Understanding the D&B Paydex Score

The D&B PAYDEX score is a numeric (1–100) indicator of a company’s trade payment performance. It is a dollar-weighted average based solely on supplier-reported trade payment data, where a score of 80 means on-time payment (and higher scores indicate payments ahead of terms).

Data Sources for Paydex

Dun & Bradstreet’s Paydex is built from its Trade Exchange database. Over 12,000 participating companies worldwide (about 4,200 in the U.S.) voluntarily submit their accounts-receivable data to D&B. This monthly or quarterly data includes credit terms, high credit (credit limit), amounts owed (current and past-due) and days beyond terms. D&B aggregates these trade references into a single payment history for each company to use in the Paydex calculation.

Minimum Requirements

• A D&B Paydex will not be calculated unless a company has at least three trade payment experiences reported.
• At least two different suppliers must report on the business for the score to be valid.

Note: “cash” sales count toward the 3-experience minimum but do not affect the Paydex value

Payment Classes and Index Weights

D&B classifies each reported payment as one of several classes (Prompt, Discount, Slow, Bad Debt, etc.) and assigns a fixed index weight to each class. The Paydex weighting key (below) shows these weights. For example, on-time payments (“Prompt” or “Satisfactory”) carry an 80 weight, early payments for discounts are 90, and payments made before the due date (“Anticipates”) are 100. Late payments get lower weights (e.g. 70 for up to 15 days late, 50 for 16–30 days, down to 0 for unpaid debts).

D&B Paydex Index Weights (Payment Behavior Scoring Guide):

• Anticipates – Score of 100: The customer consistently pays before the agreed-upon terms.
• Discount – Score of 90: The customer pays early enough to take advantage of discounts offered for prompt payment.
• Prompt / Satisfactory – Score of 80: The customer pays exactly on time, according to agreed terms.
• Slow 1–15 Days – Score of 70: Payment is made up to 15 days late.
• Slow 16–30 Days – Score of 50: Payment is made 16 to 30 days past due.
• Slow (no days reported) – Score of 50: Payment was reported as late, but the number of days overdue wasn’t specified.
• Slow 31–60 Days – Score of 40: Payment is 31 to 60 days late.
• Slow 61–90 Days – Score of 30: Payment is 61 to 90 days late.
• Slow over 90 Days – Score of 20: Payment is more than 90 days late.
• Bad Debt / Placed for Collection / Unsatisfactory – Score of 0: The customer has failed to pay or the account was referred for collections.

Calculating the Paydex Score

The Paydex is computed as a dollar-weighted average of these payment-class index scores. In practice D&B follows a three-step process:

1. Compute dollar shares by class: Sum the high-credit dollar amounts in each payment class and compute each class’s percentage of total credit.
2. Apply index weights: Multiply each class’s percentage by its index weight (from the table above).
3. Sum to get Paydex: Add the resulting points to get the overall Paydex (rounded to the nearest whole number).

For example, if 50% of a company’s trade dollars were reported as “Discount” (weight 90), 25% as “Prompt” (weight 80), and 25% as “Slow 30” (weight 50), the Paydex would be 0.50×90 + 0.25×80 + 0.25×50 = 77. In other words, it’s a weighted average of the payment indices.

Paydex vs Other D&B Credit Scores

The Paydex is distinct from D&B’s statistical scores like the Commercial Credit Score (CCS) or Financial Stress Score (FSS). Paydex is purely a summary of trade payment performance, using only the payment class and dollar amounts reported. In contrast, the CCS and FSS models use many trade-data variables plus public records, financial statements, and company demographics. For example, a company could have a below-average Paydex (slow payments) but still a low-risk CCS/FSS if it has a long history, a stable industry, and no adverse public records.