Is a company credit check free?

Registered identity data is always free on PaidWell — legal name, NZBN, status, directors and addresses. Payment behaviour is included free when you connect your own Xero ledger, or available as a one-off paid report if you would rather not connect.

Do I need the company's permission to check them?

No. Company registry information is public. Payment behaviour is aggregated and anonymised across many suppliers, so no individual supplier's ledger is ever exposed and no one can tell who contributed the data.

How is this different from a traditional credit bureau?

Bureau files lean heavily on court judgments and formally registered defaults, which only appear once a relationship has already broken down. Payment behaviour changes months earlier — a company that has quietly slipped from 5 days late to 45 days late is still clean on paper.

Which companies can I check?

Any company on the New Zealand Companies Register. Sole traders and partnerships are never subjects of a report. Payment metrics only appear once enough independent suppliers have contributed data that no single contributor can be identified.

Credit checks

Credit check any New Zealand company before you extend credit

A registry search tells you a company exists. PaidWell tells you whether it pays — computed from the ledgers of the suppliers already invoicing it.

Connect Xero — free unlimited checks Run one check — NZ$19.95

Sample report

Kauri Construction Ltd

NZBN 9429000000000

Pays well

On time62%

1–7 days24%

8–30 days10%

30+ days4%

Median 4 days early12 suppliers · 340 invoices

What a PaidWell credit check covers

Two layers: what the public register knows, and what only the companies already invoicing them know.

Registered identityFree: Legal name, NZBN, company status, incorporation date, and registered addresses, straight from the New Zealand Companies Register.
Directors and shareholdersFree: Who controls the company today, so you know whether the entity in front of you is the one you agreed terms with.
Payment behaviourReport: How many days past due this company actually settles supplier invoices, aggregated across everyone who invoices them.
Registered payment defaultsReport: Defaults lodged by suppliers after 14 days' written notice, each carrying a structured dispute process.

Why payment behaviour beats a clean file

The traditional credit file is built from events that only happen after a relationship has already failed.

The lagging signal: Court judgments and formally registered defaults are the end of the story. By the time one appears, the supplier who registered it has usually already written the debt off.
The leading signal: A company that has drifted from paying at 5 days late to 45 days late is telling you something months earlier — and its file is still spotless the whole time.

PaidWell is an information service, not a credit bureau, and a report is not credit advice. Use it alongside your own commercial judgement — see our Terms of Service.

Guides

Practical reading on checking a company and setting terms you can defend.

How to credit check an NZ company

A step-by-step process for checking a New Zealand company before you extend credit — registry checks, payment behaviour, and the signals that actually predict late payment.

Read guide

What a company credit check actually shows

What is and is not visible in a New Zealand company credit check, why a clean bureau file can still hide chronic late payment, and how to read the gaps.

Read guide

Checks to run before extending payment terms

A practical checklist for suppliers deciding whether to offer a new customer credit terms, and how to set a limit you can defend.

Read guide

Common questions

Is a company credit check free?: Registered identity data is always free on PaidWell — legal name, NZBN, status, directors and addresses. Payment behaviour is included free when you connect your own Xero ledger, or available as a one-off paid report if you would rather not connect.
Do I need the company's permission to check them?: No. Company registry information is public. Payment behaviour is aggregated and anonymised across many suppliers, so no individual supplier's ledger is ever exposed and no one can tell who contributed the data.
How is this different from a traditional credit bureau?: Bureau files lean heavily on court judgments and formally registered defaults, which only appear once a relationship has already broken down. Payment behaviour changes months earlier — a company that has quietly slipped from 5 days late to 45 days late is still clean on paper.
Which companies can I check?: Any company on the New Zealand Companies Register. Sole traders and partnerships are never subjects of a report. Payment metrics only appear once enough independent suppliers have contributed data that no single contributor can be identified.

Check a company before the invoice goes out

Connect your ledger for unlimited checks, or run a single report.

Connect Xero Run one check

Read-only access. Disconnect any time.