For many small businesses, the need for credit can come well before they’ve had time to build a deep credit history. A business may be growing, bringing on employees or investing in new equipment, but its credit file may still offer a limited view of its financial health.
That challenge is becoming increasingly relevant as more businesses enter the market. The number of small businesses in the U.S. has increased from 30.7 million in 2019 to 36.2 million in 2026, according to Experian’s latest Commercial Pulse.¹
For lenders, that growth creates a familiar underwriting challenge.
Traditional commercial credit data remains essential to assessing risk, but a limited credit history can leave lenders with fewer signals to evaluate a newer business. This can make it harder to distinguish between businesses that simply lack credit history and those that present greater credit risk.
Cash flow data can help close that information gap. Permissioned business banking data provides current signals related to liquidity, revenue trends, operating expenses, debt exposure and repayment capacity. When used alongside commercial credit data, these insights can add context when the credit file alone doesn’t tell the full story.
Building on what we’ve learned
We’ve spent the last several years looking at how we can use cash flow insights to help more consumers access financial products and improve their financial health. And we’ve seen meaningful results.
More than 19 million consumers have connected their accounts to Experian Boost or our Personal Financial Manager to improve their credit scores. And by leveraging consumer-permissioned banking information through our Cashflow Attributes and Cashflow Score, our clients can increase approvals by up to 30% without adjusting their risk tolerance.
More recently, we’ve integrated our Cashflow Attributes into Experian Activate, our consumer marketplace, to help connect consumers with credit offers that better reflect their financial circumstances.
Extending cash flow insights to commercial lending
Today, we are extending that experience to commercial lending with the launch of Experian Cashflow Attributes for commercial lenders. The solution transforms business bank transaction data into more than 500 attributes that can be incorporated into underwriting and decisioning strategies.
The value is not in replacing established credit information, but in adding relevant signals when the commercial credit file does not yet tell the full story.
Our preliminary analysis shows Cashflow Attributes for commercial lenders are particularly useful for businesses with thin credit files, providing up to a 24% lift in predictive performance when paired with traditional commercial credit data.
As more new businesses enter the market, combining commercial credit and cash flow insights can help lenders assess risk with greater context, refine underwriting strategies and identify opportunities to extend credit responsibly.
This is a meaningful next step in our commitment to helping the industry put cash flow insights to work at scale.
And there is more ahead. As cash flow insights become a more integral part of financial services, we see significant potential to apply them in new ways, helping financial institutions make more informed decisions and expand financial opportunities for the consumers and businesses they serve.
To learn more about Experian Cashflow Attributes for commercial lenders, please visit https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260929177531/en.
[1] Experian, “More Businesses, New Risk Signals: Rethinking Small Business Credit,” August 24, 2026.