D&B’s Consumer Credit Expectations Survey – TVNZ interview

If you had a problem with delving through all the percentages being flung around in the previous post, maybe the TVNZ interview with Dun & Bradstreets’ John Scott will make it all easier to absorb.

Check out the interview here.

Credit proving a challenge for consumers -scoop.co.nz

Dun & Bradstreets’ John Scott has another survey out, and quite frankly, it’s shocking.

By shocking, we mean the scattering of percentages throughout the media release make it, quite honestly, unreadable.

But moving right along, the content of the survey makes for some disturbing reading, with consumers looking to move their bills to the credit card(s) in the next few months, to “stay afloat”.

We find that quite an inciteful indicator as to the state of the economy. What is particularly revealing is the debt levels being carried by the over fifties.

The original article can be found here.

Tuesday, 19 April 2011, 10:59 am
Press Release: Dun and Bradstreet

MEDIA RELEASE 1

Wednesday, 19 April 2011.

Credit proving a challenge for consumers

One in three expect difficulties meeting their upcoming credit commitments

Nearly one in three Kiwis believe they will experience some difficulty meeting credit commitments in the next three months and one third anticipate using their credit card to cover otherwise unaffordable expenses. At the same time 27 percent of people intend to apply for new credit in the June quarter of 2011.

 These are some of the findings from the latest Dun & Bradstreet Consumer Credit Expectations Survey released today. The survey was conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres in March* and examines peoples’ expectations for credit applications, credit usage, and spending and debt performance in the June quarter 2011.

“One in three kiwis will have difficulty meeting their financial committments in the next three months” is a pretty sad picture that is being painted by D&B. We hope this is not being sensationalised!

Give credit … where it’s due – NZ Business magazine

NZ Business magazine’s Steve Hart has an article on the “credit space” out in this months issue, with comments from each of the credit reporting guys.

We actually found this article to be quite comprehensive, with different perspectives from around the local credit reporting industry, that included some quite inciteful words of wisdom.

The original article can be found here.

Times are tough, there’s little evidence that anything will change soon, so it is time to credit check all your new and existing clients, writes Steve Hart.

As the New Zealand economy bumps along the bottom, so company debt levels are rising.

Many companies, it appears, are using other firms as interest free lenders as invoices valued at more than $43 million go unpaid for up to 120 days at a time, according to one credit management company.

 Well, that is only going to accentuate the problems of cash flow; we wonder if the companies using others as their bank are being extended the same courtesy…..

Businesses putting off paying the bills – Stuff.co.nz

Dun & Bradstreet’s John Scott has the regular update on payment trends, based on their credit reporting data analysis, out today.

As could be anticipated, following on from the Christmas break, businesses are “putting off paying the bills”. This is a traditional thing, as businesses hold back cash to pay the wages.

The original article can be found here.

Last updated 12:01 25/01/2011

Dun & Bradstreet is reporting an increasing number of firms delaying bill payments, saying its latest business-to-business trade payment figures indicate cash flow will remain under pressure in 2011.

New Zealand firms took an average 43.9 days to settle trade accounts during the December quarter, up from 43.5 a year earlier, and two weeks above the standard 30-day payment term, the credit information and debt management services company said.

Still sitting at the 40 ~ 45 day range. As has been the case for the last 4 quarters.

More go broke from job loss – NZ Herald

NZ Herald’s Maria Slade provides a commentary on the Insolvency & Trustee Office’s analysis that shows that in 42 per cent of personal insolvency cases last year, unemployment or loss of income was the major cause.

The next major cause was relationship failure. This factor is particularly relevant when the trickle on effect is an associated business failure.

The original article can be found here.

By Maria Slade
5:30 AM Sunday Dec 5, 2010

Nearly 3000 New Zealanders went broke in the year to June because of losing their jobs.

An analysis by the Insolvency and Trustee Service [ITS] shows that in 42 per cent of personal insolvency cases last year, unemployment or loss of income was the major cause.

A total of 6426 people were declared insolvent in 2009-10, an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year.

The next most significant reason given for going broke was relationship failure.

Of all the insolvency applications accepted by the ITS in the past year, 47 per cent were No Asset Procedures – the alternative to bankruptcy brought in two years ago that allows people with consumer debt of less than $40,000 to wipe the slate clean.

