Don’t Offer Finance To Clients Without Checking Their Company Credit Report
Working in the finance industry is full of difficulties and challenges that you need to overcome if you’re going to ensure your company is successful. For starters, you face the same major challenges that all companies face, such as attracting new customers through effective marketing tactics, ensuring your product/service is a cut above the rest, and offering a high-level of customer service so that your customers can feel confident that you have their best interests at heart.
However, as a business in the financial sector, you also face a set of unique obstacles that other industries don’t necessarily have to deal with. You’ll no doubt be selling some – if not all – of your services on a credit basis, and that means you could lose money if your customers fail to pay you back for whatever reason.
Let’s face it, even companies that have been established for decades can fail because new companies are created on a constant basis. A business that was highly profitable 10 years ago may currently be struggling to pay its bills. How can you be sure that your clients will be able to continually meet the payments that you desperately need in order to keep your business afloat?
The truth is, nobody is capable of accurately predicting the future. However, company credit reports can give you a detailed insight into a company’s capabilities with regards to paying their debts, and that will go a long way in helping you decide whether you can trust a client with credit or not.
If you’re wondering how to get a business credit report, it’s as simple as finding a specialist credit check company that can access data from third-party sources to give you an accurate overview of a company’s creditworthiness. There are a number of companies that specialise in this service, and you can be assured of accuracy in the reports due to the fact that they are completely unbiased.
What can I Find in a Credit Report?
At this point, you might be wondering what sort of information a credit report can offer. Here is a brief list of some of the key information you’ll find in a credit report.
- Payment habits – A credit report will give you an insight into the payment habits of the client in question, meaning you’ll be able to gauge whether they always pay on time or constantly default.
- Bankruptcies – In certain situations, a company doesn’t have to fail due to filing for bankruptcy, but you might not want to offer said company finance if they’ve almost gone under before.
- Balances outstanding – You might not feel comfortable lending to a company that already has a number of debts to pay off, though it’s probably a good idea to check this against payment habits as a large number of balances outstanding doesn’t necessarily mean the company is unable to meet the payments.
In summary, a company credit report will give you a detailed analysis of a company’s creditworthiness as well as an overall credit rating, helping you to protect your profits and secure the future of your business.