What links having a cat spayed and credit control?

I’m grateful to Craig Lesser of Key Connectors for this weeks blog challenge.

Craig wanted to know if I could link the spaying of a cat and credit control and I pleased to report that I can. As a responsible pet owner Craig took the commendable action of taking his kitten to the vet and by haviong it spayed he was insuring that his pet would not be responsible for adding to the cat population. This precautionary action can be translated to helping a business maintain healthy cash flow, how so I can hear you ask.

Today, as I’ve pointed out in previous blogs it has now become the norm to instantly offer credit to all customers. The reason given is that if you don’t offer an average 30 days credit then the customer may not place the order with them, obviously in the current financial climate all orders are needed. However we can all be vigilant and responsible like Craig and carry out a simple credit check on new and existing clients.

Not long ago he only way to obtain a credit check/report was to use a specialist and licensed agency such as Deanem Collections, nowadays there are a number of options available. The first is to use Barclays Banks Credit Focus product, for £10 per month you can carry out an unlimited number of credit checks on limited companies. Unfortunately these reports are not available for non-limited entities such as partnerships or trading as, nor can they provide a report on individuals. If you need a report on either a partnership or a non-limited agency then I would recommend www.riskdisk.net if however you need to credit check an individual and you’re not registered with the Information Commissioner you will need specialist agencies such as Deanem Collections, who are licence by the Information Commissioner.

So what information can you find out, much will depend on who is providing the report. However having said that, the level of information available is limited by the constraints and parameters of the Data Protection Act.

A typical basic limited company report will provide you with the companies registered number and address along with details of the Directors, but not their home address. It will provide you with details of their last 3 years published trading figures (turnover, profit & loss etc), any adverse information such as CCJ’s (County Court Judgment). A report should also provide you with a suggested credit limit. The possible information available on a non-limited company report by its very nature is limited and I would suggest in these cases that a credit check should be carried out on the company’s principle officers.

At this stage I would like add a word of warning regarding CCJ information. Currently if a company or individual is the subject of a CCJ you will be able to find out the date it was registered, case no, amount and the court it was heard in, it will not tell you who the claimant was. If I’m carrying out a credit check and a CCJ has been registered I always recommend that before deciding to offer credit our client should speak to their potential client to find out the reason behind the CCJ. This way if say the Judgment was for the non-payment of a utilities bill and you’re selling widgets you may still wish to offer them limited credit. If however the Judgment was due to them not paying a trade invoice, you will probably not want to offer them any form of credit.

Please remember that a credit report can only provide a snap shot of a company’s current trading position and as such should be used as a guide when offering credit terms. At the end of the day it will always be your decision as to who is worthy of being offered credit.

I trust that you have found the above of interest and I look forward to answering Mr Neville Spears blog challenge of linking Salmon to credit control.

If you would like to find out more about David and or Deanem Collections Ltd please visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or have a specific question please do not hesiatet to send David an email to david@deanemcollections.co.uk