Company credit check: how to check a UK limited company

You can run a company credit check on a UK limited company for free on Companies House and The Gazette, get a free basic score from a credit agency, or pay for a full report from £20 + VAT. Check a customer before you give them credit terms, and a supplier before you rely on them.

Worth knowing: credit checks work both ways. The customers, suppliers, and lenders you deal with can check your company too. We report our customers' repayments to Experian and Equifax every month, so how you repay shows up in what they see.

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Three ways to run a company credit check

You can check a UK limited company in three ways: free public records, a free basic score from a credit agency, or a paid full report. Each one starts with the company's registered name or company number.

• Free public records: Companies House and The Gazette show who runs the company, what it has filed, and whether it faces insolvency proceedings.
• A free basic score: some credit agencies show a company's score and a short report for free when you sign up.
• A paid full report: a credit agency adds payment data, a suggested credit limit, the history behind the score, and alerts when something changes.

For a small one-off order, the free routes may tell you enough. Before you give a customer trade credit on larger orders, a paid report adds the payment data that public records don't hold.

HM Treasury designates four credit reference agencies to receive small business credit data from the big banks: Experian, Equifax, Creditsafe, and Dun & Bradstreet, according to GOV.UK. Other providers, such as Capitalise, resell one agency's data.

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Companies House and The Gazette show the basics for free

Companies House shows a company's directors, filed accounts, charges, and insolvency information for free. The Gazette publishes insolvency notices.

On Companies House, you can see for free, according to GOV.UK:

• The registered address and date of incorporation
• Current and resigned directors
• Filed documents, including the annual accounts
• Mortgages and charges over the company's assets
• Previous company names and any insolvency information

Follow a company there to get free email alerts when it files something new or changes a director or its address. The Gazette, the UK's official public record, lists insolvency notices such as winding-up petitions and liquidations.

Public records have gaps. Accounts describe a past financial year, and small companies can file simpler, abridged accounts with fewer figures, according to GOV.UK. They also don't show how promptly a company pays its suppliers.

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Free and paid company credit checks compared

Most providers give some information for free and charge for full reports and monitoring. The right one depends on how many companies you check and whether you need alerts when something changes.

Each row shows whose data the provider uses, what you get for free, the price to check one company, the cheapest subscription, and how it monitors companies. We checked these prices on 12 October 2026. Prices change, so confirm them on the provider's site before you sign up.

If you check a handful of companies a year, single reports or a free score may cover it. If you sell on credit to many customers, a subscription with alerts tells you when a customer's position changes. Agencies hold different data and use their own scales, so the same company can score differently at each one.

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What a company credit report shows

A company credit report pulls a company's public records and payment data into a risk score, a suggested credit limit, and the detail behind them. Creditsafe and CompanyCheck, for example, score the risk that a company becomes insolvent in the next 12 months, out of 100.

Each part of the report answers a different question about the company:

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Changes in a company credit report worth checking

A company credit report can highlight changes worth investigating. An entry on its own does not explain what has happened, so check its date and the information behind it.

• Payments to suppliers getting later, or a rising days beyond terms figure
• CCJs, which stay on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines for 6 years unless the debt is paid in full within one month, according to GOV.UK
• Overdue accounts at Companies House, or a Gazette notice of a winding-up petition or strike-off
• Frequent changes of director, which Creditsafe flags as irregular activity
• Falling turnover or net worth across the last few sets of accounts
• A sudden drop in the score or the suggested credit limit

If something concerns you, check when it was recorded and ask the company for context. For an existing customer, compare it with your own payment records before deciding whether to review future credit terms.

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Use the report alongside your own payment records

A company credit report is one part of the picture when you consider offering payment terms. Look at it alongside how much the customer owes you, their payment history and what a delayed payment would mean for your cash flow.

For a new customer, check whether the report contains enough information to support your assessment. Limited information is a reason to ask questions, not proof that the customer will pay late.

For an existing customer, compare changes in the report with your own records. If you’re considering a higher credit limit, review the amount already outstanding and any overdue invoices first.

Some businesses also ask new customers for trade references from other suppliers, or insure their invoices with trade credit insurance.

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Run a company credit check on your own business for free with iwoca Credit Compass

iwoca Credit Compass shows your company's Equifax business credit score for free, plus four more scores, so you can see what customers, suppliers, and lenders see when they check you. Checking won't affect your score.

The four extra scores cover your loan and credit history, your financial performance, your Companies House record, and an overall health score. Credit Compass refreshes every month, lets you know as soon as an issue becomes visible, and suggests areas to improve. Sign-up takes about two minutes.

Olusegun Shiroye, founder of Bolfis Limited, was one of the first to try it:

'It's definitely a useful resource for keeping tabs on where your business stands - and it's free, so why not use it?'

Credit Compass gives you Equifax's view. Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, and Capitalise also let you check your own business credit score, some of them for free. If your file looks thin or weak, you can build your company's credit history over time.

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Company credit check FAQs

Short answers on permission, whether the company will know, directors, and borrowing.

Do I need permission to credit check a limited company?

You don't usually need a limited company's permission to check its credit, because its credit file draws largely on public records. Credit checking customers and suppliers is a normal part of trading on credit terms. Checking a person's own credit file is different, and needs their consent.

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Will the company know I've checked its credit?

Some agencies record how often a company is searched, and Creditsafe flags a sudden spike in enquiries as a warning sign. Whether a single check affects a company's score depends on the agency, so ask your provider if it matters to you.

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Does a company credit check cover the directors?

A company credit report covers the company, not the directors' personal finances, though it usually lists the directors and their other directorships. Some providers, such as Creditsafe, sell separate director reports.

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Can I get a business loan without a credit check?

Lenders usually run credit checks before lending to a limited company, as part of their own risk assessment. That isn't because of consumer credit rules: the FCA's remit doesn't include lending to limited companies, according to the FCA.

If you're looking for finance, an iwoca Flexi-Loan is a business loan with flexible repayment options. We lend to UK limited companies: you can borrow up to £1m over terms of up to five years, get a decision within 24 hours, and repay early at any time without a penalty. Every new Flexi-Loan needs a personal guarantee from at least one director, so you're personally responsible if the company can't repay.