Gathering Intelligence on Bankruptcies

How do you keep up with bankruptcies? As a credit exec, it's critically important to be on top of the latest filings in your customer base, and many get this vital intelligence from their credit group.

But here are two great backup sources of bankruptcy information which came up in a discussion on Credit Today's listserv last week. Both are courtesy of Tom Corbett, vp of business development at credit insurer Atradius:

http://www.chapter11blog.com/ Chapter11blogwon't give you immediate notice, says Corbett, but is a very useful site.

The second method he offered up is courtesy of Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts "To the extent you have a manageable number of companies to track," wrote Corbett, "Google Alerts works well. If a story appears in any local or trade (publication) online about the bankruptcy, it will pick it up."

Even if your credit group is right on top of the latest filings in your niche, it's still a good idea to have a backup, and typically, most companies have customers that are not covered by their credit group.

Do you have any experience using any of these tools? Do you have any other sources of information you'd like to recommend? Write to us at Editor@credittoday.net.

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In an excellent Wall Street Journal opinion piece interview of Dallas Federal Reserve Board President Richard Fisher, he echoed that sentiment when discussing the reasons for the incredible build-up of ridiculous credit by banks and financial institutions, leading to the credit bubble and current collapse.

"...there was the 'mathematization' of risk. Institutions were 'building risk models' and relying heavily on 'quant jocks' when 'in the end there can be no substitute for good judgment.'"

Ahhh... This common sense approach is music to our ears and leads us to be absolutely certain that credit professionals - at least the majority we know who exercise "good judgement" - are the unsung heroes of today's business world!