 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Our Subscribers Say...
I think Credit Today is fantastic. You cover many practical topics in the credit field that I use regularly. Just one recent example—a conversation on the ListServ about preferential payments—gave me tips that I used in an actual case. The specific information I picked up from this one discussion saved me $10,000, enough to cover my membership for many years!
- Steve Savino
Manager of Credit & Collections, ASSA Abloy Americas Division, New Haven, CT
Credit Today's Resource Directory and their online e-mail forum (ListServ) provide information on almost any credit-related topic you can think of. It is a great way to exchange information with other credit professionals. As the saying goes, "You don't know what you don't know."
- Scott Goen,
Credit Manager, Big Lots Stores, Inc., Wholesale Division
"We've recently started using the ListServ tool within Credit Today. This is phenomenal and powerful forum for gaining immediate feedback, ideas, and suggestions, relative to any credit topic under the sun, all in a real-time e-mail format."
-Javier Vela, Senior Credit Manager, Global Credit Services, JDA Software Group Inc.
"Being a part of the Credit Today online community is like having the expertise of hundreds of credit managers at your fingertips. These credit execs are willing to help you solve topical business issues as they arise. In the current environment of ever increasing competing priorities which reduce our opportunities to meet peers out of the office face-to-face, this is the most valuable tool you can have on your desktop! It's important that we have a mechanism to reach out to our counterparts quickly to exchange knowledge as well as to stay on top of industry trends."
- Victoria Artis, Director of Customer Financial Services, Pfizer, Inc.
"Over the last 10 years I've seen Credit Today evolve from a monthly credit publication into a quality source of information and guidance for the B2B credit community. The website, with its user friendly form downloads, will take you from examples of new account credit applications to bankruptcy forms and everything in between.
The Credit Today ListServ has become the pre-imminent online forum, providing an opportunity for discussion and comments (and occasional humor) from an impressive list of credit professionals."
David Dungan, Director of Credit
Justin Brands, Inc. (A Berkshire Hathaway company)
Fort Worth, Texas
"There are numerous credit periodicals available to the credit professional today. How good is Credit Today? Is it relevant? I always have to read it late, or online because my credit analysts want to read it the minute it comes in. When my staff wants to read a publication before I have a chance to read it then something is working in that publication. We have cancelled our other subscriptions. When you have the best you do not need the rest."
Ron Woods
Corporate Credit Manager-World Wide
Thales Navigation, Inc.
"The newsletter, coupled with the website and the ListServ, are to us, more valuable than any other credit publication, bar none. I try to use at least one article out of each newsletter for departmental training/discussion sessions."
D. Mark Constantine
Corporate Credit Mgr
Fulton Paper Company
"I love Credit Today and read every issue cover to cover. For me, the greatest perk of a subscription is ListServ. I believe Credit Today's ListServ members may be the most knowledgeable Credit brain trust in existence today. I have saved and categorized hundreds of contributions on a wide variety of topics which I refer to often. It's an easy and cost effective way to network and learn."
Doug M. Thomas
Kimberly-Clark Customer Financial Services |
|
|
 |
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Secrets of a skip-tracing expert Businesses that close suddenly and disappear ("skips") are more common than ever in today's economic crisis. So we checked in recently with Debbie Chastain, the "go-to" outside collection person used by Zippo Manufacturing ("Here Today, Gone Tomorrow") to learn how's she's approaching the many skips sent her way.
The first thing Chastains asks her clients for when a skip is referred to her is a solid credit application.
"We want some other creditors' names, and we'll talk to them. We want to know who their bank is. We want a copy of a check they wrote, because that tells us what their actual operating account is." Most applications only ask for one bank reference. It isn't uncommon for companies that habitually bounce checks to list their payroll account on the application because you don't bounce checks there. "You can go to jail for bouncing payroll checks," she points out. "They bounce them in their operating account. We ask for a copy of the check they actually used to pay the client. That's pertinent information." Small Banks Still a Great Source of Intelligence She notes that big banks only reveal whether the account is open or closed, how long it was in business, whether the account was acceptably handled, whether they bounced checks, and when the last activity was. Smaller banks, however, are a different story. "They know all the gossip," she says. "On a conversational level you deal with human weakness. They typically tell you if the debtor owned the real estate, if they foreclosed on it and if they've put the debtor in receivership. They'll tell you what the phone number is. They're out of pocket, and they're mad. The big banks don't have any emotional investment. Their egos aren't involved." She talks to the landlord if the debtor was renting the business location. "If the landlord wasn't made whole and the debtor didn't handle it an appropriate and correct fashion, then the landlord will give us information. And some of the best sources of information I've ever seen are former spouses. They want to dish the dirt. You get his clubs, his phone number and his girl friend's phone number. They'll tell you everything."
| |
Webinars