Consumer Credit Checking for Businesses to use for credit checking consumer customers or small sole traders:

Consumer Credit Checking for checking consumer customers and small sole traders:

If you give credit to consumers or small businesses (sole traders and partnerships etc.) you will need to use consumer credit reports.

Many companies giving credit or opening trade accounts for small businesses use Sole Trader or Non Ltd reports, but as small businesses can be difficult to find on any Non Ltd company database it is often much better to perform a consumer credit search on the proprietor of the business.

The consumer credit report will often cover more information than a basic non ltd business report as it looks at the finances of the individual unlike the Non Ltd report which usually just looks at the type and age of the business and any bad payment experiences. (which can often not be shown due to much of this being in an individual's own name rather than their business name).

If you are dealing with lots of sole traders, like in Plumbing, Building, Electrical, Utilities, Office and Wholesale Shop, Fruit, Meat & Drinks supplies etc. then you are probably better of using a consumer credit check on the proprietor (if dealing with small values) rather than using an online sole trader or Non Ltd report.

If doing this, as under Data Protection regulation, you are required to be a registered Data Protection user and you require permission to perform consumer credit checks on the individual's. This permission is usually best requested for and placed at the bottom of any account opening form.

If you would like a packages of consumer credit reports for credit checking consumers or sole traders please get in touch: sales@creditserve.co.uk

* you'll notice I suggested using consumer reports for checking sole traders, when dealing with small values. This is due to the limited nature of the Credit Risk.

If you are dealing with larger values and therefore greater risks, I would recommend our Bespoke In-depth Sole Trader reports. These include consumer credit checks on any proprietors as well as specialist business questions and background business and proprietor asset ownership checks.

Please email the same address above if this is also of interest?