How long has Cortera been in Business?
How do I become a member of Cortera?
Do I have to pay to be a member of Cortera?
What kinds of subscriptions does Cortera offer?
What are the benefits of being a paid Cortera subscriber?
How do I cancel my Cortera subscription?
My business is not listed on www.cortera.com. How do I add my business?
What is a Cortera Payment Rating (CPR Report)?
Where does Cortera get the information that it uses to calculate the Cortera Payment Rating?
I disagree with the Cortera Payment Rating for my business. What should I do?
Where do the Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings come from?
When I rate another company, what should my ratings be based on?
Who submits Credit Exchange Ratings to Cortera?
How can I submit a payment rating?
What information about me can others see when I submit a payment rating?
Q. Who is Cortera?
A. Cortera is a leading business information and commercial credit solution provider that brings a fresh perspective to the challenges of getting timely, accurate and cost-effective insights into the financial behavior of businesses.
Q. How long has Cortera been in business?
A. Cortera has been monitoring business credit, assessing business credit risk, and providing services to the commercial credit industry since 1993. Originally founded as SR Research, and later as eCredit, Cortera has been helping large and small companies administer their trade credit programs through a number of innovative software and data solutions.
Q. Who uses Cortera?
A. Over 1,000 companies use Cortera services. Just a few of the companies that use Cortera are Xerox, NEC, Cisco, Cargill, Sun and Ryder.
Q. Why should I use Cortera?
A. Cortera brings unique perspective and fresh insights to the world of commercial credit, business information, and collective payment experiences. For over 100 years, the trade experiences of only a small segment of companies have driven the commercial credit scoring models. In today’s environment, as technology has revolutionized information sharing and online communities, Cortera is a leader in changing the way that businesses source and share information about the companies with which they do business. The new model is faster, more up to date, cheaper and more responsive than the old ways of sourcing data. Plus, it is a documented fact that companies that report their payment experiences with other businesses (i.e., their customers) tend to get paid faster than those that do not.
Q. How do I become a member of Cortera?
A. Becoming a member is easy and free. Join Now.
Q. Do I have to pay to be a member of Cortera?
A. Membership is free and gives you the ability to see payment scores and ratings reviews on businesses. Deeper information and more functionality are available to paid subscribers.
Q. What kinds of subscriptions does Cortera offer?
A. Free membership allows a user to view Payment Ratings and Community Ratings, as well as allowing a user to submit ratings on companies and provide updates about businesses. Paid subscriptions, such as Cortera Expert Subscriptions, are on a per-seat basis and allow for access to additional detail. Learn more.
Q. What are the benefits of being a paid Cortera subscriber?
A. Paid subscribers get more detailed information about the company they are researching, such as more detailed Payment Risk Summaries or more in-depth Cortera CPR Reports. Learn more about being a Cortera Subscriber.
Q. How do I cancel my Cortera subscription?
A. Users can modify their subscription at any time during the month. Subscription cancellations/downgrades are effective on the first day of the month after the change has been submitted.
Q. Where does Cortera get the business contact and demographic information contained on this website (business address and phone number, number of employees, estimated revenue, etc.)?
A. The business contact and demographic information is compiled from many sources, including public records, commercial data sources, submissions by Cortera members, and Cortera’s own research. We make it easy for you by compiling this data and making it easy to search.
Q. The contact or demographic information contained on the Cortera website is incorrect (business address and phone number, number of employees, estimated revenue, etc.). How do I correct it?
A. In order to submit an update, you will need to register and become a Cortera member (no purchase necessary). Your suggestions will be forwarded to our data quality team for review and verification. Accepted updates are normally published in approximately 10 days. Stay tuned, we’ll be adding real-time update functionality in the near future.
Q. I don’t like the fact that Cortera has information on its website about my business. How do I get Cortera to remove my business from its website?
A. It’s a misconception that certain information about your business is private. Information about your business abounds in a myriad of places, including public record sources. As a general rule, Cortera does not remove business profiles.
Cortera does give its members the ability to suggest updates to certain information contained in a business profile. You can submit corrections by clicking the “Update Profile” tab at the top of the company profile. In order to submit an update, you will need to register and become a Cortera member (no purchase necessary). Your suggestions will be forwarded to our data quality team for review and verification. Accepted updates are normally published in approximately 10 days. Stay tuned, we’ll be adding real-time update functionality in the near future.
Q. My business is not listed on www.cortera.com. How do I add my business?
A. Add business listings by joining Cortera as a registered user.
Q. What is a Cortera Payment Rating (CPR Report)?
A. Using detailed payment data from thousand of regular data contributors, Cortera CPR Reports analyze overall speed of payment and recent trends in payment behavior. Then with an algorithm, Cortera assigns a risk indicator to over 19 million US businesses each month.
