FAQs

• When searching for a company using the company name you must ensure that you use the proper legal title. Examples would include: British Airways PLC, Graydon UK Limited.
• Creditline allows you to search for a company using the registration number - using a registration number will ensure a unique match for the company you are searching for.
• You can also use the combined search method - this allows you to enter multiple search terms, for instance the name and post code, or even a company's VAT number.
• You may have been given a name which is a trading style or division which may relate to another company. The use of the name you have been provided should be detailed within our credit report.
• Perhaps a company has changed its name and you have used the previous name.
• Our Customer Services are always happy to help you find the company you are looking for, so if you are not sure please call us on 020 8515 1420 or email us at customer.service@graydon.co.uk.

Firstly click Order History via the Customer Service menu:

Then use the search toolbar to either search for the subject company by name, the reference number you used when you ordered the report, or the date you placed the order:

Then click the Archive button to view your archived report.

• Companies list their trading position in their filed accounts and the position is reflected within our reports. Sometimes companies will resume business with their annual accounts still stating they are dormant - the official trading position listed within the annual accounts may not be updated until their next filing.
• If you believe that a company has started trading again and we have indicated it is dormant, then we advise that you order a Fresh Investigation Level 4 report from within Creditline.
• Alternatively contact Customer Services on 020 8515 1420 or at customer.service@graydon.co.uk.

• When Companies House first receives a new set of annual accounts, they embargo them for five days - this means that they are not made publicly-available and therefore no-one is able to view the accounts.
• When the embargo is lifted they will forward the accounts to credit reference agencies to check the accounts and manually key in the accounts data into their systems. This typically can take a further 2-3 days due to the volumes of accounts filed and can vary due to popular peak filing times.
• After these time periods the new set of accounts will be made available within credit reference agencies' systems and their credit reports.
• Graydon continually monitors the currency of accounts availability to ensure its data base is as up-to-date as possible.

• It may be that Graydon has not received the latest set of accounts from the Northern Irish Registry.
• In this situation we recommend you order a Fresh Investigation Level 4 report from within Creditline.
• Alternatively contact Customer Services on 020 8515 1420 or at customer.service@graydon.co.uk.

• Our default definition of financial stress is a company suffering either "Dissolution, Liquidation, Receivership, Petition for Winding-up, Resolution for Winding-up, Winding-up Order, Creditors Meeting or Administration".
• If you have any questions related to our financial stress credit report category, then contact Customer Services on 020 8515 1420 or atcustomer.service@graydon.co.uk.

A credit rating is based upon all of the data taken into consideration by a credit reference agency on a particular trading entity. It is then used to assess the likelihood that credit will be repaid punctually.

• The most likely starting point of the opinion is the documents filed at Companies House, especially when trading accounts are filed. For a limited company, there are also rules about filing documentation at Companies House. In the first instance, what message do you think your creditor will get, if your company can't follow the normal filing rules? Are you projecting the image of an orderly and efficient establishment?
• When accounts are filed at Companies House, more information can be used to make a credit opinion. For limited companies, this is very often the basis upon which a credit rating is derived. All credit agencies have the equivalent of a 'Coca Cola formula' for rating companies, each having slightly different ingredients, which make up their own credit ratings, but, there are certain fundamental principles that are really common sense.

Firms and partnerships are judged on different criteria from a private limited company, because the principal(s) are personally liable. So, in most cases, a successful trading track record and good supplier relationships will yield the credit required. Certainly for unincorporated businesses, the more information that credit agencies have, the more comprehensive the credit rating will be. They can only derive a meaningful credit rating on information received and validated by their databases.