Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp. Company History

When Abraham Lincoln wanted to establish a reputation for trustworthiness as a young man, he chose to begin his career as a credit reporter at The Mercantile Agency, a predecessor to D&B. Similarly, three other U.S. presidents took the same path -Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley. Today, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is carrying forward that tradition and now has hundreds of Credit Advisors (modern day Credit Reporters) throughout the United States. In the spirit of that tradition, our employees (and future Presidents) continue along this path, helping businesses establish, monitor, and build their credit and credibility. To appreciate the significance of this, consider the remarkable growth of the world's economies against the backdrop of these pioneering trailblazers in the vital world of providing reliable credit information on the nation's businesses.

Our company's roots can be traced back to the beginning of the credit industry. In 1837 the first credit information bureau was established in New York City by a Mr. Church to serve wholesalers who desired information concerning out of town merchants interested in commencing trade. It was a few short years later in 1841-20 years before the U.S. civil war-when the great abolitionist, Lewis Tappan, founded the Mercantile Agency to offer credit services to businesses. For over 170 years, millions of businesses have relied on these credit services to pave their path to business success. By 2010, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. launched a new chapter in this storied history as the company began to offer products to help businesses monitor, manage and build their credit and credibility. In that respect, we consider Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. a "175 year-old startup." Follow us on this historic journey.

In the Beginning...

Economist Paul Henry Nystrom credits the panic of 1837 as the impetus to the rise of the credit rating industry. In his 1919 book "Economics of Retailing," Nystrom details how collection problems resulting from bankruptcies and business closures led to the establishment of the credit information bureau. Church's credit information bureau was formed in 1837 and was the first of its kind, giving birth to an entirely new industry focus on the underlying factors of granting credit.

In 1841, American businessman and visionary entrepreneur Lewis Tappan, identified the need for a comprehensive network of professional correspondents to provide businesses with an objective and reliable source of credit information to help them in their decision-making. He was also the first person to link creditworthiness to business credibility, with the company’s credo being to focus on a business' "…means, capital, and character…." With that understanding, Tappan founded The Mercantile Agency in New York City, the business epicenter of the nation.

As with many founders, Tappan-eager to expand and compete-turned over the reins of The Mercantile Agency to Benjamin Douglass in 1847, a seasoned executive who led an ambitious geographic expansion across the country, creating dozens of local offices and hiring and training scores of skilled reporters and interpreters of credit information. This new profession of "credit reporter" was highly respected and attracted many future giants of business, industry and statesmanship. One of those correspondents was Abraham Lincoln, an employee of The Mercantile Agency who was consistently ranked as a top credit reporter. A review from Lincoln's supervisor in 1858 demonstrates his outstanding ability: "No. 1 always. Responsive and very good." In addition to Lincoln, three additional future Presidents worked at Dun & Bradstreeet; Grant, Cleveland and McKinley.

In 1854, Douglass chose to bring in new leadership in the form of his brother-in-law, Robert Graham Dun, who later renamed the company R.G. Dun & Company. He continued the company's expansion throughout the growing United States, and internationally as well, over the next four decades.

Around that time, R.G. Dun and Co. faced competition from another firm, The John M. Bradstreet Company, which was originally founded in 1849 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bradstreet's competitive advantage came from an enhanced popularization of the use of credit ratings, through what was at the time, an innovative approach: the publication of the first book of commercial ratings.

In 1933, the economic depression set in motion the right conditions for a merger of the two fierce rivals. Dun's CEO, Arthur Whiteside, brokered a deal between R.G. Dun and Bradstreet to form The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. Whiteside's leadership led the company out of the depression and into the emerging Information Age. Many in business thought the merger inevitable and three years prior Business Week wrote the following piece that foreshadowed the union: "Our language discloses certain inevitable affinities. Pro and con…ham and eggs. In the field of credit information-it is Dun and Bradstreet."

The Information Age and the advent of the D&B D-U-N-S^® Number

The rapid development of computing and communications technology proved pivotal to the growth of Dun & Bradstreet in the postwar age. The sheer volume of accumulated data, and speedy access to it, increased exponentially. This world-changing development directly influenced the evolution of Dun & Bradstreet from primarily a provider of credit reports to its position as the unquestioned leader in the international information industry.

J. Wilson Newman, Whiteside's successor, recognized the need to take reasonable risks by increasing its range of products and services in order to thrive in the modern age. In the 1960s, Dun & Bradstreet expanded dramatically by engineering innovative ways to apply new technologies to evolving operations. Most notably, the introduction in 1962 of the Data Universal Numbering System - The D&B DUNS Number- helped standardize business information. This unique business identification system, used to catalog and organize businesses numerically for data-processing purposes, proved so useful that The D&B DUNS Number has become universally accepted as a standard business identifier for the United Nations, the European Commission and the United States Government, among countless other government and business entities.

D&B-A Legacy of Many Companies In 2001, Dun & Bradstreet changed its name to D&B, launching a new corporate brand with a powerful visual identity system. D&B is an institution, having spawned numerous companies and industries through its rich history. As a result, the company has been very active acquiring, selling and spinning-off many well-known companies including R.H. Donnelley, AC Nielsen, Cognizant, Moody's, Hoover's, and R.R. Donnelley. In 2010, D&B sold its credit-on-self line of business, Self Awareness Solutions (SAS), which was merged with the assets of Credibility Solutions to create Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., writing another chapter in its long and storied history.

The Internet Age

Today's technologies have inspired further business opportunities in an increasingly global economy. Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is creating a new generation of products and solutions specifically geared to provide businesses with the means to establish, manage and monitor their business credit and credibility.

Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. recognizes that establishing, managing and monitoring business credibility is now more important than ever. The preponderance of information now available-whether from social networks, online directories, or even the yellow pages-provides businesses and consumers alike easier and faster access to information to help them make conscious choices about the companies with whom they will have relationships. But whereas finding information was the problem during the information age, sorting through the overwhelming abundance of information available in the Internet age has become the problem of the future. Savvy businesses know that being vigilant about monitoring and managing the information that is available to people and is being included in their credit report can have a profound impact on their ability to grow their business, access capital, work with the government, secure vendors and partner with preferred providers.

This is why Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. offers businesses solutions like CreditBuilder^™, a vital service designed to give businesses 24/7 access to their company's payment history, credit scores, alerts on outside inquiries, and competitor benchmarking. And perhaps most important, CreditBuilder gives companies the ability to add favorable credit references to their files to enhance credit scores and ratings.

Our Future

While Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is poised to meet the ever-changing business information needs of the New Millennium, the company is also proud of its distinguished heritage and far-reaching legacy in the sphere of business information. As we look forward, we will continue to "respect our past as we pursue our future." An unwavering commitment to serving the business community by providing comprehensive information and services that are invaluable instruments for business success: This is Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.'s mission.

Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is based in Los Angeles with offices throughout North America. We look forward to adding the next President to our list of former employees as they follow the path of our previous leaders.