Lending platform OnDeck Australia is allowing small businesses to access their Veda credit score, is a key indicator used for assessing credit or loan applications, without the usual charges.OnDeck said being aware of this score will help small businesses make informed financial decisions.  "Many businesses don't realise that they already have a credit score which is used by lenders," said Cameron Poolman, CEO of OnDeck Australia.  This puts OnDeck into an increasingly crowded field - for instance, alongside P2P matchmaking services such as Othera, already in partnership with another SME-focused lending platform, ThinCats. It also means that credit-related data is becoming commoditised and less valuable.Othera, which provides services and products described variously as  "credit counselling " and  "credit decisioning and risk analysis", uses a business's own accounting data to perform what it calls "bank-style calculations" to come up with a prediction of the creditworthiness of a small to medium enterprise.This process, the credit scoring provider said, helps iron out the pre-qualifying process for both sides of the transaction. "The problem for small business is if they apply for a bank loan and are unsuccessful a report is sent to a third party credit data base, reducing their chances of securing finance in the future," said John Pellew, CEO of Othera PQ.