- The grade runs from A+ at 97 to 100 down to F below 60, and it is built from a BBB file, not from star ratings.
- The widest published ranges are unanswered complaints at 40 to 0 and unresolved complaints at 30 to 0, so complaint handling carries the most weight.
- Customer reviews and accreditation dues are not part of the letter grade. The BBB says so in its own words.
- NR is not a grade and the BBB says it is not negative. It means there is not enough information, or the file is being updated.
- Complaint handling is usually the fastest lever, because complaints generally close about 30 days after filing.
What Is a BBB Rating?
A BBB rating is the letter grade the Better Business Bureau gives a business, from A+ to F, based on the information in that business's BBB file.
The BBB says a rating is built from information in a business's BBB file. That file holds the complaint history, the licensing details, the business profile and a few other items. The BBB turns that file into a score on a 100-point scale and then maps the score to a letter.
Two things trip owners up right away. First, the rating is not a customer satisfaction average. Second, it is not something a business can buy. You do not have to like the BBB to win on it, but you do have to understand what it actually measures. This page walks through every published piece.
If you want a specialist to read your own file against this scale, the free BBB audit does exactly that. If you would rather learn the system first, keep reading.
Every number on this page comes from the BBB's own published material, listed under Sources at the bottom. Where the BBB does not publish something, such as exact weighting formulas, we say so instead of guessing.
The Grade Bands: What Each Letter Means in Points
The BBB maps a 100-point score to thirteen letter grades. A+ starts at 97, and anything below 60 is an F.
| Letter grade | Score range on the 100-point scale |
|---|---|
| A+ | 97 to 100 |
| A | 94 to 96.99 |
| A- | 90 to 93.99 |
| B+ | 87 to 89.99 |
| B | 84 to 86.99 |
| B- | 80 to 83.99 |
| C+ | 77 to 79.99 |
| C | 74 to 76.99 |
| C- | 70 to 73.99 |
| D+ | 67 to 69.99 |
| D | 64 to 66.99 |
| D- | 60 to 63.99 |
| F | 0 to 59.99 |
Read the table for what it is. The bands are narrow, three points wide in most places, so a small change in the score can change the letter. That is why a business sitting at the edge of a band can move a full grade from a single closed complaint, and why a business in the middle of a band can do real work and see no change in the letter.
The bands also show how little room exists at the top. An A+ starts at 97. A business that picks up a few deductions can slip from A+ to A without anything dramatic happening. The BBB ratings hub lists every rating guide as it publishes.
Want a Specialist to Look at Your BBB Profile?
We will check every published rating element on your file and tell you exactly what is costing you points. Free, and honest about what can and cannot change.
The Seven Elements the BBB Says It Scores
The BBB names seven rating elements: complaint history, type of business, time in business, transparent business practices, failure to honor commitments to the BBB, licensing information, and advertising issues.
- Complaint history. Number of complaints, the size of the business, timely and appropriate responses, good-faith resolution, patterns of unresolved issues, and the age of resolved complaints.
- Type of business. Some categories carry more risk in the BBB's view than others.
- Time in business. Longer operating history scores better, up to a published cap.
- Transparent business practices. Whether the business provides the information the BBB looks for on its profile.
- Failure to honor commitments to the BBB. For example, not honoring a mediation settlement or an arbitration award.
- Licensing information. Whether a licensed trade or profession has the licensing the BBB expects.
- Advertising issues. Advertising the BBB has reviewed and found problems with.
Notice what is missing. There is no element for how friendly your staff is, how many stars you hold on Google, or how long you have paid dues. The BBB scores the file. The file is mostly complaints and compliance.
Every Published Point Range
The BBB publishes a point range for each element, from the best case down to the worst case. The widest positive ranges belong to unanswered and unresolved complaints.
More recent complaints relative to business size cost more than old ones.
The single largest published range. Silence is the most expensive thing on a BBB file.
A response without a good faith effort to fix the problem still costs points.
Answering late is better than never, and answering on time is better still.
When BBB flags a pattern, it expects the underlying cause to be fixed.
Newer businesses start with fewer points here. Time fixes it.
Some business models BBB considers high risk carry a deduction.
Missing basics like ownership, address or contact information.
Agreeing to a settlement and not following through is heavily penalized.
A required license that is missing, lapsed or not on file.
Claims BBB finds misleading after review.
Using BBB marks or seals without permission.
Point ranges as published by the BBB in its overview of BBB ratings. Descriptions are our plain-English summary.
