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Creditsafe bills itself as “the world's most used supplier of credit and business information” and says it has 80,000 companies using its credit scoring system. However Carrott says Creditsafe’s new system is flawed due to the inclusion of ‘payment performance’ data in the calculation of ratings and scores within Creditsafe's scoring model. He says that it is small businesses which appear to have been worst affected and it has already had an impact on many companies within the printing and signage industries.

Ian Carrott says: “Traditionally one could tell, by looking at the numbers and other information such as ‘county court judgments’ contained within the report, pretty much how the rating and score has been achieved. It would appear that is no longer to be the case with the Creditsafe ratings and scores. Users will have to trust that the providers of the ‘payment performance’ data are feeding accurate and pertinent information into the Creditsafe system. Can that data be queried or challenged? It seems it can, but with great difficulty.”

Creditsafe is transparent in displaying the number of invoices collected along with a breakdown of days beyond terms”

However Creditsafe has responded with a strongly-worded rebuff to Carrott’s charges that this is not the case, saying that if a print company did have one payment blip this would not count against them in their system.

A spokesperson for Creditsafe says: “Trade payment experience data is only factored into our algorithm when a significant percentage of unpaid invoices are recorded. A single unpaid invoice would have no impact on a company’s credit score. Within the system every single invoice is tracked against the creditor’s agreed payment terms, be they 30, 60, 90 days, or any other period.

“Trade data experiences are sourced from suppliers’ ledger systems and feed into the system directly from a client’s accounting software. Creditsafe is transparent in displaying the number of invoices collected along with a breakdown of days beyond terms.

“References to ‘invisible and anonymous’ computers are disingenuous. Without automated processes none of the leading players in the sector, including Creditsafe, D&B, Experian, and Equifax would be able to offer solutions that protect thousands of companies from trading with organisations with a high likelihood of entering insolvency.”

What’s your experience of credit scoring agencies within the signage and wide-format printing industry? We’d like to hear your experiences—do drop us a line.

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Creditsafe: sign credit firm “disingenuous"

Following a scathing attack on Creditsafe by print and signage credit management specialist ICSM Credit Management, the company has hit back calling Ian Carrott’s remarks “disingenuous”.