Net 30 Blog

Expose Your Deadbeats Publicly – They Might Just Pay You

November 12th, 2009 by Alex Coté

When we launched the Cortera Credit Exchange our primary goal (it still is) was to drastically augment the amount of information available on private companies by expanding the information sharing between credit grantors of all forms. I’m happy to report that we are seeing that exact behavior every day. Another intriguing trend is one that mirrors what we, as consumers, have seen since the introduction of reviews and ratings features across product and service sites: Enthusiastic participation when it comes to their worst experiences. In our case, we’re seeing a lot of activity around the reporting of businesses worst payers—their deadbeats. In the traditional world of business credit reporting, a credit bureau should achieve the same goal, but it can take weeks for the deadbeat tradeline to show up on a credit report.

Obviously in this economy, as I have reported in the past, there continues to be a large and growing group of companies well beyond their terms. Collectors are turning to the Exchange to report their deadbeats and notify the debtor that they have been publicly reported online. It seems simple, but in a world where everyone is online and reputations are everything, this technique could be just the approach that will get your money in the door. Here is a sample of some of the more colorful ones we’ve seen over the last few weeks:

• “Pays a fraction of balance. Watch this company they must bounce from provider to provider.”
• “This company does not pay subcontractors on commercial projects. They have numerous lien and foreclosure actions in the state of Colorado.”
• “Still working with Owner to settle this account. I am hopeful since we started at $70,000 and are down to $13,500.00. Will not do business with them again.”
• “The A/P dept and Office Mgr. refuse to talk to me or return emails and Voice mails. The owner/Pres. also refuses to reply to emails and voice mail.”
• “Sitting in a receivership right now. These clowns do not pay anyone promptly. Have successfully fought off a mechanics lien against the company in July 09. Currently 91 days past due, and an active litigation, every single payment has required collections activity to get paid.”

Have a few deadbeats in your customer portfolio? Report them here – it will feel good (trust me).

• Posted in: Cash Flow, Collecting, Collections, Community, Cortera Credit Exchange, Deadbeats, Tips
• Permalink: http://blog.cortera.com/2009/11/12/expose-your-deadbeats-publicly-they-might-just-pay-you/
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