Here is how to read that grid. Positive ranges, such as 40 to 0, are points a business can earn or lose depending on how it handles the item. Negative ranges, such as 0 to -41, are deductions that apply when something goes wrong. The same grid shows both kinds side by side.
| Element | Published range | What it means in plain English |
|---|---|---|
| Complaint volume weighted by age | 15 to 0 | More complaints cost more, and older ones count for less. |
| Unanswered complaints | 40 to 0 | The largest positive range. Complaints that never got a response. |
| Unresolved complaints | 30 to 0 | Complaints answered without a good-faith effort to resolve. |
| Complaint resolution delayed | 5 to 0 | A small range tied to slow resolution. |
| Failure to address a complaint pattern | 0 to -31 | A deduction when a pattern of complaints goes unaddressed. |
| Type of business | 0 to -41 | A deduction that depends on the category. |
| Time in business | 10 to 0 | Points for operating history, up to ten. |
| Transparent business practices | 0 to -5 | A small deduction for missing transparency. |
| Failure to honor mediation or arbitration | 0 to -41 | A large deduction for not honoring a settlement or award. |
| Competency licensing | 0 to -41 | A large deduction for licensing problems. |
| Advertising review, per incident | 0 to -41 | A large deduction for each advertising problem found. |
| BBB trademark infringement | 0 to -41 | A large deduction for misusing BBB marks. |
The BBB publishes the ranges. It does not publish the exact weighting formulas or how age decay is calculated. So we never say that a specific action returns a specific number of points. We say what the published scale lists, and we work every element it names.
Why Complaints Dominate the Grade
Complaints dominate because the three widest positive ranges, 40, 30 and 15 points, all belong to complaint handling.
Add up the complaint elements. Unanswered complaints cover 40 points, unresolved complaints cover 30, volume weighted by age covers 15, and delayed resolution covers 5. That is the bulk of the scale tied to one thing: what happened when a customer complained and what the business did about it.
This is the single most useful fact for an owner with a poor grade. Many low ratings trace back to complaints that were never answered, not to a business that treats people badly. A busy owner who never saw the BBB's notice can end up with a grade that says something false about the company.
The BBB's process is simple to describe. It forwards the complaint to the business within two business days, asks for a response within 10 to 15 calendar days of filing, sends a follow-up if there is no response, and generally closes the complaint about 30 calendar days after filing. Our guide to responding covers the window, and the deadline calculator works out your dates.
The five closing statuses
| Status | What the BBB says it means |
|---|---|
| Resolved | The consumer verified that they were satisfied. |
| Answered | The business addressed the complaint, but the consumer did not accept the response or did not confirm. |
| Unresolved | The business responded without making a good-faith effort to resolve it. |
| Unanswered | The business did not respond. |
| Unpursuable | The BBB could not locate the business. |
The status a complaint closes with is what feeds the rating elements above. A response that earns Resolved or Answered sits in a very different place than one that closes as Unanswered.
How Business Size and Age Matter
The BBB weighs complaints against the size of the business and discounts older complaints, and it gives points for time in business up to a cap of ten.
Complaint history considers the number of complaints in light of the size of the business. A handful of complaints means something different for a company with thousands of customers than for a one-person shop. Where the BBB cannot establish size, it treats the business as its smallest size category. That is a quiet reason to keep your profile complete. A business that never told the BBB how big it is can be measured as if it were tiny.
Age works in two directions. Time in business carries a published range of 10 to 0, so a longer operating history scores better. And complaint volume is weighted by age, which means older complaints count for less than recent ones. The BBB does not publish how that decay is calculated, so do not trust anyone who tells you exactly when a complaint stops mattering.
Complaints also stay visible for a set period. The BBB displays them on a profile for three years from the filing date, and for high-volume businesses it may publish a representative sample. Waiting does not remove a complaint early, but the weighting means time can soften its effect on the score.
Helps you as time passes
- Longer time in business, up to the published cap
- Older complaints weighted less
- Complaints reaching the end of their three-year display period
Does not change with time
- A complaint that closed Unanswered stays Unanswered
- Licensing gaps, until they are fixed
- Advertising findings, until they are addressed
What Reviews Do Not Do
Customer reviews are not used in the letter-grade calculation. The BBB says so directly, and repeats it in its FAQ.
The BBB states that customer reviews are not used in the letter-grade calculation. Reviews and the star average sit next to the grade on a profile, but they sit outside the 100 points. A business with a stream of five-star reviews can still hold a poor grade, and a business with a few harsh reviews can still hold an A+.
