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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-eminent 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 |
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Credit Today Sample Articles
Thank you for coming to Credit Today's Members-only website.
Here are just a few samples of material you'll find here. Most is available only to Members. Take a look around and enjoy your stay here at Credit Today! We look forward to you joining our community of happy members and becoming a full member yourself soon!
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Credit Today Benchmarking Survey: Account Monitoring, Part 3 - Finding the Best Options for Your Credit Environment
By David Schmidt
Credit execs are a resourceful group, as these responses will illustrate. Many must work within the limited capabilities of their existing systems to find innovative ways to monitor accounts. Exceeding assigned credit limits or going past due are two sure ways for an account to get reviewed by the credit staff, but most credit teams keep an eye out for many other types of exceptions that warrant attention from an account monitoring perspective. To get a better idea of the practical steps credit departments are taking to monitor their accounts, the survey asked: respondents to tell us about their account monitoring activities, including: - What you track
- What monitoring challenges you face with regard to the make-up of your receivables portfolio
- How you address those challenges
- In what ways you use the data from account monitoring to help your AR performance
Read on for some great suggestions and "in-the-trenches" feedback on all of these critical credit department functions. . . .
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Dispatches From the Credit Front: September 2012
September 2012
This month's column... - Low, Low Interest Rates--A Gathering Storm? - Has the Fed gone insane? What a savvy and astute observer thinks of the latest easing by the Fed and the long-run implications for credit execs.
- What You Don't Know About Business Partners Really Can Hurt You - The rundown on a new compliance product.
- Selling in China--Only for the Savvy and Proactive - Why some well-known firms are pulling back from China; some advice if you still want to go forward there.
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Curing Deduction Problems
Deduction problems are notoriously self-inflicted wounds, often caused by correctible mistakes or oversights allowed to go uncorrected within the company. Those wounds can fester dangerously when the deductions remain concealed within an opaque accounting system. Here's one company's prescription for a cure. Learn... - How this credit exec worked within an SAP system to get better reporting
- The importance of status codes for categories of deductions
- The importance of assigning responsibility
- How better reporting helped get Sales on the same page as Credit
- What vendor this firm chose for the project
- How and why better information on your deductions will stengthen your bargaining position with customers
- What deduction reporting is generated for top management
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Credit Today Benchmarking Survey: Credit Application Processing: Not Very Green and Not Very Fast
By David Schmidt
In a world where 'green' initiatives and the opportunity to eliminate paper abound, just 5 percent of companies have their credit applications submitted online, while 93 percent are still handling them manually. In addition, using a service bureau to check references and provide other credit application processing tasks shows a very low adoption rate (1 percent). Among other items, this month's Credit Today Benchmarking Survey covers... - The median and average turnaround time for credit decisions following receipt of an application, and differences between those with online credit apps and those with paper-based app
- Characteristics of the companies with online credit apps
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Benchmarking Credit Apps, Part 2: The Complexities of Online Credit Applications
By David Schmidt
One of the goals of our benchmarking survey on credit app processing was to find out what percentage of credit departments are using online credit applications. In an increasingly automated credit environment, processing new customers quickly is a critical element. Online credit application processes hold the promise of not only electronically capturing customer data, which can then be used to populate the customer master file and other key financial applications, but also mark the first step in driving credit application approval workflows. Learn the key components you'll want to have in your online credit app along with feedback from those who have set one up. . . .
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Benchmarking Credit Application Processing, Part 3: Challenges Detailed
By David Schmidt
Survey participants where asked, "What are the primary challenges you face in regard to credit application processing? What are you doing to address these challenges?" Needless to say, the overwhelming number of responses were centered around the issue of collecting and processing information. Right from the start, if the credit application is incomplete, documents are missing, or agreements not signed, there will be problems. Interactions with the sales team are another factor. Verifying trade references is a huge challenge for many credit departments, and accessing enough confirming data from external sources such as the credit bureaus can also be an issue. Once you have all your information you then have to process it, which raises challenges related to processing efficiency and workloads. To get a first-hand feel for the challenges, read on for many great responses from survey participants. In this section of our benchmarking survey, you'll learn respondents' take on the following challenges: - getting complete information
- getting signed agreements
- processing and getting responses from credit references
- ways to "get around" incomplete information
- managing the workload
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Unclaimed Property - Links to All States' Compliance & Reporting Requirements
Below you can find various compliance and policy resources regarding unclaimed property in the United States, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The holder and reporting requirements, along with helpful information on deadlines, filing forms and more, are all organized on a state-by-state basis. In an attempt to bridge revenue gaps, state governments have increased the enforcement of unclaimed property laws. Businesses should be familiar with these property laws and their accompanying requirements according to the states they are incorporated in and the states they do business in to avoid non-compliance and liability penalties. . . .
