No Credit - Your Name Worries Us

One of our clients wondered what to make of it when a company name is spelt wrong. It’s a good point.

Not just wrong on the credit application form, but on the credit report too because it’s the way the company is incorporated at Companies House. 

There are some words in English that often get misspelt and most of us get caught out or mistype occasionally. But there are times when you would think it matters to get it right, such as when naming a business. But a quick company search of our database lists companies proud to rule as ‘Brittania’, companies that are ‘Independant’, and companies that provide ‘Maintenence’ services. Quite a few provide ‘Acommodation’ but can’t find room for two ‘c’s. ‘Student Acommodation’ is especially popular. You couldn't make it up.

The lack of attention to detail, if the company name can be called a detail, would make me worry how the business was run generally.

Imagine getting an application for credit from a company selling office supplies, and their company name is something ‘Stationary’. I don't know about you, but I’d think that was a business that won’t go far. When we last came across a 'stationary' company a Helpdesk colleague recalled how his old school teacher explained how to get that one right: ‘The man who looks after the station, ‘arry, never goes anywhere.’

We don’t include spell checking in our own credit rating algorithms. Perhaps we should if we could demonstrate any correlation between misspelt company names and corporate failure. But in the absence of any empirical tests, it’s down to instinct and a credit check.

Anything useful to share or any comments, drop me a line via our Contact page.

Till next time.

Credit Controllers Face More Credit Risk

In a few weeks time credit controllers may have to deal with creditors who can play the system and disrupt their supplier’s cash flow for even larger amounts.

In April the Government’s proposals to reform civil litigation take effect. The proposals are designed to introduce quicker, fairer and more cost-effective litigation. 

However, the proposals include raising the small claims track claim limit to £10,000. An unintended consequence is that credit controllers may now be faced with opportunistic creditors.

These creditors will know that they can withhold payment of quite significant amounts, and the worst that can happen is being forced to pay the principal sum and no solicitors’ fees, at some time much further in future. Very disruptive to your cash flow, but cynically beneficial to theirs. 

Two Offers of Practical Help

If you use First Report, a company credit check is already part of your procedure, and a Payment Performance report will show you how long a potential customer is stringing out payments to its other suppliers. Real invoices and actual time taken to pay. It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

If you are not currently looking at the Payment Performance when you run a credit check, contact our Helpdesk now to get access to this extra information on your account. 

The second way we can help is this offer from the London specialists in debt recovery litigation, Silverman Sherliker. 

They understand the issues and ways around the problems, and will offer a fixed fee agreement for such cases. This means you can claim against debts without the worry of your legal costs spiralling out of control and wiping out the value of the claim. For information on the changes to the small claims track and how they can help you, contact James Robertson on +44 (0)20 7749 2700 or jvar@silvermansherliker.co.uk and mention First Report.

Till next time.