According to the NACM (National Association of Credit Management) monthly survey for June, 51% answered “yes” when asked, “Do you share your full accounts receivable information or tradelines with any credit reporting company?” A still sizable 46% answered “no,” and the remaining 3% weren’t sure.
IT concerns were a popular reason for why companies wouldn’t share their A/R information. “We are short on resources in our IT department so these types of requests are not typically fulfilled,” answered one participant. “We don’t share the info mainly due to the workload and additional time this would involve in preparing a file to send,” said another. “But I feel it should be shared because we put a lot of weight into the results, so it is important that the information is available from as many resources as possible.”
Indeed, the respondents who shared their data felt strongly about the value inherent in sharing this data, both for themselves and their customers, because the more good A/R information about a customer is shared, the more likely it will be that they can get credit. “At former companies this data was provided and customers were notified that we reported. It was beneficial to those companies and to our good customers,” one participant noted. “We share our A/R information with anyone who will take it. We feel that if we share with others, they will share with us and that increases our likelihood of making a good, informed decision. Withholding information hurts everyone, while open communication helps to more quickly weed out those who would hurt us all,” said another.
Courtesy of Jacob Barron, CICP, NACM staff writer
