The foundation of your commercial business begins at the customer level. With that, you’ll need a clear picture of your account’s health to make the best credit decision. Having data such as the following at your fingertips could prove to be very beneficial…  Additional business affiliations – Is your customer affiliated to any other customer [...]

Read more ››

No comments

Periodic evaluation of your accounts’ payment behavior may help mitigate your financial risk. One good way to review your portfolio is to compare how your accounts are paying you vs. how they pay others. First, take a look at the average number of days your accounts pay you beyond agreed upon terms . Then, compare [...]

Read more ››

No comments

Many times businesses focus on customer accounts from an operational standpoint. They review their portfolios relative to the processes of origination, credit management, and collections. And so much emphasis goes into the operational side of the business that analysis of their portfolios for profitability to particular types of customers are often overlooked. Here are a [...]

Read more ››

No comments

When you’re on a tight budget, you definitely want to get the best bang for your buck. One way to do this is to evaluate your commercial collection process. For instance, start with deciding which accounts you go after first. By prioritizing your collection efforts, you’ll save a lot of time and recover your money [...]

Read more ››

No comments

Last time, I wrote about the importance of understanding your portfolio’s exposure. Let’s get a little more specific and evaluate things from a disaster perspective.  FEMA reported that there were 81 declared disasters in the U.S. last year. This year, we’ve already experienced 50 disasters. According to the American Red Cross, “as many as 40% [...]

Read more ››

No comments

Since fluctuations within the market or unexpected disasters can drastically impact your portfolio’s risk, it’s generally good practice to regularly review the level of exposure within your portfolio. Here are few evaluative questions you may want to consider: What is your exposure roll up by parent company? Do you have a high concentration of accounts [...]

Read more ››

No comments

My grandmother was the great chef in my family. When she cooked, you always went back for more. Several times, she tried teaching me how to make one of her specialty dishes, Chicken Adobo. Mind you, I’m a ‘straight from the recipe book’ cook and my grandmother measured everything by taste.  Needless to say, I’ve [...]

Read more ››

No comments

Really, it’s a little of both. To get a good sense of your client base’s behavioral payment patterns and be able to successfully manage credit risk, you first need to understand your portfolio. The best way to do that is to slice and dice your portfolio into different chunk-size segments and identify any trends within [...]

Read more ››

No comments

If you make decisions just by pulling credit reports, you may want to think about how you can manage your accounts proactively. Pulling a report is helpful in deciding whether you should offer credit to a business. But, consider these basic steps when looking for any negative trends:  #1 Develop a policy for how you’d [...]

Read more ››

No comments