FICO® SBSS℠ Score — The SBA Loan Credit Score Explained
by Gerri Detweiler
Did you know you have a FICO small business credit score that banks use to help make their lending decisions? Like your personal FICO credit score, the SBSS score can single-handedly make or break your chances of getting business financing!
Not only that, but the SBA (Small Business Administration) also uses the score to pre-screen loans it insures.
What is the FICO® SBSS℠ Score?
FICO® LiquidCredit® Small Business Scoring Service℠, (or FICO® SBSS℠ score) is one of the three main business credit scores. The FICO® SBSS℠ score ranges between 0 to 300, with 300 being the best, and represents your creditworthiness and likelihood to pay back a loan. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) uses the score to pre-screen it’s SBA 7(a) loans.
It’s the one credit score all business owners should know, but many have never heard of it because, until now, it’s been hard to get your hands on it. Banks aren’t required to disclose that they use the FICO® SBSS℠ score and very little information exists about it online. More lenders are using it because it helps them make faster, more accurate lending decisions. This means they can make decisions in hours, not days.
In fact, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) now uses the score to pre-screen it’s most popular 7(a) loans. If your score falls below their minimum threshold, you may not qualify for one of the most attractive—lowest interest rates—small business loans available. Starting at the beginning of 2014, all SBA 7(a) loan applications up to $350,000 are required to go through a business credit score pre-screen. To be clear, if you’re applying for an SBA loan, most likely it’s a 7(a).
Here’s how SBSS works:
- SBSS scores can be used for term loans and lines of credit for amounts up to $1 million. If you’re applying for $1 million or less, chances are your lender will use SBSS to help make its decision.
- Like personal credit scores, FICO SBSS rank-orders small businesses by their likelihood of making payments on time. The FICO score ranges from 0 to 300. The higher the score, the better.
- The minimum score to pass the SBA’s pre-screen process is currently 140. But most lenders set their minimum score at 160.
- The scoring is based upon personal and business credit history and other financial information. A strong history of business credit with timely payments to vendors and suppliers may help boost your SBSS score.
- If you have derogatory or no credit history, it can take months or even years of positive credit activity to move your SBSS score significantly higher. It’s vital to build your credit and ensure it’s healthy before you need it.
- Because businesses are not covered by FCRA protections, you can be denied business financing due to your SBSS score, and lenders are not required to notify you of the reason why.
How is the credit score calculated?
The short answer is the score is calculated by looking at personal and business credit history, as well as other business financial information, like: age of the business, number of employees, financial data, such as revenue and assets. It truly is a global view of a business’s overall financial health!
If you have no business credit history and limited time in business, the highest possible FICO SBSS score you can get is 140. But to do so, would require pristine personal credit.
Banks and lenders can set up the SBSS model in many different ways, putting more weight on certain information, and less on others.
For example, it can put more weight on your business credit profile or more on your personal. It’s also a very “smart” business credit scoring model because it will automatically go from one business credit bureau to another, in whatever order of priority the lender prefers, until it’s able to generate a score.
So, if the lender prefers checking the Experian Intelliscore (business credit) as the default, the SBSS pulls in the Experian data set. If that report doesn’t offer enough information, it will automatically check another business credit score, like the D&B PAYDEX score. It could also then move on to your Equifax business credit data. If there’s not enough business credit data available, it will just use the personal credit data to calculate the SBSS score, along with your business financials. You can learn more about Experian business credit reports and download a sample report here.
Who uses the FICO SBSS score?
SBSS scores can be used for term loans and lines of credit for amounts up to $1 million. The FICO SBSS score is used by over 7,500 lenders nationwide to help them make lending decisions. Large banks include: KeyBank, Huntington National Bank, PNC, RBC, USBank, Zions Bank, HSBC, Santander Bank.
The SBA uses it to pre-screen. Cutoff is 140. Banks will use it to pre-screen their loan applicants but they usually set their cutoff higher, typically around 160. If your score falls below that, they will look at your business as too much of a risk. Plus, banks don’t want to waste their time filling out lengthy SBA loan applications if they are confident you’ll get denied because of a low FICO SBSS score.
How can I improve my FICO SBSS score?
You can take steps now to start improving your FICO SBSS score, you need to take care of your personal credit and start building business credit. Nav will help you take steps to improve both personal and business credit in one spot.
Lastly, you may just need time: Time to show solid business financial history that makes your business look more like a solid bet.
Watch Nav’s CEO, Levi King, discuss SBSS on the Coleman Report.
This article was originally written on September 28, 2015 and updated on June 23, 2020.
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Hi Gretta,
What is the SBA looking for as far as SBSS score minimum for the EIDL loan?
