Valuable intelligence on customers' ability to pay.

In today's highly competitive, global economy, companies can't afford to pass up any viable business opportunity. Most commercial transactions involve the extension of credit from the seller to the buyer. To stay competitive, most decisions to conduct business with another company must be made quickly--or a competitor may step in and seize away that opportunity.

However, making decisions to extend credit to business customers involves taking a risk: knowing the extent of that risk requires first acquiring reliable credit and financial information in order to assess the creditworthiness of a company. Fortunately, credit professionals can rely on credit reports provided by the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) to provide them with the financial information they need in order accurately determine credit risk.

NACM credit reports provide specific information often not found in other commercial credit bureau reports, and the NACM Affiliates' vast, nationwide presence of NACM Affiliates provides a comprehensive database of credit information on the customers of more than 25,000 NACM members. Trade line or customer payment data from NACM members is sent into these databases to provide timely payment and other financial information on the customers of members. If a company is conducting business in other states, chances are that information will show up in an NACM credit report because of NACM's vast network. Information in NACM credit reports can include secretary of state and public records information on the companies, kept by the states in which they are incorporated, providing information that's especially helpful in verifying the corporate authenticity of a new customer.

NACM members are alerted when extraordinary events ...