Credit Checks

Before you take on any new customer, or supplier, you want to make sure they are financially stable and do not pose a risk to your profitability.

Making credit checks yourself could take a lot of time and effort and even then you might not get the full picture.

At D&B, we have all the critical facts and figures at our fingertips and we can very quickly give you a complete rundown of any risk that may be involved before you make a decision. Therefore enabling you to get fast and accurate company credit checks

With our own world-wide database of more than 80 million companies we can give you instant access to a range of beneficial information, including:

• Whether customers are part of the same corporate family - this could leave you open to increased risk.
• Whether suppliers are part of the same group - you could negotiate better deals.
• What a company's credit score rating is - together with other vital facts they might not want to volunteer

Without D&B, it is difficult to know if your customers are part of the same corporate family.

Our Company Credit Checks and other Risk Management Solutions use our unique Corporate Linkage capability to reveal how companies are linked. It also uncovers your complete risk exposure to the corporate family.

You may discover that a financially stressed company within a corporate family may dramatically increase the risk level of one or more of your customers.

Forecasting future credit risk

D&B provides a deep insight into how customers are likely to perform in the near future, enabling you to proactively manage your cash flow.

Our tried and tested credit scores, acknowledged as the most reliable of their kind for credit scores, will help you understand potential risk in two areas:

• Business failure - the likelihood of a customer filing for bankruptcy or going out of business in the next 12 months;
• Poor payment - the likelihood of a customer paying late or not at all in the next 12 months.

By identifying these risks, you can take appropriate and timely action, for example, by collecting debts, changing contract terms or even ending the relationship.

Keeping an eye on changing conditions with company credit checks

It's a fact 80% of all bad debts come from established customers and often the first you know about it is when you get paid.

At D&B, we can automatically monitor all your customers for any positive or negative change that may affect their performance.

Information is provided instantly on-line and, because the data is continually updated, you can quickly spot potential issues before they become a problem.

This not only helps you reduce risk and improve cash flow but saves you time and helps you make more efficient use of your credit resources.

Contact D&B to see how our Company Credit Checks and Risk Management Solutions can benefit your business.