By Joel Berg, Central Penn Business Journal
The recession is slowing more than sales. It’s slowing companies’ ability to pay for what they’ve already bought.
As the economy contracted in the last quarter of last year, 1.1 percent of commercial receivables were more than 91 days past due, up from 1 percent in the year-ago period, according to the Credit Research Foundation, a Columbia, Md., nonprofit.
Cortera, a Florida-based commercial credit company, also tracked a slowdown in payments. Between January and December, the average number of days that bills were past due jumped 39 percent to 11.74 days, up from 8.42.
“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the amount of activities required by collectors to bring cash in the door,” said Alex Cote, a spokesman for Cortera, formerly known as eCredit.com.
The challenge lies in knowing when to lean on valued customers and when to give them time to mend their finances, local executives said.
Read more in the Central Penn Business Journal.
"Cortera has the potential to reinvent the credit reporting industry by bringing the credit community approach to the Web and thus delivering the kind of insight not possible with traditional credit bureau approaches alone."
"Cortera has given us increased access to better information and has helped ensure that credit decisions are issued quickly and consistently."