That does not make reviews irrelevant to your sales. Buyers read them. It means that fixing a rating and managing reviews are two separate jobs with two separate rulebooks. The BBB verifies that a marketplace interaction took place before it publishes a review, allows no anonymous reviews, and allows none where the reviewer was compensated. The business gets a chance to confirm the interaction and respond. Our guide on whether a BBB review can be removed covers that side.
Never write, buy or incentivize reviews, and never pressure reviewers. The FTC's 2024 rule bans fake and incentivized reviews and suppression through intimidation. It would not raise your grade anyway, because reviews are not in the calculation.
Rating Versus Accreditation
Accreditation is voluntary and separate from the rating. The BBB says dues do not buy a rating and do not remove a complaint.
Many owners assume the grade is a product the BBB sells. The BBB says otherwise. Accreditation is a voluntary program, and the rating is based on the business's complaint history and its interactions with customers, not on whether it pays dues. The BBB also says it is not a government agency and holds no regulatory power.
Accreditation does have its own requirements. It asks for at least a B rating at all company-owned locations and headquarters, at least six months actively selling, a fee that depends on factors such as business size, and ongoing compliance with the BBB's eight standards for trust. If you are weighing it, read whether BBB accreditation is worth it and what not accredited means.
Accreditation decisions, fees and dispute programs are local, while the rating methodology is published nationally. Do not assume your grade is computed differently in another region.
What Does NR Mean?
NR means Not Rated. It is not a grade, and the BBB says it is not a negative one.
The BBB assigns NR when there is not enough information to rate a business, or while a business's file is under review or being updated. A brand new business often sits at NR until the file fills out. A business whose file is being revised can carry it temporarily too.
NR is still worth fixing, because a buyer comparing you to a competitor with a letter may read the gap the wrong way. The path from NR to a letter runs through completing the profile and the business information the BBB asks for. We will cover that in detail on a dedicated page as the hub fills in.
What Moves a Rating Fastest
Complaint handling usually moves a rating fastest, because the biggest published ranges sit there and complaints generally close about 30 days after filing.
We cannot promise a grade, and neither can anyone else. The BBB assigns every rating from its own file. What we can do is rank the levers by where the published scale puts the weight.
Stop new complaints from closing Unanswered
Respond to every complaint inside the window. The unanswered range is 40 to 0, the widest on the scale. This is the cheapest lever and it is entirely in your hands.
Pursue real resolution on open complaints
Unresolved complaints carry a 30 to 0 range. A response written to resolve, not to argue, is aimed at the Resolved status.
Challenge complaints the BBB does not handle
The BBB publishes categories it does not handle, such as complaints with no marketplace relationship and disputes based solely on price. When yours fits, the challenge route is the one to take. See removing a BBB complaint.
Repair profile items
Licensing, transparency and advertising items carry published ranges, some as deep as -41. These are fixable because they are documentation, not disputes.
Honor every settlement
Failure to honor mediation or arbitration has a range of 0 to -41. If you agreed to something, do it.
Time and size effects, such as time in business and the aging of complaints, move on their own schedule and cannot be rushed. That is why we put the levers above first.
Myths About BBB Ratings
The common myths are that accreditation buys an A, that reviews drive the grade, that responding erases a complaint, and that an NR is a bad mark. The BBB's published material contradicts each one.
| Myth | What the BBB publishes |
|---|---|
| Pay the dues and you get an A | Accreditation is voluntary and separate. Dues do not buy a rating. |
| Five-star reviews raise the grade | Customer reviews are not used in the letter-grade calculation. |
| Answering a complaint deletes it | Complaints stay on a profile for three years from filing. Answering changes how it closes. |
| Resolved means removed | Resolved is a closing status. The complaint can still be displayed. |
| NR is a failing mark | NR is not a grade and the BBB says it is not negative. |
| The BBB is a government agency | The BBB says it is not a government agency and holds no regulatory power. |
| Anyone can fix a rating overnight | Complaints generally close about 30 days after filing, and no one controls the BBB's decision. |
The honest framing is that the grade is a record of how complaints were handled plus a few profile facts. That is why it can be improved, and also why it cannot be bought.
What to Do Next
Pull your own file and compare it to the published elements, or ask a specialist to do it for you.
- Log in to your BBB profile and list every complaint with its closing status.
- Check that your business size, licensing and profile details are complete and current.
- Note any advertising review items or pattern alerts on the profile.
- Respond to every open complaint before its window closes.
- Decide whether accreditation is a real business decision, not a grade fix.
If you want the work done for you, our rating improvement service agrees on the target result in writing before work starts, and you pay when it is delivered. Reputation Resolutions, our parent company, is BBB Accredited with an A+ rating and has worked in reputation since 2013. You can also see the complaint response guide if the next step is a deadline.