To our knowledge they aren’t checking FICO SBSS for EIDL. They check personal credit but there is no minimum score. Business credit is checked for loan amounts above $200,000. In our FAQs about applying for EIDL we talk about credit requirements.
Hi Greta,
SBSS score says “it can’t find my business”; the other three indexes are on the dashboard
Warren – you can reach out to Nav’s customer support team for assistance.
Hi Greta,
My SBSS score shows 0 revenue for 2018 and it’s stopping us dead in our tracks for an SBA loan approval. I’ve written multiple letters and signed up for a credit building program, it’s not budging.
How can we correct this?
P.S. I’m a premium customer with NAV
Ryan – I reached out to you by email to get more information. – Gerri
What’s the FICO score that EIDL would like to see to be approved?
Liz – there is no minimum score. We wrote more about credit requirements in this article: FAQs about applying for EIDL
Ok, I’m trying to find out how to find my business credit, I keep being flipped back n forth with no answers!
Happy to help if we can Brian! Can you help me understand the problems you’re encountering?
I own an llc in which I purchased a home based franchise – Im now moving into a bricks and mortar; I opened a Business Credit card in 2017and a Staples commercial account – I have a Duns number – but neither is reporting to Duns or Equifax. How do I change this and how do I establish business credit.
Debra,
This article should help with the business credit card question: Which small Business Credit Cards Report to Business Credit
And this one will help with regard to vendors that report: 3 Vendors That Will Help You Build Business Credit
Nav will allow you to monitor your business credit with Experian, Equifax and Dun & Bradstreet so you can monitor when accounts start reporting. (It sometimes takes a couple of months for that to happen. You can get a free Nav account here.
Hope this helps and let us know if you have further questions!
I am a sole prop filing a schedule C. Will FICO SBSS return a score on my business?
It can. If you have strong personal credit scores you may have a good score.
Is knowing your SBSS score useful at all if you plan on purchasing an existing business? For example, if I had a small unrelated business with a SBSS score of XXX and wanted to buy a totally different existing business…how does the SBA take that into account? Or does it not?
First, a FICO SBSS Score can take into account personal credit data so if your personal credit scores are strong that will go a long way. In the case of purchasing a business, I’d recommend you check their business credit reports (not FICO SBSS as you won’t have access to that) to see if there are any issues that could create problems for you. Does that make sense?
If your small business is acquiring another business, then yes the SBA will look at your existing business score.
is business credit score or SBSS transferable when you sell your business ?
That’s a great question Harry! The business credit file should stay with the business. Ownership information will need to be updated of course. This means building business credit can help your business now as well as when you sell it. For FICO SBSS, remember it’s based on the owner’s personal credit data and the business credit data. So the new owner’s personal credit will be used to calculate the score if it’s requested.
Could you send me a sample of the SBSS report?
Hello if i upgrade to premium account! How many times a month can i check my real time fico, experian ,equifax and D&B ?
Your reports will update monthly but if you need a refresh sooner (to see if a new account is showing up, for example), you can contact our customer support team and they can refresh it after two weeks.
The address that u have for my business is incorrect.
Gail – We are not the credit bureau but we do help our customers review their credit reports and dispute mistakes. If you have a Nav account, you can reach out to our customer support team. If you don’t, you can get a get a free Nav account here.
Why did I not get a fico business score.
Are you asking about your Nav account David? If so that is part of our premium subscription (not the free account). If you upgraded and did not get that score, feel free to contact customer support for assistance.
Does anyone have pricing for LiquidCredit? SBSS scores?
Right now the only place to view your FICO SBSS score is via a Nav Premium Plus account ($49.99 per month or pay by quarter for a discount).
Some sites suggest using the business EIN not personal SS# to pull business credit reports, why does NAV not recognize my business EIN?
Hi Stephen, when you sign up for a free Nav account, the personal SSN is used to pull your personal credit data (NOT a hard pull). Nav provides your personal credit data alongside your business report—this is because both personal and business credit information are important to growing a business.
I do not think any one should ask for personal social security number for business
Hi Jeff, You can access your SBSS score as part of our Premium Plus account plan. We’ll tell you if your score is high enough to pass the SBA’s pre-screen and also give you personalized tips to help you improve your score. Keep in mind, many large banks use FICO SBSS for all their business loans too. The score is calculated by looking at your personal and business credit, so it’s an easy way to track your overall credit health as a business owner.
Can you help me improve my sbss score? I’d like to apply for SBA loan but don’t want to waste time applying if my score isn’t good enough.
Jeff – Nav’s Business Launcher tool can help you build strong business credit which is a component of the FICO SBSS score.