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Credit Group Survey, Part 4 - Credit Group Improvement Opportunities
By David Schmidt
No matter how valuable a service might be, there's always room for improvement. So one of the questions in our benchmarking survey on credit groups asked respondents what they would improve about their industry credit group experience. While many say "no change," there were nonetheless some great ideas and thoughtful suggestions given. From the many, we were able to ID 8 key areas cited most often by respondents. Read on to learn the most often cited credit group improvement opportunities. . . .
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2012 Industry Credit Group Survey, Part 2 - Industry Credit Group Participation Very Highly Valued
By David Schmidt
Credit Today's benchmarking survey on credit groups explored the value of participation in industry credit groups in three ways. First, both group members and non-members were asked to rate individual group services and attributes based on perceived value. Secondly, group members were asked to compare their primary group to their primary credit bureau across five product/service categories. Lastly, group members were asked to place a monetary value on the savings they realize from group membership. Each of these sections indicated there is significant value to be derived from industry credit group membership. Learn... - how credit professionals rank the value of 20 core (and some not-so-core) services offered by credit groups
- what percentage of credit groups include terms in the exchange of information
- what percentage of credit groups allow group data to be exchanged outside their credit group
- what percentage of credit groups allow customers to be in the group along with suppliers
- how valuable the 4 key credit group services are in comparison to the same services as offered by credit reporting bureaus
- the average savings of credit group participation (broken down by size of company)
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Energizing a Credit Staff's Potential
A credit staff can work for a long time without ever achieving its full potential. Lack of training, direction and/or up-to-date systems and procedures can lock it into consistently sub par performance. Then again, with the training and systems readily available today, the same staff can quickly blossom into super performance. That's what happened here under a new manager committed to excellence. . . .
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Leadership Profile: Norman Taylor, CCE
In the early stages of a job interview with a prospective employer, I was told, "We have historically made quite a few management overrides on our credit decisions." When I asked, "Why?" my soon-to-be new boss looked at me quizzically. I went on to say, "If it's in our corporate best interest to extend credit in risky situations, then I need to be able to understand the parameters." That conversation set the stage for what became a rich working relationship where, over ten years . . .
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Leadership Profile: Steve Savino
Credit Philosophy
The Credit function - especially in today's rapidly changing and competitive environment - cannot exist as an overhead department. Rather, we need to think of Credit as a revenue source. That's possible with the resources in the typical credit operation, but only if you think a little differently. At ASSA Abloy Credit, we're working on implementing a new business model whereby we can help our customers' customers obtain financing through an outside captive finance firm. This will help us book sales even if it's not in our customers' budgets. This kind of thinking really brings credit beyond straight risk-management (which is very important, of course) and is the key to not only surviving, but prospering in the coming years. . . .
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Credit Today Benchmarking Survey: Keeping Credit Policies and Procedures Up to Date
By David Schmidt
Putting your credit policies and procedures in writing is one thing, but keeping them updated is another matter. To remain an effective tool, credit policies need to be kept up-to-date and that takes additional time and effort. In this analysis, we reveal: - how often credit policies are updated
- when the last update was for most companies' credit policies
- the impact that the size of your company has on how often credit policies are updated
- some great recommendations for getting and keeping the credit policy process moving
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Fire-Starter Words: Four Things Never to Say to a Customer
Sooner or later, exhausted, overworked staffers will take their frustrations out on customers. They'll use what customer-relations guru Peggy Morrow of Peggy Morrow & Associates calls "firestarter" words. She lists four examples that can do your company immediate and lasting harm: . . .
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Turn Data into Intelligence to Empower Your Decisions
By David Schmidt, Contributing Editor
Are you sitting on a wealth of customer and portfolio data, but have trouble translating it into actionable intelligence? Even if your organization has not progressed beyond the AR software module that came with your firm's ERP or accounting system, chances are your systems are still accumulating much more data than just ten years ago. And, if you have added bolt-on credit and collection software solutions to your AR module, you are sitting on a wealth of data. How then, do you extract value from all this data? . . .
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How Long Do You Have to Sue for Old Outstanding Balances?
By Ann Morales Olazábal
This legal case study explores what the statute of limitations is for collection law suits, including... - What the UCC says about this issue and how that relates to state statutes of limitations for enforcing contracts
- Do continuing promises and negotiations extend the statute?
- What is the "magic date" when considering the statute of limitations period?
- Are there exceptions to that date?
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Bankruptcy Issues
