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 you have within your portfolio? What is your level of exposure with all associated businesses?
• Small business owner business affiliations and asset information – For small business owners who are late paying or have defaulted, do they have any assets that can help you recoup on your funds?
• Credit score/changes – Has there been a shift in your customer’s score positively or negatively?
• Credit limit extended – If the score has changed negatively, do you need to reassess the account’s credit limit?
• Legal filing/trade alerts – Has there been any recent legal actions filed on your customer? If so, what is the impact to your account?
• Collection activities – Before you review the account for a credit increase, are you able to see if there are any collections activities that have historically taken place on the account?

Knowing if customers can pay you, when they will pay you and how much they will pay you are crucial components to protecting your bottom line. And having a global view of an account can help you do just that. Look for future posts from me, and let me know if there are any specific topics about managing your portfolio that you’d like to see.