Business owners looking to take their credit to the next level have lots of options when it comes to apps and websites to monitor, build and manage consumer or business credit. Two of those options are Credit Sesame and Nav.
How do they compare? Well for starters, Nav is tailored for business owners, while Credit Sesame is for personal credit only. Read on for a more in-depth breakdown of Nav vs Credit Sesame* for business owners.
How Nav Helps Build Business Credit
Services Offered
With Nav Prime™, the paid offering, you’ll get both personal and business credit scores* and Detailed Credit Reports from two leading business credit reporting agencies: Equifax® and Experian™, along with business credit scores Equifax® Business Delinquency Score® and Experian™ Intelliscore PlusSM V2.
Personal credit is also important to lenders, and with Nav Prime you’ll get personal credit scores and detailed reports from Experian™ and TransUnion®. Scores provided are the TransUnion® VantageScore® 3.0, and Experian™ VantageScore® 3.0.
Reports and scores are updated monthly when you log in. Understand what information companies are reporting about your business, and view both business and personal credit in one dashboard.
In the Credit Health hub, see aggregate trends in your credit, key factors having the most impact on your scores, and insights into new progress you’ve made.
You’ll also see details on public records, including UCC filings, that can directly and indirectly impact financing or other opportunities.
Nav Prime offers a tradeline submitted monthly to the major business credit bureaus to help you build and maintain a strong business credit history. Get the Nav Prime Card*** for a second tradeline.
A free Nav account offers summary credit reports and grades from two business credit bureaus, and one personal credit report score and summary. However, it does not provide tradeline reporting.
Both types of accounts feature real-time alerts to help you understand and act on what’s holding you back from business funding or new options.
User Experience
Sign up for Nav online at Nav.com or through the mobile app.
Whether you sign up for a free Nav account or upgrade to Nav Prime, you’ll provide personal information, including your address and Social Security Number. You’ll need to answer questions about your credit experience to verify your identity and access personal credit information. When you create a Nav account for the first time, there is a soft credit check that does not affect your credit scores.
You’ll also be given the opportunity to claim your business, so you can access your business credit reports and scores.
You can connect your business bank account to get cash flow insights. Email alerts will let you know about important changes in your credit history.
New to business credit? Learn how to establish business credit.
Pricing
A free Nav account provides business credit summary reports and grades from Equifax® and Experian™, and a personal credit score and summary report from Experian™. This information** is updated monthly when you log in.
Nav Prime, the paid version, is $49.99/month with discounts available for quarterly or annual payments. With Nav Prime you’ll get Detailed Credit Reports, including both business and personal reports and scores**, updated monthly when you log in.
A FICO score for business— the FICO Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS) score— is also available for an additional fee.
Nav is the only source for free and paid credit monitoring services for both business and personal credit in one dashboard.
Customer Support
Nav offers support by chat, email and phone.
Security Features
Nav processes sensitive data with at least 128-bit encryption.
Reviews
Nav has 343 reviews with Trustpilot with an average rating of 3.9 as of this writing.
Start your business credit journey
Build business credit, monitor credit health, and accelerate growth — all with Nav Prime.
How Does Credit Sesame Credit Monitoring Help Build Business Credit
Credit Sesame is a platform built for personal credit. It doesn’t help with business credit.
Services Offered
Credit Sesame offers a free consumer credit report summary and consumer credit score from TransUnion, along with insights into the main factors influencing your consumer credit score.
Credit Sesame+, the paid version, shows full consumer credit reports and scores from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. (All are personal credit reports, not business credit reports, and do not help build business credit.)
User Experience
You’ll sign up online or on the app, and provide personal information, including your address and Social Security number. You’ll be asked questions about your credit history to verify your identity. A soft credit check will be used to provide your reports and to show financial products; it does not affect your credit scores.
Once you have signed up, you’ll get instant access to your TransUnion credit score and summary TransUnion credit report, a detailed explanation of the factors affecting your scores, along with financial offers such as auto loans or insurance.