Q. Where does Cortera get the information that it uses to calculate the Cortera Payment Rating?
A. Thousands of businesses tell Cortera how their customers (a.k.a. other businesses) pay their bills on a monthly basis. In one month’s time, the total amount of trade A/R contributed exceeded $250 billion.
Q. I disagree with the Cortera Payment Rating for my business. What should I do?
A. If you disagree with the Cortera Payment Rating, send an email to dispute@cortera.com. Cortera will then send you a free copy of the CPR report pertaining to your business. If you identify the specific records that you wish to dispute, Cortera will contact the source of the disputed information and request that they verify its accuracy.
Q. What are the differences between the Cortera Payment Ratings and the Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings?
A. Cortera Payment Ratings are highly structured payment scores and represent what Cortera believes to be a refinement of similar commercial credit scores. These scores incorporate detailed submissions of trade receivables and apply a highly tuned set of algorithms to create a numeric indicator that describes the firm’s overall payment behavior based on the submitted data.
Think of Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings and reviews as a more “analytical” review combined with series of peer experiences. For example: On a car review site, you might see a professional review that attempts to rank the car across a specific number of variables (horsepower, fuel economy, braking distance, headroom trunk space etc.) as well as owner reports that discuss specific user experiences. Since Credit Exchange Ratings are submitted by other Cortera users, these types of reports will frequently represent a more timely and wider ranging set of experiences but are less detailed.
These two types of reviews complement each other and help form a bigger picture. They may mention many of the same elements but they provide a more complete view than one rating type by itself.
Q. Where do the Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings come from?
A. Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings reflect “point-in-time” experiences from a wide variety of Cortera members. These members may or may not formally contribute data to Cortera for creation of the Cortera Payment Rating. These ratings are less structured that the Cortera Payment Rating, but can provide more insight into specific experiences.
Q. What are the differences between the Cortera Payment Ratings and the Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings?
A. Cortera Payment Ratings are highly structured payment scores and represent what Cortera believes to be a refinement of similar commercial credit scores. These scores incorporate detailed submissions of trade receivables and apply a highly tuned set of algorithms to create a numeric indicator that describes the firm’s overall payment behavior based on the submitted data.
Think of Cortera Credit Exchange Ratings and reviews as a more “analytical” review combined with series of peer experiences. For example: On a car review site, you might see a professional review that attempts to rank the car across a specific number of variables (horsepower, fuel economy, braking distance, headroom trunk space etc.) as well as owner reports that discuss specific user experiences. Since Credit Exchange Ratings are submitted by other Cortera users, these types of reports will frequently represent a more timely and wider ranging set of experiences but are less detailed.
These two types of reviews complement each other and help form a bigger picture. They may mention many of the same elements but they provide a more complete view than one rating type by itself.
Q. When I rate another company, what should my ratings be based on?
A. Your ratings should be based on your past experiences with how a business paid you (e.g., whether you were you paid on time, late, or not at all). Cortera is not a consumer review website – we do not care about product reviews or whether you had a bad meal at a restaurant. Your ratings should tell others how businesses pay their bills.
Q. Who submits Credit Exchange Ratings to Cortera?
A. Any Cortera member can submit a rating on a company that they have extended credit or that owes them an outstanding balance. Registration is free, so start submitting reviews today.
Q. How can I submit a payment rating?
A. All you need to do is complete the free registration form and begin rating.
Q. Why should I submit ratings?
A. It is a documented fact that companies that report their payment experiences with other businesses (i.e., their customers) tend to get paid faster than those that do not.
Q. What information about me can others see when I submit a payment rating?
A. Your Cortera User ID will be displayed along with any ratings you submit.
Q. Is there anything I can’t say when submitting a payment rating?
A. The golden rule is that your rating should be truthful and should pertain to your past payment experience with a business. The Cortera community wants to know whether you had a good or bad experience with a business. Whether positive or negative, your rating must be truthful and be in accordance with our Ratings Guidelines.
Q. What makes a great rating?
A. Striving to become a top business service and resource, Cortera wants to revolutionize the way that information about business credit is shared. A great rating is one that is insightful, truthful and that conveys to others your past experience with extending credit to a business.
Q. A business failed to pay my bill or always pays me late. Can I submit a negative payment rating?
A. Sure. The Cortera Credit Exchange community wants to know whether you had a good or bad experience with a business. Whether positive or negative, your rating must be truthful and be in accordance with our Ratings Guidelines.
Q. Can I submit a payment rating about a business I am connected to?
A. It’s actually better if you encourage the vendors/suppliers with which you do business to post ratings about you. Getting your vendors/suppliers to submit ratings is a great way to ensure that you know what is being said about your business and helps you control your own business credit. Cortera does not recommend self-rating.
Q. Does Cortera ever remove a CPR Report or a rating?
A. Rarely. Credit ratings have existed for at least 100 years in the forms of credit reports and credit scores, which have previously only been available to businesses that can afford to pay very high fees. Cortera is bringing access to business credit information into the digital age by making it available to the masses via the Internet so that every business knows what is being said about their credit history. We know it’s tough to swallow negative ratings, but we think sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Cortera reserves the right to remove ratings if they violate our Terms of Service or our Ratings Guidelines.
Q. If I submit a rating, can people contact me about it?
A. Other registered Cortera users may contact you using the “Contact Reviewer” feature. If another registered Cortera user attempts to contact you about a rating you submitted, Cortera will forward a message to you from that user. The decision of whether you wish to respond to the request is totally yours. Your contact information will not be shared. See our Privacy Policy for more information.
Q. Are there any legal consequences for submitting a negative rating?
A. The golden rule is that your rating should be truthful and should pertain to your past payment experience with a business. You should never submit false or defamatory statements about a business. Statements that encourage others to boycott a business or adopt a specific credit policy could have legal consequences. See our Ratings Guidelines for more information.
Q. I don’t like the fact that Cortera has information on its website about my business. How do I get Cortera to remove my business from its website?
A. It’s a misconception that certain information about your business is private. Information about your business abounds in a myriad of places, including public record sources. As a general rule, Cortera does not remove business profiles.
Cortera does give its members the ability to suggest updates to certain information contained in a business profile. You can submit corrections by clicking the “Update Profile” tab at the top of the company profile. In order to submit an update, you will need to register and become a Cortera member (no purchase necessary). Your suggestions will be forwarded to our data quality team for review and verification. Accepted updates are normally published in approximately 10 days. Stay tuned, we’ll be adding real-time update functionality in the near future.
Q. Why should I care about what others are saying about my business?
A. Over 60,000 people a day visit Cortera and look at business profiles. Accurate business information can lead to more customer contacts and ultimately more business for your firm. An up-to-date credit profile helps to ensure you receive the most favorable credit terms possible.
Q. There are negative ratings about my business. Will Cortera remove them?
A. No. Credit ratings have existed for at least 100 years in the forms of credit reports and credit scores, which have previously only been available to businesses that can afford to pay very high fees. Cortera is bringing access to business credit information into the digital age by making it available to the masses via the Internet so that every business knows what is being said about their credit history. We know it’s tough to swallow negative ratings, but we think sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Cortera reserves the right to remove ratings if they violate our Terms of Service or our Ratings Guidelines.
Q. I think a rating about my business is libelous. Will Cortera remove it?
A. Probably not. Cortera is a forum for the sharing of business credit information, so we don’t take sides in factual disputes. You should still bring a review to our attention if, on its face value, it violates our Terms of Service or our Ratings Guidelines.
Keep in mind, however, that we rarely end up removing ratings, and will always encourage you to contact the reviewer in order to clear up any misunderstandings. If you choose to contact Cortera about a rating, please include your business name, city and state and the name of the reviewer in question.
Q. I do business with a number of companies. Can I submit payment ratings about them?
A. Yes. We believe that sharing your trade experiences benefits you, the companies with whom you do business and the community.
Q. Should I ask vendors to write ratings about my business?
A. Absolutely. Getting your vendors/suppliers to submit ratings is a great way to ensure that you know what is being said about your business and helps you control your own business credit.
Q. How do I contact someone who has submitted a negative rating about my business?
A. Click on the “Contact Reviewer” link on the profile. Cortera will forward your message to that reviewer. The decision of whether the reviewer will respond to you rests solely on the reviewer.
Q. Cortera seems like a place to vent about bad experiences. Are most ratings negative?
A. The intent of Cortera is to provide a well-rounded view of the payment experience of millions of companies. While some reviews may be negative, the majority of the community ratings reflect positive, current payment experiences.
Q. Where does Cortera get the business contact and demographic information about my business (business address and phone number, number of employees, estimated revenue, etc.)?
A. The business contact and demographic information is compiled from many sources, including public records, commercial data sources, submissions by Cortera members, and Cortera’s own research.
Q. The contact or demographic information about my business is incorrect (business address and phone number, number of employees, estimated revenue, etc.). How do I correct it?
A. Submit updates by clicking the “Update Profile” tab at the top of the company profile. In order to submit an update, you will need to register and become a Cortera member (no purchase necessary). Your suggestions will be forwarded to our data quality team for review and verification. Accepted updates are normally published in approximately 10 days. Stay tuned, we’ll be adding real-time update functionality in the near future.
Q. Will Cortera remove negative ratings about my business if I pay for a subscription?
A. No. Having a paid subscription will get you access to more content and features. But we will not remove negative ratings on account of membership.
"We rely on Cortera business information to make critical credit & collections decisions every day. We couldn't be happier with the results."
"eCredit by Cortera created efficiencies for Xerox by centralizing credit information, shortening approval cycles and standardizing polices & reporting. The investment in Cortera's eCredit software has significantly improved customer relations & productivity. It's a great fit for our business."
