Sign upThe fastest broker check is two steps: confirm authority and bond free with SureLoadr's MC number lookup, then check how reliably the broker actually pays with a full freight broker credit check. Below, the tools carriers use — free and paid — compared on what actually matters before you book.
Quick comparison
| Credit Score | Days-to-pay | Monitoring Included Free | Reports Updated Daily * | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SureLoadrCheck a broker free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ansonia | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| TransCredit | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| FMCSA | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
* In addition to our sourced payment data, our team deploys AI agents daily to comb public records for the most accurate, up-to-date information on a company's operating status, payment behavior and public filings. Our technology also scours the trade press, news coverage and social media for anything that warrants a re-evaluation of a company's risk score, so we constantly have our ear to the pulse of the industry. Our goal is simple: quality data that is as fresh as possible.
Comparison is a general summary for evaluation and changes over time — confirm current details with each provider. SureLoadr is not affiliated with FMCSA, TransCredit, Ansonia, DAT, or Equifax, and all product names belong to their owners.
Where the data comes from
Comparing broker credit tools by feature misses the thing that decides whether a second opinion is worth anything: several of them are reselling the same data.
DAT states that its load board credit scores and average days-to-pay come from Ansonia, which it calls its credit reporting partner, and Ansonia describes itself as DAT's credit provider. Ansonia has been an Equifax company since 2020. By Ansonia's own published figure, more than 200 factoring companies also provide data to or use its decisioning tools. So the score on a load board and the number a factoring portal shows can originate in the same place.
A contributor bureau reports what its members send it — trade payment history submitted monthly by the carriers, factors and suppliers who joined. That is real data and it is useful. It also means a broker is only visible once enough contributors have reported on it, and it reflects the payment experience of that member pool rather than the market as a whole.
Several free broker checkers query the FMCSA for authority and bond and stop there — useful for confirming a broker is registered, but they return no credit score and no days-to-pay, and point you elsewhere for the number that matters.
SureLoadr scores brokers with its own model, drawn from many independent sources and re-scored daily rather than assembled from a single contributor pool. That is why a SureLoadr score can disagree with the one beside a load posting — and why checking it is a genuine second opinion instead of the same feed a second time.
Sources: DAT One Help Center, “Credit Score — Ansonia FAQs”; Ansonia Credit Data; Equifax's 2020 acquisition announcement. Company statements as published by each company and current at the time of writing.
Right-sized
A $10 à-la-carte report on any broker — the ones offering you freight today and the ones you have hauled for all year. One inexpensive check can save you time, headache and money.
A plan from $49/month with unlimited reports and monitoring included. Customizable alerts when there are changes to a broker's credit score, payment trend, authority or bond status and public filings.
Monitor every broker you work with at portfolio scale, and pull credit scores, payment trends and alerts straight into your own systems through the SureLoadr API — so credit decisions, invoice purchases and freight bookings run on data that refreshes daily instead of a monthly file.
Carrier questions
Two of the tools above are free: FMCSA SAFER and SureLoadr's MC number lookup. Both confirm a broker's operating authority and whether a bond is on file, and neither returns a credit score or days-to-pay, because the FMCSA does not collect payment data. That is the line between free and paid in this market: the free tier tells you a broker exists and is legal to use, and the paid tier tells you how reliably it pays. SureLoadr's lookup also shows the broker's risk range, so you know whether the full report is worth pulling.
The best tool shows a broker's credit score and days-to-pay, refreshes daily so it isn't stale, and includes monitoring without an extra fee — and it scales from a single truck to a large fleet, factoring firm or shipper. SureLoadr does all four: a free MC lookup, $10 à-la-carte reports, a plan from $49/month with unlimited reports and monitoring included, or API access for portfolio-scale monitoring.
They range from free authority lookups to paid reports and subscriptions, and rates change, so confirm current pricing with each provider before you compare. SureLoadr publishes its own: the MC number lookup is free, a full report is $10 à la carte, and a plan from $49 per month includes unlimited reports and monitoring.
Because several of them resell the same data. DAT says its load board credit scores and days-to-pay come from Ansonia, its credit reporting partner; Ansonia has been an Equifax company since 2020 and says more than 200 factoring companies also contribute data to or use its tools. Some free checkers carry no credit data at all and only query the FMCSA for authority and bond. SureLoadr scores brokers with its own model drawn from many independent sources and re-scored daily, so checking it is a second opinion rather than the same feed twice.
Not usually. A load board shows a score and an average days-to-pay figure next to the posting, which is enough to decide whether to look closer. A full report adds the payment trend over time, past-due activity, authority and bond history, and any recent change to the broker's contact details — the context that explains why a score is what it is, rather than just its current value.
The credit score and risk band, average days-to-pay, payment trends, past-due activity, and the broker's authority and bond status — in plain language, fast enough to use before you accept the load. Verifying legitimacy is step one; understanding how reliably they pay is what protects your cash flow.
SureLoadr
Start with a free MC number lookup, then pull a full credit and payment-risk report from $10 — no subscription required to begin.