D&B Announces Services for Customers to Better Predict Small Business Credit Risk

SHORT HILLS, N.J. — D&B, the world’s leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, has joined forces with TransUnion, a global leader in consumer credit and information management, to integrate consumer and business credit information to improve the predictiveness on small and micro business credit risk. Data and score enhancements, which utilize D&B’s proprietary DUNSRight(R) Quality Process giving customers unmatched business information, are being previewed at D&B’s booth #422 at the annual National Association of Credit Managers Credit Congress in Las Vegas today through May 18.

"With D&B’s high-quality global database of over 150 million business records and TransUnion’s 500 million global consumer credit histories, we will provide powerful analytic tools to boost our customers’ ability to assess credit-worthiness. This demonstrates our commitment to innovation, providing customer value and helping our customers decide with confidence," said Byron Vielehr, president, D&B Global Risk and Analytics.

D&B’s Commercial Credit Score 8.0, which will be launched in August, incorporates aggregated consumer credit attributes for geographic areas with business risk information. This provides increased predictability for the credit risk assessment of small businesses that have fewer than 15 employees and often have minimal established trade credit.

"Small businesses’ credit-worthiness can be correlated to consumer credit history," noted Vielehr. "By merging the credit data from two leading companies, we elevate the predictive power of our scores and are able to help our customers make better risk decisions."

The enhancements to the Commercial Credit Score 8.0 are the first planned innovation to improve D&B’s commercial information and insight with consumer credit data. Further enhancements to D&B data and scores are being planned for late 2010 and 2011.

"The economic decline of the last two years has made improved analytics more important than ever to our customers," said Vielehr. "Our goal is always to give our customers unique insights to make confident decisions about their risk."

About D&B
D&B is the world’s leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, enabling companies to Decide with Confidence(R) for 168 years. D&B’s global commercial database contains more than 150 million business records. The database is enhanced by D&B’s proprietary DUNSRight(R) Quality Process, which provides our customers with quality business information. This quality information is the foundation of our global solutions that customers rely on to make critical business decisions. www.dnb.com

About TransUnion
As a global leader in credit and information management, TransUnion creates advantages for millions of people around the world by gathering, analyzing and delivering information. For businesses, TransUnion helps improve efficiency, manage risk, reduce costs and increase revenue by delivering comprehensive data and advanced analytics and decisioning. For consumers, TransUnion provides the tools, resources and education to help manage their credit health and achieve their financial goals. Through these and other efforts, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies worldwide. Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Chicago, TransUnion employs associates in more than 25 countries on five continents. www.transunion.com/business