Credit agencies - Are they worth it ?

[Nawk]

We're looking at the possibility of enlisting an outside credit company (D&B, Equifax etc.).

I'm curious to others opinions that might have used them or are using them presently. Are they worth it?

We're really looking to gain greater visibility on a potential clients entire list of payables (not just the top three).

I'm interested to to hear your experiences. Are some more in tune to the transportation world than others?

Any information that you are able to provide is appreciated.

Thank you,

 

[Freight Broker]

Well, I'm constantly fighting with various credit reporting agencies to report my own days to pay accurately.. most do not. So if you're looking at my own days to pay you'll get incorrect information most of the time. And I'm guessing I'm not the only broker who is being misreported. For me its not a terribly big deal as they report me in 30 days when in fact I pay my bills in 9 days average.. but still.. if you're paying big bucks for the report you might want it to be accurate.

 

[loaders]

We use D&B to check the creditworthiness of potential new clients. It’s value is somewhat questionable, but it can help paint a picture about how a company handles its payables. I would certainly not recommend them, or any credit agency as the sole source of information, but they can play a role in helping you make the right decisions. Keep in mind that any reporting agency is only as accurate and current as the information they receive.

 

[PackRat]

We use D&B to check the creditworthiness of potential new clients. It’s value is somewhat questionable, but it can help paint a picture about how a company handles its payables. I would certainly not recommend them, or any credit agency as the sole source of information, but they can play a role in helping you make the right decisions. Keep in mind that any reporting agency is only as accurate and current as the information they receive.

My only point to add, Loaders, is they "pay to play" too much. I had an issue with them years ago not reporting accurately and the rude sales person flat out told me that if I signed up with them they would have it changed. I passed.

 

[TransAction]

We have been using D & B for many years. As the Cat said, not all of the data is completely accurate, but it does have some very detailed data that has helped us make some decisions that I believe has reduced our receivables liabilities for sure.

 

[loaders]

That’s an unfortunate experience for sure. Again, every credit agency is only as good as the info it receives, from both the company and their suppliers. If you pay your bills on time, or even before they are due, and no one, including yourself, submits that info, all it takes is one disgruntled supplier whose check was lost in the mail, or failed to invoice you for weeks, and your rating looks bad. We submit our own payables to D&B so that they see we pay within our suppliers terms, and we also report any of our customers whose payments exceed our terms.

 

[TransAction]

That’s an unfortunate experience for sure. Again, every credit agency is only as good as the info it receives, from both the company and their suppliers. If you pay your bills on time, or even before they are due, and no one, including yourself, submits that info, all it takes is one disgruntled supplier whose check was lost in the mail, or failed to invoice you for weeks, and your rating looks bad. We submit our own payables to D&B so that they see we pay within our suppliers terms, and we also report any of our customers whose payments exceed our terms.

I didn't know you could submit your payables info? In fact, we have a vendor on there that keeps reporting a monthly payment of $2,000 at 60 days over terms, so basically 90 days. That is just not possible with us and I keep forgetting to take care of it, thanks for the reminder! We are on the D&B portal so do you know if you can report your payables through that somehow or do I need to get a hold of my rep?

 

[Freight Broker]

Some years ago I hit a snag.. carriers mysteriously stopped calling on posted loads and even some of my regulars got antsy about dealing with me. I didn't know what hit me until about a month into this strangeness a lady who called me on a posted load told me straight up that she can't work with 283 days to pay. Sure enough.. it was an error.. credit reporting company wouldn't even tell me which of their reports made the error... "we report what we're given by our clients".. Never occurred to them to question that.. but I understand its much easier to ruin your business than to make a 30 second call to verify. But hey.. if you ever want to hurt a competitor's business just report them as 300 days to pay. It gets posted without anyone checking.. so you can probably hobble your competitor that way.

 

[loaders]

One of the benefits of being semi retired is, I really don’t know how to do that TransAction. I think our people use the D&B portal, but I am sure your rep would know for sure. Again, it may be a small piece of info, but the more small, accurate pieces they receive will help to get a larger, clearer picture.

 

[jonny-chicken]

Some years ago I hit a snag.. carriers mysteriously stopped calling on posted loads and even some of my regulars got antsy about dealing with me. I didn't know what hit me until about a month into this strangeness a lady who called me on a posted load told me straight up that she can't work with 283 days to pay. Sure enough.. it was an error.. credit reporting company wouldn't even tell me which of their reports made the error... "we report what we're given by our clients".. Never occurred to them to question that.. but I understand its much easier to ruin your business than to make a 30 second call to verify. But hey.. if you ever want to hurt a competitor's business just report them as 300 days to pay. It gets posted without anyone checking.. so you can probably hobble your competitor that way.

Yeah, I've had the same problem...

But more often, I found that Factoring Companies were to blame for innacurate info. The carrier produces the invoice, sends it to factoring company, they put their stamp on it and mail it out. The broker gets the invoice after it is already overdue. It helps the factoring company too, because if the brokers their carriers deal with have high days to pay, then it makes more sense to factor, no? Good scam... I caught Riveria Finance doing this specifically.

Also, Pay to Play indeed... If you pay to be a member of Equifax or whatever, you are allowed to update your own days to pay and dispute other's entries, etc... If you are not a member, it is a highly manual and time consuming process to keep scrubbing the incorrect entries... Whack a Mole basically...

So... if someone has good credit then they may be either paying their bills ontime, or they may just be a member of the credit bureau...