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Date: 2013-08-05

Credit checking potential customers

If you don't know a potential customer's credit history, there is a risk of being paid late or not being paid at all.


Therefore, you should ask all potential customers to complete a form authorising you to get bank, credit and trade references.


The form should include:


The full name of the customer's business and any other names it trades under.

Details of who owns - and who runs - the business.

The legal status of the business, eg sole trader, partnership, limited liability partnership, public limited company. For more on the various legal structures, see our guide on legal structures: the basics.

Registration number - if it's a limited company.

How much credit is being asked for.

Full contact details of the person responsible for payment queries.

Delivery and invoice address if different.

Bank account details.

A request for consent to make bank reference checks.

A request for consent to get a credit check from a credit reference agency.

A request for consent to get at least two trade references - make sure that you, not your customer, choose which to approach in order to get an independent view.


You should then make the necessary checks with the customer's bank, a credit reference agency and some of their suppliers.


You can also get information from:


Companies House - for checking a limited company's accounts

Registry Trust Ltd - for searching the register of county court judgments

The Insolvency Service - a registry of individual voluntary arrangements and bankruptcies

Institute of Credit Management/Credit Management Research Centre - league tables of payment times for all public limited companies in the UK

local newspapers

the internet - online searches of individuals and businesses

( Vivian )09 Mar,2012


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