Companies House Data vs Commercial Credit Reports

What Companies House data is

Companies House is the UK registrar: the legal record of incorporation, officers, filing history and statutory accounts. It is the primary source — the documents themselves — and it is free to access. What it does not do is interpret: the register shows what was filed, with no analysis, scoring or opinion attached.

What commercial credit reports add

• Credit scores and limits — proprietary models predicting payment risk
• Payment behaviour data — how quickly a company pays its suppliers, contributed by trade partners
• CCJ and insolvency data aggregated from courts and gazettes
• Monitoring services and, at the top end, credit insurance integration

Where each falls short

Raw register data requires time and accounting literacy to interpret. Credit bureau scores, on the other hand, are opaque: you see the answer but not the working, and a score can lag events or rest on the same old filings you could have read yourself. Neither source sees real-time trading, bank positions or events that are never filed.

Where FirmVerdict sits

FirmVerdict works from the primary source — Companies House filings — and adds the interpretation layer: extracted figures, calculated indicators, explainable risk signals and evidence links. It is not a credit reference agency and does not provide a regulated credit rating or payment-behaviour data. The health score is an explainable heuristic over filed accounts, with every input visible — a complement to, not a replacement for, bureau data where you need it.

A practical combination

For small exposures, a careful read of filed accounts may be all you need. For larger credit decisions, combine filed-evidence analysis with a bureau report, references and your own terms. The more of the working you can see, the better you can defend the decision later.