Businesses risk billions of dollars each year on sales on credit rather than for cash. Credit professionals must be able to gauge the difference between fact and fraud, between hope and charity, and between faith and foolishness. One of the best sources available to alert the credit professional in helping to form a sound judgment in this delicate and difficult area is an industry credit group.

Credit groups are a critical management tool: they permit credit professionals of different companies servicing the same customer, regardless of industry or trade, to compare information on collection history and provide a forum for the exchange of data as to the most recent payment practices. The purpose of exchanging information is to help group members segregate fiction from fact, so individually competent and realistic credit decisions about a customer can be made.

Managed and operated by NACM Southern Group in Birmingham, the primary purpose of an industry credit group is to open up communication lines for the exchange of credit information. Through participation in an industry credit group, credit executives receive invaluable factual credit information upon which to base independent decisions with respect to the extension of credit. This results in a reduction of outstanding delinquent receivables and write-offs. Not only do members obtain critical input, but the networking opportunities are of immeasurable benefit.

Credit groups provide members in the same field of business an opportunity to participate regularly in informative roundtable discussions of accounts, as well as share concerns about credit management procedures and techniques. Credit groups operate in virtually every industry, from advertising to construction, food supply to industrial supply, agriculture to steel, etc. More than 1,500 industry credit groups are sponsored and operated by NACM Affiliates nationwide; association staff acts as meeting monitors.

Click on the titles below to learn more about each group: