How to Check a Company Credit Report Free in the UK

Checking a company is a different job from checking a person. A personal credit file belongs to one individual and is tightly protected; a limited company’s record is built largely from public filings, so anyone can look. This guide covers limited companies. For your own personal file, see how to check your credit score free.

People mean two different checks by a company credit report: your own company, to see what lenders and suppliers see, and someone else’s company, usually a customer or supplier, before you trust them with money or goods. The free routes differ for each.

Quick answer: what a company credit report shows

A full company credit report usually shows:

• A credit score or rating: the agency’s estimate of how risky the company is to trade with.
• A recommended credit limit: the amount the agency suggests is safe to offer.
• County Court Judgments (CCJs) and legal notices, including insolvency and Gazette notices.
• Payment behaviour, including Days Beyond Terms: how late the company pays on average.
• Directors and officers, past and present, and the wider group structure.
• Filed accounts and filing history, drawn from Companies House.

How to check a company credit report free

Work through these in order; most people will not need to pay at all:

1. Start at Companies House. Search the free Companies House register for accounts, directors, filing history and insolvency information (GOV.UK explains what you can get free). You can also follow a company for a free email alert every time it files an update.
2. For your own score, use a free tier or trial. Capitalise has a free plan, no card required, showing your own basic business credit score. Experian’s My Business Profile is free for the first 2 months if you are a current director.
3. For another company, take a free trial. Creditsafe’s free trial lets you pull up to 5 UK company credit reports; you need a business email address to sign up.
4. Use free basic reports for a first look. CheckFree offers free basic reports with no account needed, and a free Company Check account shows basic data plus free watch alerts when filings or a credit report change.

What Companies House gives you free

Companies House is the register every UK limited company must file with, and everything on it is free to read: registered address, date of incorporation, current and resigned officers, document images from the full filing history including filed accounts, mortgage charge data, previous company names and insolvency information.

What it does not give you is a credit score, a credit limit or any view of how the company pays its bills. Companies House data is the raw material the agencies build reports from, but it carries no risk judgement of its own.

Checking your own company vs another company

Your own company. Experian’s My Business Profile shows your score and its top factors in real time; you must be a current director to sign up. Capitalise’s free plan also shows your own score, as a basic score and risk band; the exact score and its factors sit on paid plans. Funding that does not depend on a strong score exists too; see our guide to small business grants in the UK.

Another company. You do not need the company’s permission, and the check is anonymous: the company is not told you looked, because its report is built from public filings and trade payment data. Sole traders are the exception: a sole trader has no Companies House file, so checking one is really checking a person, and different rules apply. Equifax lets sole traders and partnerships request their own business report by post.

What the agencies charge for

Three bureaus hold business credit data in the UK: Experian, Equifax and Dun & Bradstreet, and their full reports are paid products. Experian Business Express sells a one-off report on another company for £24.99 + VAT, or subscriptions. Equifax’s commercial reports are an enterprise product with no free tier and no published price. Dun & Bradstreet’s D-U-N-S Number is free, but it is an identifier, not a report.

How to check a customer or supplier before offering credit

1. Do the free Companies House checks first. How long has the company traded, and are accounts filed on time? Late filing is one of the oldest warning signs there is. Check the charges register and watch for Gazette strike-off or insolvency notices.
2. Pull one full report. Use a Creditsafe trial report, or pay for a single Experian report if the decision is big. Set your own limit at or below the recommended credit limit.
3. Ask for two trade references and phone them. Ask how much credit they give and how many days the company takes to pay. Suppliers being paid late will usually tell you.
4. Start small and recheck. A report is a snapshot. Begin with a modest limit, keep terms short until the customer has a payment record with you, and use the free filing alerts to catch changes.

How to read the score

Each agency scores differently, so a number means nothing without the agency’s scale. Creditsafe scores from 1 to 100: the score predicts the likelihood of a payment becoming seriously overdue (90 days or more beyond terms) or the company failing within 12 months. Two agencies can score the same company differently because they hold different data.

Read past the headline number. A recent CCJ, a rising Days Beyond Terms figure, late accounts and sudden director changes matter more than a few points of score. And treat a brand new company carefully rather than harshly: with little filed history there may be almost no score, which means no evidence either way, not a bad company.

What to do if a report looks wrong

If the report is about your own company, find the record underneath it that is wrong.

• Wrong filing: if the error is in your Companies House record, correct it there. The agencies draw from the register, so fixing the source fixes later reports.
• Wrong CCJ: a CCJ paid in full within one calendar month of the judgment can be removed from the Register of Judgments entirely. Paid later, it stays for six years but is marked satisfied.
• Anything else: raise a dispute with the agency that produced the report, show the evidence (bank statements, filing receipts, the corrected register entry) and ask for the record to be amended.

If the report is about a company you are checking, first make sure you have the right company: similar names are common, and the company number is the reliable identifier. If the data still looks off, ask for trade references before you decide.

FAQ: checking a company credit report

Will I need permission to credit check a company?

No. A limited company’s report is built from public filings and trade payment data, so you can check any limited company without asking, and the check is anonymous: the company is not told. Sole traders are different, because there the check is on a person.

How much does checking my customer’s credit cost?

It can cost nothing: Companies House data is free, Creditsafe’s free trial covers up to 5 full UK reports, and Capitalise’s free plan covers your own basic score and risk checks on 20 companies. After the free routes, a one-off Experian report is £24.99 + VAT and Capitalise’s paid plans start at £19.95 + VAT a month.

How can I check my business credit score?

Start with Capitalise’s free plan, which shows your own basic score with no card required. If you are a director, Experian’s My Business Profile shows your full score and its top factors, free for 2 months. Also check your free Companies House record: it is the data underneath every score.

What is included in a company credit report?

The credit score, a recommended credit limit, CCJs and other legal filings, payment behaviour including Days Beyond Terms, a payment trend, directors and officers, group structure and filed financials. Free basic reports show the Companies House data only, with no score or payment data.

Why do different agencies show different scores for the same company?

They hold different data and score it differently: not every supplier reports payments to every bureau, and each agency uses its own scale and model. Use the report behind the number: CCJs, payment behaviour and filing history tell a more consistent story.

Last checked: October 2026. Prices and trial terms were taken from each provider’s own website and can change, so check the provider’s terms before you sign up.

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