CreditBytes®

Our Receivables Reporter is a free e-newsletter that focuses on educating credit professionals on topics that they can use in their day-to-day work activities. Our subscribers and clients get access to this information first, before we make it public!  Sign up now to get our newsletter straight into your inbox: click HERE.

Signs Your Customer Is Stalling

Remember telling your teacher, "My dog ate my homework," when you didn't complete your assignment on time? Yeah, we've all tried it at one point or another. Most of us eventually learned that excuses run out.

Economic Outlook: What Should We Expect in 2023?

Economic Outlook: What Should We Expect in 2023? Recession Forecasts, Housing Crisis, Supply Chain Pressure … Oh My! To say that 2022 has been a tumultuous year in the American and global economies would be, [...]

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Webinar: Now What? The Economy in 2022 and Beyond

Webinar Recording : Now What? The Economy in 2022 and Beyond with Dr. Chris Kuehl. If you follow the financial press, the conventional wisdom has come to the simple conclusion that raising interest rates is the way to fight inflation. Unfortunately, this is not true. Raising rates may slow the economy, but that alone won't fix the inflation. Click Here for the Webinar Recording and Transcript.

Assessing Credit Risk Before Extending Credit

Assessing Credit Risk Before Extending Credit Extending credit can be a formidable process, especially when extending credit to a new customer or business. "Getting Burned" is something that most seasoned credit managers have [...]

Should You Join an Industry Credit Group?

Should You Join an Industry Credit Group? Decisions, decisions. None may be more important for a credit manager than deciding if a potential customer should be extended credit. The wrong determination could [...]

Credit Department Automation

The Role of Automation in Credit What Makes Automation Important Automation increases efficiency within a department by accomplishing more work with fewer resources. It allows for your team to focus on tasks [...]

Credit Management and Collection Tips

Credit Management and Collection Tips When a Customer Defaults You know the scenario. A customer who pays typically on time begins paying late. Soon they are ignoring the terms they agreed to, and [...]

UCC Filings: What You Need to Know

UCC Filings: What You Need to Know If your business provides credit to customers, it’s important that you know about UCC filings. Let’s start at the beginning. What Is the UCC? The [...]

Check Fraud and Other Payment Scams

Check Fraud and Other Payment Scams Protect Yourself from Payment Scams Do people still write checks? It seems that few customers use paper checks these days, so it may surprise you to learn [...]

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My Debtor Filed for Bankruptcy – Now What?

If you’ve received a notice from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court indicating that one of your debtors has filed for bankruptcy, you may be confused about how to respond. Well, it depends upon the type of bankruptcy filed.

Skip Tracing and Personal Guaranty

If you’ve considered hiring a collection agency to handle your past-due accounts, you may have heard the term “skip tracing.” But what exactly is it, and how does it work within the collections industry? Skip tracing is a method used to locate debtors when their contact information is no longer accurate.

Mastering Time Management

The old adage “time is money” takes on new meaning in the credit and collections industry, where the older the account, the less debt recovered. Here at BARR Credit Services, we want to help you work smarter – not harder – so you can get more accomplished in less time.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Women in the Collections Industry

Did you know….of the 140,000 professionals in the collections industry, nearly 70% are women? Of course, it wasn’t always this way. In fact, before 1974, single women in this country couldn’t even get a credit card, much less forge a career in the credit industry. Let’s take a step back and see how the role of women in credit has evolved throughout the years.

Choosing a Collection Agency: Weighing Price vs. Value

Your past-due accounts are taking up too much of your precious time, and you’re at your wit’s end. As a business owner, you’ve been thinking about turning them over to a collection agency. But you keep asking yourself one big question: Is the cost worth it?

Supporting Our Community

BARR Credit Services & The Salvation Army Supporting the Tucson community has always been important to Randy Frazee, the CEO of BARR Credit Services.  Since starting his business in Tucson, Arizona, in the mid [...]

Types of Bankruptcy: What You Need to Know

It’s critical that every company have an in-house process for handling bankruptcy notices as they are received. By establishing what to do with a Notice of Bankruptcy and how to handle it properly, your company can avoid missed deadlines and potential fines if the automatic stay is violated.

Sales + Credit: The Dynamic Duo

The success of Sales + Credit is not measured by the amount of risk avoided, but by the amount of profitable business secured! A company’s sales force and credit management team must always work hand-in-hand if the business is going to succeed. Let’s face it…

Developing a Collection Policy

If you’re a business owner, or an employee in your company’s credit department, you already know how difficult debt collection can be. But did you know that poor debt collection is often one of the main reasons businesses fail? Since cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, an effective collection policy is essential to keeping the money rolling in.

Recognizing the Early Warning Signs to Delinquency

Any supplier of trade credit naturally assumes a certain amount of risk. With commercial debt, balances are higher and so are the risks. Some potential warning signs may simply be the result of a misunderstanding. But they could also be a red flag for a possible (and expensive) bad debt. Make sure your company is credit-savvy by recognizing the following six early warning signs.

How the New Tax Law Affects Debt Collections

Have you noticed a little more money in your paycheck lately? Probably not. Physical checks are a relic of the past. Most employees are paid through direct deposit, and many don’t notice when deposits are made into their checking account. More likely, employees do pay attention to how much money they have in their account at the end of the month, quarter, or year.

Using the Credit Application and Trade Credit as a Tool for Growth

Establishing trade credit is the lifeblood of many small businesses. The effective use of trade credit can be a financial tool that helps your customers grow and, in turn, helps your business grow. However, too much of the wrong trade credit creates risk. The credit application is the first step taken when a customer requests trade credit.