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You can get credit information from Manta for international businesses as well. Although the reports are more expensive — more than $400 per report — and often less detailed than those available on US companies, Dun & Bradstreet offers an International Business Information Report, complete with a financial analysis and credit score. As a D&B reseller, Manta has access to reports on millions of international companies, as well as its extensive database of US-based businesses.

By law, you can have access to your own credit report once a year. But if you’re looking for company credit reports to help you conduct business background checks, you’re going to have to pay. You cannot get access to a business credit report for another business besides your own without paying for it from a business information provider or credit agency. At least Manta makes it as inexpensive as possible. With a pay-by-the-download plan and financial reports available for $59 per company, at least it’s a minimal blow to your pocketbook.

Conducting business background checks for competitive intelligence isn’t exclusively for big public companies. Small businesses want access to company credit reports from other small businesses, too. Manta has small businesses in mind with its selection of company information and by-the-download pricing plan. As resellers for four of the leading publishers of business information — including Dun & Bradstreet and Current Analysis — Manta has access to business credit reports from thousands of businesses, large and small. And with financial reports available for well under $50 per company, the price is right, too.

Order a company credit report from one of the big credit reporting agencies and you’ll get one: A business credit report with lots of names and numbers. Order a company credit report from Manta, which subscribes to leading providers of business information, and you get names and numbers wrapped up in an overall analysis that helps you make sense of what the names and numbers actually mean. Manta subscribes to leading publishers of business information like Dun & Bradstreet and Current Analysis, which have editorial staffs that find, organize and analyze information, making it easier to understand the risk of doing business with a potential partner or client.

If you conduct business background checks on a daily or weekly basis, it’s probably worth it to pay a monthly charge for unlimited access to company credit reports. But if you’re only looking for a specific business credit report, or have an irregular need for competitive business intelligence, it’s smarter and much less expensive to go with a provider like Manta, which allows users to pay by the download, instead of a monthly fee.

Credit reports are not confidential. The big credit reporting agencies will sell company credit reports on any business to anyone who can prove a financial interest in the business itself. So if you’re conducting business background checks, should you go directly to these agencies for a business credit report? You certainly can. But remember that each of these agencies is an independent business and to get accurate information, you’ll need to purchase from all three. Or you can use a provider like Manta. Manta subscribes to leading publishers of business information like Dun & Bradstreet and Current Analysis. These information providers have access to data from all the credit reporting agencies, which are included in their reports. And since Manta allows customers to pay by the download, instead of a monthly membership, it can be less expensive, too.

When it comes down to it, the question you’re looking to answer when conducting business background checks is relatively simple: Is this company going to pay its bills? With access to thousands of Dun & Bradstreet company credit reports, Manta can give you this answer in easy-to-understand format. Dun & Bradstreet, a leading publisher of business information, has proprietary formulas that measure both the specific credit risk involved in doing business with the company, as well as the company’s overall financial health. These predictive scores, along with detailed financial and payment information, can help you evaluate a potential partner or customer long before it’s time to sign on the dotted line.

While most businesses conducting business background checks are looking at downstream partners or customers, checking out upstream partners is critically important as well. Manta understands this, which is why it offers a “Supplier Evaluation Report” that helps evaluate risks when considering new suppliers of critical components for your business. If you own a restaurant, for example, you need to know that your food suppliers are going to be there when you need them, extend credit as you need it, and understand that your needs are not going be serviced only from 9 to 5. A Manta supplier report will tell you whether a potential supplier is having credit or legal problems, how it compares to others in its industry, even the comparative experience of the management team. At $114 per company report, it’s not going to break the bank for you to request reports on all your suppliers, either.

Checking out potential business partners, partners or customers? A credit score is going to help you decide the risk factor in terms of extending credit. But sometimes you’ll want more-detailed analysis than a credit score. You need a full company credit report. As part of its offerings from leading publishers of business information, Manta offers a detailed business credit report, called a “strategic payment analysis report.” This report, which sells for $76.50 per download, can reveal hidden details about the subject, including the following:

• Paydex score
• Collection activity
• Bank balances
• Outstanding loans and debts
• Any legal proceedings

Whether you’re trying to generate sales leads or perform competitive analysis, you need to have access to serious business information to perform a serious business background check. The easiest way to do this at the lowest cost is by accessing a company profile from a leading publisher of business information. These company profiles contain everything from credit reports to contact information. Manta has access to millions of company profiles from leading publishers of business information, like Current Analysis, Snap data and Datamonitor. You can download entire profiles, or portions of them, from Manta for as low as $9.95 per download.