D & B vs. Equifax

TransAction

TransAction

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Apr 7, 2011
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Hi All, we have an upcoming renewal with D & B's system where we can preform credit checks on new clients. The cost keeps going up every year, this year almost $1,700 CAD for unlimited searches for the year. I find with D & B the info is not always accurate. As an example, we had a judgement on a customer and it wasn't showing in D & B.

Can anyone advise on their experience with Equifax, the costs and if they have used D & B also, which on they think is better?
 
Just going by the D&B and Equifax that we get from the link, they both suck. There is a carrier buddy of mine that always pays his bills in 30 days showing paying them in 90 plus on Equifax right now. The factoring companies are screwing it all up as they will screw a credit score when 99% of the time they forget to bill or lose the payment or forget to mark it paid yet send bad reports to these two useless companies and a good company has to fight long and hard to have it corrected. This happen to us a couple years ago as well and it was a 3 week process to get it fixed.
 
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TransAction said:
Hi All, we have an upcoming renewal with D & B's system where we can preform credit checks on new clients. The cost keeps going up every year, this year almost $1,700 CAD for unlimited searches for the year. I find with D & B the info is not always accurate. As an example, we had a judgement on a customer and it wasn't showing in D & B.

Can anyone advise on their experience with Equifax, the costs and if they have used D & B also, which on they think is better?
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I believe that Equifax is usually more accurate than D&B... Our dispatch uses the Link to check credit and if we have concerns we also check Inside Transport...
 
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I used to get mad at incorrect scores but now simply pay quickly and don't look at the reports to keep my blood pressure down. A couple of years back I noticed carriers booking loads with me and then cancelling a couple of hours later. It all seemed odd until one nice lady pointed out that Ansonia had me at 283 days to pay. At first they wouldn't budge but then someone there discovered it was a typo.. (I offered them a 25K certified check if they could come up with anyone that got paid in more than 30 days by me.. (including phone bills going back 40 years).. So far haven't had to pay out the 25K.
 
Rob said:
Just going by the D&B and Equifax that we get from the link, they both suck. There is a carrier buddy of mine that always pays his bills in 30 days showing paying them in 90 plus on Equifax right now. The factoring companies are screwing it all up as they will screw a credit score when 99% of the time they forget to bill or lose the payment or forget to mark it paid yet send bad reports to these two useless companies and a good company has to fight long and hard to have it corrected. This happen to us a couple years ago as well and it was a 3 week process to get it fixed.
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I had the same problem with Factoring companies screwing my credit file, when in fact they were just slow to send the invoice... Caught Riveria Finance doing this specifically...
 
Factoring companies have a vested interest in showing brokers as slow paying. After all, if a broker is shown as paying in 7 to 15 days, carriers might decide to forgo the factoring service. Better to show the broker paying at 60 days from the factoring co. standpoint.
 
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If you pay 99% of your suppliers within their terms, or even before their terms, the credit reporting companies will never hear about it. If one bad apple who didn't submit the required signed POD and then as a result of the ensuing delay, reports you as 60 days+, guess what the reporting agencies have you at? Like any other data gathering entity......."if you get garbage in, you will get garbage out".
 
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loaders said:
If you pay 99% of your suppliers within their terms, or even before their terms, the credit reporting companies will never hear about it. If one bad apple who didn't submit the required signed POD and then as a result of the ensuing delay, reports you as 60 days+, guess what the reporting agencies have you at? Like any other data gathering entity......."if you get garbage in, you will get garbage out".
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Yes Loaders...but you forgot...if you pay them a fee suddenly all the "garbage in" seems to get lost. It's amazing how that works.
:)
 
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Sometimes it works the other way ' round too. Truckstop shows me at 3 days to pay.. ( I advance pay alot of my regular carriers).. so I guess depends on who you want to believe.. every credit reporting agency seems to have me at a different days 2 pay. Well, so long as nothing is showing over 30 days I guess I'll live with it.
 
I remember a carrier cancelling a load on me a while back and I asked why. They told me Ansonia had a very negative report on us. As we pay all invoices within 30 days (when they arrive to the correct adress, with POD and with the correct ammount...it seems that this is a lot to ask these days...but anyways). So I called them looking to see why and how we could fix the problem. The 18 year old "manager" basically told me to pay my bills faster...and that's all she could offer in the way of assistance. Gotta love these credit rating companies and the top notch staff they employ to help keep the rest of us in our place.
P.s. That was atleast 5 years ago. No one has ever canceled a load on me over credit since. Thanks for nothing Ansonia. Maybe their clients don't recognize the 'value' of their reports either.
Pay on time and word spreads. A quality carrier will work with you to build credit even if these reports suggest otherwise.
Cheers all.
 
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Boss.. that was EXACTLY the same experience I had about five years ago..(with Ansonia). They had me at 283 days to pay.. (I guess in retrospect I have to wonder why I was getting any calls at all on posted loads..) Took some doing to get that fixed.. with alot of thanks to a very nice carrier who pointed that out to me in the first place.. I don't know how many loads I lost due to people looking at that days to pay. As Trump would say...SAD!!!
 
Hi All, thanks for the feedback. I am wondering if there is anyone who specifically uses D & B's or Equifax web portal, thanks.
 
I don't think having a thick skin is a viable solution to the issue, because nothing tells me that you are any different than the others. I can't find where, nor do I know of how, you distinguish your company from the others. You may very well be better than the rest, but how do I know that ???
I do not disagree that factoring has its place in the industry, however, when factoring companies operate with the same principles as the the guys selling coloured diamonds, or Steve's Towing for that matter, then your part of the industry needs to do some internal clean up.
As carriers and brokers we all have but one thing to offer ... our reputations. Anyone can buy a truck and call themselves a trucking company. Anyone can buy a fax machine and call themselves a broker. Put a leash on a dog, and you're a dog-walker. The difference between us and "anyone" is that we all have well earned, and hard fought for, reputations that no one, because of their lackadaisical invoicing efforts and suspect business practices, has the right to f*ck with.
In the meantime, I will still sell excess freight to outside carriers and when they ask me to pay their factoring company, I'll will continue to tell them "Forget it. I'll hire someone else." ... regardless of who the factoring company is.
Sadly, that's just the way it is.
 
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True enough Michael, but one can only go around pulling weeds out for so long. Some reporting places record me at 30 days even though I never take that long to pay my bills.. but I simply don't have the time or resources to go after everyone, so if they report me at 30 days or less I say good enough and leave it alone. I have come to accept the fact that there are many things about this business that one cannot control.. so unfortunately one has to accept "good enough" often..but well said Michael..
 
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