news release
Experian launches pay-as-you-go credit checks for SMEs
Enables all businesses to access high-end checks with no commitments
Specifically developed to help SMEs minimise customer risk and improve cash-flow
Nottingham, 14 March 2012 — Experian®, the global information services company, has today launched Experian Business Check, a new, online commercial credit checking service designed specifically for UK small and medium sized firms to help them make better business decisions.
Experian’s new online service – which can be accessed via www.experian.co.uk/business-check – enables SMEs to access accurate and up-to-date information on the financial health and payment performance of other UK businesses, including limited and non-limited business. It will help businesses to minimise the risk of non-payment, late-payment, commercial identity fraud and exposure to the failure of key customers and suppliers.
Individual checks can be purchased from as little as £13.99. A sample report can be viewed here.
SMEs using the service can check details of company directors, enabling them to identify disqualified directors. They can also set up instant text or email alerts so that they can be alerted, whenever and wherever they are, to changes in the financial or management status of those businesses monitored.
Max Firth, Managing Director of Experian’s Business Information Services, comments:
“More than 20,000 firms go out of business every year in the UK, leaving a trail of unpaid bills and out-of-pocket creditors. Furthermore, many firms are facing late payment issues, where the average time taken to settle bills is now almost 26 days beyond agreed terms. As a result, so many smaller businesses encounter cash-flow problems that can even lead to their own failure.
“Experian’s commercial credit information is relied on by many big companies to minimise commercial credit risk and to enable them to make better, more informed customer decisions. Experian Business Check provides these capabilities in a convenient and affordable manner, so that SMEs can also use high-end business intelligence to limit financial exposure and improve cash-flow.”
Experian Business Check, which provides SMEs with a single score to highlight likely failure rates and payment performance, draws on data from Companies House, Registry Trust Limited, and access to information from Yell and Thomson – the two largest suppliers of non-limited business information. It also includes payment performance data from more than 22 million business-to-business transactions made every month. This information is already used by many of the UK’s largest businesses and commercial lenders to accurately understand commercial credit risk.
As an introductory offer, Experian is giving SMEs a 50 per cent discount on their first Business Check order. To receive the discount, SMEs must type in the code 50% when prompted.
ENDS
For more information about Experian, visit http://www.experian.co.uk/small-business
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Ms Serj Heera
PR Manager
0115 992 2773/07837 652169