New County Recorder Fees Underway in California

Jan 8, 2018

Posted by & filed under Credit.

Beginning Jan. 1, several transactions at county recorders’ offices throughout California will require an extra $75 on every document, not to exceed $225 per transaction, that has to be recorded, including mechanics’ liens or releases.

The new tax is required by California’s Senate Bill 2, entitled the Building Homes and Jobs Act, according to a report in The Siskiyou Daily News. Revenue raised by the bill’s new fee will be transferred to a newly created Building Homes and Jobs Fund. This year, half of the funds will be made available to local governments to update planning documents and zoning ordinances, while the other half will be given to the Department of Housing and Community Development to assist people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.… Read the rest

Will a Credit Freeze on my Personal Credit Report Affect my Small Business?

Jan 8, 2018

Posted by & filed under Business Credit Journal, Consumer Reports, Credit, Experian.

By: Experian

Following some high-profile data breaches, consumers are being urged to monitor and lock or freeze their credit or place fraud alerts on their credit profile. For small business owners, there is currently no mechanism for freezing a business credit file, but there are options, like monitoring the business credit report or placing a fraud alert on the business credit profile.

With concerns about criminal hacking or identity theft, small business owners need to know how to protect themselves and their businesses. For consumers, credit freezes are sometimes used in the case of identity theft to help prevent the thief from obtaining credit in the individual’s name. For businesses, protecting credit is different and a little more complicated.… Read the rest

The U.S. Supreme Court is Set to Rule on Yet Another Credit Card Topic and What it Means to the Credit Team

Jan 8, 2018

Posted by & filed under Credit, Legal.

By: Scott Blakeley

In March of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court made a significant ruling finding that New York no-surcharge violated commercial free speech. The U.S. Supreme Court has on its docket the legal issue whether suppliers accepting multiple card brands may steer card paying customers to a cheaper card brand, thereby trying to limit their cost of acceptance (or the customer’s cost if surcharged). The litigation involves a provision in the AmEx merchant agreement that bars merchants (suppliers) from steering customers to a lower-priced brand and whether it violates the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Credit Cards Are Customer Preferred Payment Form in B2B Space

Credit and finance teams appreciate that card use continues its steep rise, both with existing and new customers, and also appreciate cards are the most expensive payment channel.… Read the rest

Pioneering OregonSaves

Jan 8, 2018

Posted by & filed under Business Credit Journal, Oregon.

News for 2018: Pioneering OregonSaves retirement program opening for statewide enrollment, based on successful pilot phase

From: OREGON STATE TREASURY – Tobias Read, State Treasurer

Auto-IRA program meets a glaring need by providing a savings option for those who don’t have a qualified plan at work 

SALEM – OregonSaves, the nation’s first state-based retirement savings option for private sector workers, is now open for business statewide.

The landmark program meets a critical unfilled need and is available for workers whose employers do not offer a qualified retirement savings plan. Roughly half the workforce, or an estimated 1 million Oregonians, lack access to a work-based savings option, according to market research.

The program is being opened for accelerated enrollment because of the success of a pilot phase that began in July.… Read the rest

D&B Credit: Maximize Insights from Credit Reports

Jan 8, 2018

Posted by & filed under Business Credit Journal, Credit, Dun & Bradstreet.

From: Dun and Bradstreet

You can have all the data in the world, but without analytics and insights, you won’t have much. As with data, the value of a credit report lies in the users’ ability to extract information from it, which can often be as difficult as reading a foreign language. Uncovering truth and meaning from data is what Dun & Bradstreet does best, and with D&B Credit, you can uncover new, meaningful insights yourself.

Comprehensive, intuitive, and dynamic, D&B Credit delivers Dun & Bradstreet’s industry-leading data and analytics in a modern, user-friendly platform. With D&B Credit, you can get deeper insights into your business partners and make smarter credit decisions, faster.

D&B Credit helps you maximize the insights from credit reports by giving you:

  • A clear and customizable view with tagging that lets you flexibly organize, monitor, and report on your customer portfolio
  • A normalized view of data and analytics as well as multiple languages and currencies
  • Easy-to-understand analytics and scores powered by the world’s largest commercial database
  • A modern and intuitive interface with simple search and the ability to filter

Talk to your NACM Commercial Services rep to learn more about D&B Credit!… Read the rest

A “Good to Great” Credit Manager!

Jan 8, 2018

Posted by & filed under Business Credit Journal, Credit, Leadership.

By: Patrick Spargur, ICCE

Every year I worked as a credit and collections manager, my boss would send me a Goal Setting Form to complete. The form had two sections: one for me to list five personal goals for the new year, the other to list five departmental goals.

My personal goals usually went something like this:

  1. Education: Take an NACM course(s) to increase my job knowledge
  2. Skills: Improve my computer skills (Word, Excel, Outlook)
  3. Time Management: Improve how I structure and manage my day, week, and workload
  4. Efficiency: Evaluate my daily tasks and look for tasks I can minimize, re-assign, or stop doing because they don’t add value
  5. Communication: Improve my verbal and written communication by using best practices by being clear and concise in my messages.
… Read the rest

Fear, Loathing, and Legal Marijuana in the Pacific Northwest

Nov 14, 2017

Posted by & filed under Credit.

By: Victor J. Roehm III, Sussman Shank LLP

With the passage of Washington Initiative 502 in 2012 and the subsequent passage of Measure 91 in Oregon in 2014, commercial production, processing, and the retail sale of cannabis have become a major industry in the Pacific Northwest. However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty for those who may knowingly or unknowingly deal with this industry. Below are some issues to be aware of with respect to this unique industry.

The Controlled Substances Act

As a general matter, cannabis is listed on Schedule I of the Federal Controlled Substances Act. It is unlikely that this will change in the short-term. This means that production, sale, and processing of cannabis are federally illegal even though Washington and Oregon permit these activities pursuant to a state licensing regime.… Read the rest