Pricing
The free version of Credit Sesame provides daily credit reports from TransUnion, along with a credit score calculated using the VantageScore 3.0 scoring model.
Sesame+, the paid version, offers a free 7-day trial, and costs $19.95 a month after that. Sesame+ includes 3-bureau monitoring from major credit bureaus to show full consumer reports, credit scores and insights, Credit Builder, rent reporting, credit dispute resolution support, fraud alerts, $1 million identity theft insurance and lost wallet protection.
Customer Support
Credit Sesame offers a customer support form for general inquiries. Sesame+ offers live assistance for dispute resolution and identity theft assistance.
Security Features
Credit Sesame follows generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to them, both during transmission and after receipt. Credit Sesame’s legal policies are listed here.
Reviews
Credit Sesame has 2,112 reviews on Trustpilot with an average rating of 1.4, as of this writing.
Nav vs Credit Sesame: Credit Reporting Agencies Used
Nav
A free Nav account provides business credit grades and summary business credit reports from business credit reporting agencies Equifax and Experian, and a summary consumer credit report and credit score from Experian (Experian™ VantageScore® 3.0)**.
Nav Prime provides Detailed Credit Reports from business credit reporting agencies Equifax and Experian. Consumer credit reports and scores are provided by Experian and TransUnion.*
Credit Sesame
With the free version of Credit Sesame, you’ll see your credit score (Vantagescore 3.0) and summary from TransUnion.
Credit Sesame+, the paid version, shows credit reports and scores from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. All are personal credit reports, not business credit reports.
Access the business and personal credit data that lenders are actually seeing
Actively build business credit history, improve the metrics that matter, and access your best financing options – only at Nav.
Nav vs Credit Sesame: Frequency of Credit Updates
Nav
Both Nav Prime and free Nav accounts are updated monthly when you log in.
Credit Sesame
Log in to get your credit score updated daily from TransUnion. Credit Sesame+ provides 3-bureau credit reports and credit scores updated monthly.
Nav vs Credit Sesame: Mobile App
Nav
Check up on your financial health anywhere with the Nav Business Financial Health app. It has more than 100,000 downloads in the Google Play store, with an average rating of 4.7 (out of 5), as of this writing.
Features include:
View your Detailed Credit Reports and credit scores (with Nav Prime), or summary reports and credit grades with a free account. Monitor real-time alerts to better position your business for funding. Forecast cash flow. Get recommended small business loan and credit card offers.
Credit Sesame
The Credit Sesame app has been downloaded more than 5 million times in the Google Play store, and has an average rating of 4.7, as of this writing.
Features include:
See your credit report summary and what’s impacting your credit scores. See how you can improve your credit scores and save money. Get matched with offers based on your credit score. Shop with debit to build your credit score.
Nav vs Credit Sesame: Identity Theft and Fraud
Nav
Nav provides real-time alerts to help you identify changes to your business and personal credit reports. Monitor multiple business and personal credit reports with Nav.
Credit Sesame
Credit Sesame+ provides consumer credit report alerts and $1 million identity theft protection.
Nav vs Credit Sesame: Credit Building Features
Nav
Nav Prime is reported to all three major business credit bureaus as a monthly tradeline to help you build business credit history.
Nav is the only place you can build business credit history with up to two tradelines while simultaneously seeing the impacts in your Nav Credit Health hub and detailed reports.
Credit Sesame
Credit Builder is an optional debit card that can help you build personal credit. Open a Sesame Cash prepaid debit account with Credit Builder and add money to your debit card. As you make payments, Credit Sesame will report them to all three major credit bureaus (consumer credit bureaus) to build your payment history and grow your score. These payments do not build business credit.
The monthly fee of $9.99 is waived for Sesame+ subscribers or with qualifying activity. No minimum balance is required.
Get the credit your business deserves
Join 250,000+ small business owners who built business credit history with Nav Prime — without the big bank barriers.
This article was originally written on June 6, 2024 and updated on August 6, 2024.
Rate This Article
This article currently has 3 ratings with an average of 5 stars.
