Incorrect Information on D&B Report

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

The Dun & Bradstreet report for the business I work for is showing a VERY large amount past due. We have NEVER been past due with anyone for this amount. I would think that if there was something outstanding for tens of thousands of dollars, we would be receiving phone calls and statements. We are not, nor have we ever.

This is not the first time this has happened to us. The first time, it was cleared up and removed from our file. This time, we filed a complaint, and the amount was decreased by $20,000, but the debt is still showing as being owed. Since D&B does not release the names of suppliers who report, what can we do? Do we continue to hound D&B until they provide adequate info to substantiate the claim?

Also, I am curious as to how the process works to report past due amounts to Dun & Bradstreet. Can anyone with access to your D&B number report you as owing to them? We have several competitors, and I would not be at all surprised if one of them was responsible.

D&B will not tell you who reported you as late without the express permission of the vendor. What you can do is dispute the item and they will ask the vendor to re-verify. They may also tell you who reported you but only if the vendor authorizes it.

But beyond that, is there nothing that can be done? Are you familiar with the verification process? What kind of evidence would a supplier have to show, besides an invoice? I can generate an invoice for anyone from my computer. It doesn't prove that the person I printed that invoice for owes money to us. Hopefully Dun & Bradstreet is requiring more than just that.

My advice would be to give the process a chance to work before worrying about all sorts of possibly scenarios. The re-verification will at least eliminate the chance that a competitor is purposely filing false reports in order to make it look like you don't pay on time. Every time I requested re-verification for my employer the result that it fell off the report. It's unlikely that you owe money you don't know about because you would be aware of collection attempts. It was probably just an error.