Interesting that the dramatic increase in No Asset Procedure insolvencies which related to 47% of the “bankruptcies”.

Overdue tax plan could hurt your credit rating – Sunday Star Times

This subject has come up in the media previously, in response to the Inland Revenue Department’s current working paper, “Making Tax Easier”, a discussion document from which a bill is to be drafted early next year. (Check out the IRD website page, at http://www.makingtaxeasier.ird.govt.nz/ ).

Basically, the IRD are proposing to start submitting default information to the credit reporting bureau’s where taxpayers get behind in their payments, and could be limited to:

• only alerting credit reporting agencies of “significant” debts which were not being formally disputed, and:
•  after the non-payer had been notified of the intention to tell the credit reporters, to give them one last chance to pay up.

The full article by Sunday Star Times’ Business Editor, Rob Stock, can be found here.

By ROB STOCK – Sunday Star Times
Last updated 05:00 26/09/2010

In what would be a fundamental shift away from taxpayer confidentiality, debts to the taxman may soon be notified to credit reporting agencies such as Dun and Bradstreet and Veda Advantage.

The proposal, which could come before parliament next year, is seen as a “possible strategy to improve taxpayer compliance” and to help ratchet down tax debts that stood at just over $5 billion at the end of June 2009. The move could also help convince those who pay their tax that others aren’t being allowed to game the system.

The change could be limited to only alerting credit reporting agencies of “significant” debts which were not being formally disputed, and after the non-payer had been notified of the intention to tell the credit reporters, to give them one last chance to pay up.

It will be interesting to see what the definition of a “significant debt” is, and whether that value is context sensitive to the company or individuals income.

NZ firms slip behind on bill payments ~ Dun & Bradstreet

The first report out for the quarter from D&B’s John Scott does not bring great news, after the economists have been telling us we have turned the corner, economy-wise.

The original article can be found at NBR here.

NZ firms slip behind on bill payments

Robert Smith | Tuesday April 27, 2010 – 02:14pm

Wellington-based firms remain the slowest in the country to pay their bills but the entire country is slipping back in its payment times, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

The latest business-to-business trade payment figures released by the credit report agency show that the average time taken to pay bills had slipped by two days in the March quarter to 46.6 days.

One thing about the D&B statistics, they consistently hover around the 45~47% mark.

Young, families most likely to take on debt – Stuff.co.nz

 

Last updated 14:26 10/02/2010

Younger people and families with children are struggling with spending and are most likely to take on debt in coming months, according to a Dun & Bradstreet survey.

Many people continue to face financial difficulties despite the economic recovery, with three in 10 people expecting to use their credit card in coming months and 28 percent concerned about their Christmas expenditure.

We were warned prior to Christmas by D&B that this would be the case.

Businesses take longer to pay bills, improvement tipped for 2010 – NZ Herald

D&B released their quarterly report on payment trends for the new year, and provide some optimism for 2010. (Original article can be found here).

10:15 AM Monday Jan 25, 2010

Payment terms for New Zealand companies rose in the fourth quarter, with an increase in the number of days to pay accounts, though Dun & Bradstreet predicts and improvement through 2010.

Payment terms rose 0.3 days to 44.6 days in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, the firm said. While time taken to pay has improved from as long as 50 days at the height of the financial crisis, it is still two weeks longer than the standard 30-day term, D&B said.

An improvement of 0.3 days……that is a micro-measurement.

D&B: Report tips lower outputs in 2010

Dun & Bradstreet starts the new year with one of their Economic Outlook Reports, which gives a remarkably positive start for the year. (Original article can be found here).

Report tips lower outputs in 2010

NZPA Last updated 05:00 18/01/2010
 
New Zealand’s economy is tipped to record growth of 1.8 percent in 2010, according to credit agency Dun and Bradstreet.

The company, in its 2010 Economic and Risk Outlook Report issued today, said that internationally the risk of sluggish and weak growth this year was becoming increasingly apparent despite the healthy pace of expansion that was occurring in the global economy entering 2010.

Well done, D&B, for starting the year on a positive note!

