A credit report a person has read before you do.

Written to be read

Most business credit reports are built for the database, not the reader: a score, a dozen codes, a page of abbreviations. A Credlab Report opens with the three things you need to make a decision, and then shows you exactly what they're based on, in sentences.

• A suggested credit limit. A figure to work from, with the analyst's reasoning, not just a number.
• When to expect payment. The range of days this company actually pays in, from its trade references and reported payment behaviour.
• A risk level. Low, average or high, with the reasons, in the same three colours you see across Credlab.

What backs it up

• A full legal-name search. We confirm the business is registered, check its status on the registry, and give you the correct legal name to put on every invoice and credit agreement. Get this wrong and the paperwork you'd rely on in a dispute names the wrong company.
• The legal record on file. Suits, judgments, tax liens, UCC filings, collections, returned checks, bankruptcies and sanctions screening: how many, how much, how recent, and the details of each one, so you can see what the risk level is based on. The full list is below.
• Trade data on file, and references chased. References we already hold on the company go in first, before anyone has to ask. Then the ones listed on the credit application, which our analysts call and chase. Every reply and call note lands in the file, and any reference that can't be reached is noted in the report.
• Bank verification, where the applicant consents. Account holder, balance, up to 24 months of transactions, average monthly deposits and withdrawals and NSF counts, through Plaid. See how verification works.
• Stability. Years in business, ownership and the company's history.

The legal section, line by line

Every report opens its legal section with a summary: for each category below, the number of items on file, the total amount and the date of the most recent one, plus a total across all of them. Then each item is listed with its details. The overview lines at the top of every report show suits, judgments, collections, NSF and security filings at a glance.

• Legal suits. Who is suing the company and for how much: filed and reported dates, plaintiff and defendant, the court and where it sits, the claim number, the reason, the case details and the current status.
• Judgments. Civil, small claims and default judgments, plus releases and dismissals: the amount and currency, who obtained it against whom, the court and its contact details, the filing number, the reason and the status.
• Tax liens and UCC filings. Federal, state, county and municipal tax liens and tax warrants, including releases, plus every UCC filing as it is filed, continued, amended, assigned or terminated: filing number, jurisdiction, debtor, secured party and collateral. Higher-risk filings, such as a blanket lien on all assets or a cluster of filings in a short period, are called out as cautionary.
• Bankruptcies. Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and other filings, petitions and discharges. Filed and discharge dates, the court and case numbers, the trustee or receiver and their contact details, the law firm, hearing and creditor-meeting dates, and the asset value, liability value and dividends.
• Collections. Every account placed for collection: debtor, creditor and the agency, claim date and amount, balance and amount paid, and the status, from placed for collection through partial payment, settlement, paid in full or closed uncollected.
• Returned checks (NSF). How many, for how much and how recently. NSF activity appears in the overview lines of every report, alongside suits, judgments, collections and security filings.
• Sanctions screening. Whether the business or its principals appear on US sanctions or watch lists, with the record name, alternate names, address and the sanctions program.

Our analyst leads. AI assists. Your credit manager decides.

A Credlab credit analyst, a professional who has spent their career in commercial credit, runs every file: pulling the records, calling and chasing the references, reading the public record and the bank verification, and writing the report. Along the way they use a set of tools, AI among them, to assemble the file, draft the write-up and score the risk. What they sign is their own work. Think of them as the credit expert on your team, without adding headcount. Everything the tools produce goes through the analyst first, except the bank analysis, which is generated with AI from the Plaid data and labelled as such. The software never presses "approve."

Coverage and ordering

We report on US businesses and on international companies when a file needs one. Reports are ordered from inside a credit file in a couple of clicks, or on their own without a subscription. Pay as you go, or pre-pay a bulk number for a discount. Scheduled updates keep watch on the accounts you've opened after the decision.