D&B’s credit limit indicates the total value of goods and/or services that the average creditor should have outstanding at any given time. This limit is calculated based on the size of the organization, the industry (SIC) and the risk factor.

The D&B Failure Score makes risks visible and is based on as much business information as possible. This score refines the D&B Rating risk scale from 1 to 4 to a more sophisticated scale of 1 to 100. The higher the D&B Failure Score, the healthier the company. The score is dynamic: each time we have new information, the score is recalculated.

Through the DunTrade® program, D&B collects millions of payment experiences from businesses each year to analyze payment behavior. The result of this analysis is presented in the Paydex®, which shows how fast a company pays its bills. Every day, thousands of current payment experiences are added to the database. Thus, the Paydex® ranking gives a very current overview of the payment behaviour of your customers, prospects and suppliers.

It has been shown that, twelve months before the bankruptcy decision, 75% of bankrupt companies had a “D1B risk factor of 4”. The risk factor gives you early warning of potential problems and provides many opportunities to adjust your overall conditions accordingly to avoid losses.

The D&B rating consists of two parts, the “financial strength” code (based on net equity) and the “risk factor” to reflect the risk when you start doing business with a company. The risk factor ranges from 1 (minimum risk: proceed with the transaction) to 4 (significant risk: do business only on a secured basis). This risk indicator is unique in the credit world.