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For many years now we have been sending our financial figures not only to our banks, but also proactively to all German credit bureaus. This means that some suppliers (who do not have loan insurance) have access to our figures. I do not have a problem with this - sooner or later the financial framework needs to made public in the Electronic Federal Gazette. And above all: we need a good rating with the banks, insurance companies and suppliers. It is a natural procedure - I wish to take a loan, therefore, I need to "drop my pants" so to speak.

This awareness has not yet sunk in with some customers. We have been working with the German Factoring Bank for more than a decade now, and they are very generous with our credit limits. We owe this to the credit agency, and of course, to our financial figures. If this does not work, we ask our customers to send their current figures directly to the Factoring Bank, resulting in establisment of a credit limit. But unfortunately you often hear "I won't give my figures to a foreign bank". I believe this idea belongs in the Stone Age. You also often hear "But your competitor XX gives us XX credit." Ok, even then customers should be interested in having 2 credit limits with 2 suppliers, as this would be an advantage during delivery bottlenecks.

As is often the case, non-transparent companies have other problems. If we take on the credit risk of a couple thousand euros and ask them to "Please pay three times within the credit period, and at the very latest then you will receive a limit from the Factoring Bank." it still mostly does not work. As a last measure we have acted as a guarantor with a loan guarantee via the General Manager. Up to now the people who have refused to sign are the ones who previously said "My company cannot go broke, because. . . " even though they do not really believe their own words.

Oh, by the way: We do not even need the financial figures for ourselves; just for the bank, which then has to declare them secretive. Our experience has been: credit yes or no, and clarify further questions directly with the customer. Even then we only do this with customers who have a poor credit rating, or who are asking for a particularly high loan. Customers with poor credit ratings usually already know they have one. I can only advise: Do as much as you can to make sure that your credit rating with credit agencies are as good as possible.