The Five Cs of Credit - Part 1

Have you heard of the five Cs of credit?

The five Cs of credit are character, collateral, capacity, capital, and conditions. In part 1 of this blog, we’ll be going over the first three. 

Assessing Character

Whether it’s an individual or a company, your customer exhibits a personality. From a credit prospective, you evaluate your customer’s integrity, particularly in terms of bill paying. Has this customer exhibited integrity in the past? If the customer says the check is in the mail, is it really?

Customers who lack character should be required to provide more proof that they’re worthy of credit. For example, you may require updated financial information every six months or every year or verify their status with outside credit reporting agencies every six months.

Evaluating Collateral

When you take a lien, you stake a claim to certain assets of your customer, and become their “secured creditor.” The property you take the lien against, such as inventory, equipment, or machinery is your collateral. If your customer stops paying its bills, you may pursue the assets that are subject to your lien in order to satisfy their debt.

After you’ve staked your claim to those assets, when your customer stops paying you can either take those items back with the cooperation of your customer or you can seek a court order to take the items back (a process referred to as “claim and delivery” or “foreclosure”) to minimize your losses.

Determining Capacity

“Capacity” is the sufficiency of cash flow to cover debt. The ability of a business to pay debt generally fluctuates depending on budgeting skills and the steady flow of enough cash to cover debts as they mature and become due. Unforeseen expenses can throw a monkey wrench into even the best-laid budgets, so the acid test for capacity is actually whether your customer can generate an adequate cash flow to pay its obligations even with fluctuations in the marketplace, sudden drops in orders from its customers, and similar unexpected difficulties. Part of the answer to this question may lie in the customer’s capacity and willingness to borrow money to supplement cash flow when the purse strings tighten up. What matters to you, though, is whether your company will receive payment even if your customer is having temporary cash flow concerns. 

Done Looking for Collection Companies in Michigan?

If you haven’t had luck with other Michigan collection companies, it’s time to partner up with Muller Law Firm! We provide collection services for business-to-business and business-to-client companies, specializing in pre-suit, post-suit, and post-judgment collection.

Fill out a contact form here, or give us a call at (248) 645-2440, to ask questions and figure out your next steps.