My small business is a sole proprietor consultancy offering services, not products. Therefore, I have very little overhead and work with very few vendors, none of whom regularly report to D&B. Since I also don’t take out any loans, I have very little information on my D&B credit report, resulting in a "poor" rating in their system. My personal credit score is over 800 and my business has never been late on a bill or owed anyone anything, yet D&B is telling potential customers that I have a “poor" credit rating. When I asked how to fix this issue during a 5/15/23 phone call, D&B told me the only way to do so was to pay them over $800 for their Credit Builder program. I replied that it sounded like blackmail, as though they were going to damage my business with false claims unless I paid them large amounts of money. The representative essentially agreed with me and said there was no way to get rid of my DUNS number unless I closed the business. This is outrageous to me and I’m surprised other small business owners aren’t up in arms about it. Why are they allowed to lie about a businesses credit unless the owner pays? Isn't that illegal?
