PAYDEX score of 80 means the business pays on time (as agreed); scores above 80 indicate early payment; scores below 80 indicate slow or late payment. To have a PAYDEX score, a business must first obtain a D-U-N-S number (the identifier D&B assigns to business entities) and have trade credit relationships that report to D&B. New businesses without trade credit history will have no PAYDEX score. Building PAYDEX requires establishing trade lines with suppliers and vendors who report to D&B — opening net-30 accounts with office supply, shipping, and industry-specific suppliers is a common first step. PAYDEX is most heavily weighted by suppliers evaluating whether to extend trade credit, and is also reviewed by commercial lenders evaluating business creditworthiness.
Experian's Intelliscore Plus (1–100) is a business credit score based on Experian's commercial credit database, incorporating payment history, credit utilization, number of accounts, years in business, and derogatory events (judgments, collections, liens). Experian Intelliscore uses a percentile-rank model — a score of 76 means the business performs better than 76% of comparable businesses in Experian's database. Equifax Business Credit also maintains commercial credit reports and provides scores to lenders. All three major business credit bureaus (D&B, Experian Business, Equifax Business) are independent of each other — a business can have different scores and profiles across all three. Unlike consumer credit, a business owner cannot dispute or monitor business credit for free under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the FCRA's free annual credit report rights apply to consumer files, not commercial files). Businesses must pay to access their own commercial credit reports through D&B, Experian Business, or Equifax Business.