Besides the number of bankruptcies, intercompany payment behaviour is also an important indicator of the health of our economy. The better a company is doing, the more correctly it will make its payments.
The payment score
The payment score, a score from 0 to 10, predicts how likely it is that your business relation will honour its payment agreements. The higher the score, the more likely the counterparty will pay on time.
Calculation of the payment score
GraydonCreditsafe has a network of thousands of companies that provide us with more than 1 million payment experiences each month. This allows us to map the current payment behaviour of larger, but also smaller companies. We convert all these payment experiences into an individual score between 0 and 10. Recent experiences carry more weight than older ones. The higher the score, the better, because that means a company is more likely to pay its invoices within the deadline.
The payment score in relation to the credit limit
Credit limit = Can the company pay me? > < Payment score = Will the company pay me?
The payment score is one of the most important scores in a credit report. It inspires confidence if a company can present nice financial statements and score fine in terms of creditworthiness. But a positive credit limit does not mean that the customer will also pay your invoices on time.
Conversely, companies with a financially weaker picture can be quite good payers. The payment score and payment behaviour are therefore a nice addition to the credit limit. Regardless of whether the customer can pay you or not, the payment score tells you whether your customer will.
So, always use the payment score in combination with other scores. After all, there is no magic formula to sum up an organisation's creditworthiness in a single score. A combination of different scores does help to present the overall picture in a complete and nuanced way.
The payment score and the payment behaviour are inextricably linked to the credit limit.
The value of payment score and payment behaviour
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If you look at the data of companies that went bankrupt, you will notice a sharp decline in payment behaviour in the last months before the bankruptcy was declared. The payment score is therefore an excellent parameter to predict a possible bankruptcy.
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Payment experiences are invaluable for assessing organisations without publication obligations (e.g., sole traders and some legal forms) or start-ups (who have not yet filed publications). Entrepreneurs who always pay within the agreed payment period are already building the image of being a correct payer.
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In addition, payment behaviour is a fixed value within GraydonCreditsafe's insights. It offers you an immediate picture of the payment evolution, the cash position and the current payment intentions of your business partner. This way, it transcends the value of the traditional and more static figures of the financial statements. It tells how your business partner is paying today and completes the current picture of your business partner.
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Finally, payment behaviour is an important pillar in various models and scores that clients work with daily. The more experiences, the more accurate the insights.
Want to know more about payment score or payment behaviour? Then, please contact us immediately.
Why should you also share payment experiences?
- Because you stand in solidarity with thousands of other entrepreneurs who strive for a transparent, fair and healthy economy.
- To better assess organisations without publication requirements or start-ups.
- To feed models and scores so that insights become even more accurate.
- Not only to spot weak payment behaviour, but also to reward correct payment behaviour. A majority of companies still pay correctly, and the outside world can know who they are.
- To make a clear distinction: wealthy companies can be sloppy with their payments or pay late on purpose. In turn, companies with a financially weaker picture can be quite good payers.
- Because sharing can be quick and easy.
- And because GraydonCreditsafe is integrated into numerous software packages, making the exchange of payment behaviour even easier.
One non-paying customer almost led me to bankruptcy. That is why I now share payment experiences in solidarity with other entrepreneurs. No business should be the victim of a bad payer.
One of our suppliers
Join the community today
Would you also like to participate in the exchange project where thousands of suppliers share millions of their customers' payment experiences every month? The exchange is done discreetly and anonymously.
At least the fields below are already sufficient to get started:
- Company number of your customer
- Invoice date
- Due date
- Invoice amount
GraydonCreditsafe is also integrated in numerous software packages. One click of a button is then often enough to start the exchange.
Want to know more about exchanging payment experiences? Then contact us right away.
Payment index measures payment delays of Belgian companies
Based on all the payment experiences suppliers send us, GraydonCreditsafe also calculates a global payment index. In doing so, it rewards 'good' payments, while penalising payments after appointment more severely as the due date passes. The final score is given an index value where the results of the year 2002 count as a calibration (value 100).
The higher the index, the better Belgian companies pay each other. In this sense, payment index is slightly different from payment score.
