The UK trade-only supplier of chemical etching and digital anoprinting to the sign industry says even though checking customers for credit ratings can make some uneasy, if you are doing business on credit, you should be using it.

“We very rarely have any reason to check our customers,” explains managing director of Multitechnic Limited, Colin Edge, adding: “You get much more of a feel for doing business from actually doing business. There are times when it is useful such as checking out new customers who you don’t yet have a relationship with if they are going to use credit, or if an existing customer is going to need an unusually large amount of credit.”

However, one company from Northern Ireland showed the company just how useful credit checking can be. After taking on a customer with a poor track record, agreeing on a 50 percent deposit to be paid, it became clear the balance would not be paid which is where credit checking proved its value.

Using Experian to monitor the customer, Multitechnic were able to receive the overdue payment in full, which was just over £4,000 including nearly £1,000 in costs within days.

Edge adds: “Most of the time a credit checking tool just gives confidence that you can take on larger projects from customers whom you already know and trust. On this occasion however it really did provide all the information we needed to make a sensible business decision.

“Without it we would have just written off a few thousand pounds as lost beyond hope. It has definitely paid for itself many times over.”

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