Christmas splurge will lead to hangover: D&B

The credit reporters start their pre-Christmas announcements, led by D&B’s John Scott. (Original article can be found at Scoop.co.nz).

Wednesday, 16 December 2009, 10:20 am
Article: Businesswire

By Paul McBeth

Dec. 16 (BusinessWire) – Christmas spending on credit will take its toll on consumers in the New Year, with many people unable to pay back money spent over the holiday period, and debt referrals traditionally doubling in February, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

Debt referrals in February traditionally surge almost 94% in February as people struggle to repay credit card bills racked up over the Christmas period, according to the debt collection company. It warns this year could be worse than normal with mounting pressures placed on families from the country’s deepest recession in 28 years, which pushed up unemployment to its highest level since 2000.

Seems like a good time to be in the credit collection business, with projected debt collection volumes doubing this year.

Slow bill payments endangering credit ratings, survey shows – Stuff.co.nz

A bit of a variety in the commentaries from the credit reporting agencies, and agreement between them on some numbers that just don’t feel right.

This in from the Stuff.co.nz, the original article can be found here.

CLAIRE MCENTEE and NZPA – The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 30/11/2009

Kiwi firms are hurting each other by paying their bills late and are in danger of locking themselves out of the credit market, research shows.

Eight in 10 firms were prepared to miss supplier payments if they were unable to pay all their accounts, said credit reporting firm Dun & Bradstreet.

Half of firms were settling their bills late as a result of cash-flow issues or because their own customers were paying late.

“Half of firms were settling their bills late” – this seems to be a seriously high figure, given the number of registered legal entities in the country. Given that there were 433,876 company annual returns filed with the Companies Office in 2008* (a reasonable indicator of active companies), that assumes there are 217,000 companies that are late in paying their bills.

* Source: Ministry of Economic Development Report to Stakeholders 2008.

Economy not yet out of the woods, says Dun & Bradstreet

Follow up on the previous post, D&B’s John Scott adds some local commentary.

Original article at the NZ Herald here.

12:00PM Tuesday Sep 29, 2009

However, the local outlook was more promising, particularly on the back of June quarter GDP figures showing the economy grew by 0.1 per cent, the first expansion in six quarters.

Governments’ fiscal stimulus measures and a rebuilding of inventories were two factors supporting economic activity but these were not enough to ensure a sustained improvement in the global economic outlook, D&B said.

It predicted global GDP would contract by 2.8 per cent in 2009 before returning to growth of 1.3 per cent in 2010.

OK, so GDP is improving, but we can look forward to a further 2.8 percent contraction this year…

Businesses still late in paying bills – D&B reports

D&B’s John Scott reports on how business payment performance is going, original article from Stuff.co.nz can be found here.

While businesses are settling accounts with each other faster than last quarter, they are still significantly over the standard 30-day term.

Last quarter business-to-business payments were settled in an average 45.7 days, down 2.7 days from the previous quarter, a Dun and Bradstreet study suggests.

Small firms, with six to 19 employees, paid up in an average 44.7 days and those with 20 to 40 employees averaged 44.6 days.

Firms with 200-499 or 500-plus employees were the slowest to settle, averaging 47.4 and 49.5 days, respectively.

Interesting to see the smaller firms, who are more likely to be “stretched out”, are the ones that are paying faster. While the larger firms, with their layers of approval, and cumbersome ERP systems, are the ones delaying payment. (Probably to their smaller creditors…).

Savings would last a month for 45% of NZers

Research company, collection bureau, and credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet has conducted a new survey, the Consumer Credit Expectations Survey, that gives us a wealth of statistics and percentages to ponder over.

Original article can be found at Scoop.

Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 10:59 am

Article: Businesswire

Almost half of working kiwis could only survive a month on savings.

Almost half of working New Zealanders have only enough savings to survive for a month if they lost their jobs, according to a survey from Dun & Bradstreet.

In its outlook for the third quarter, the research firm’s survey found that 45% of New Zealanders have only a month of savings behind them and 28% plan to use credit to pay their bills.

It would be interesting to see the demographics for the participants in the Consumer Credit Expectations Survey; we are not disputing the findings of the survey, but a profile of the respondents, and number of participants would be useful.