Firms acting faster to dob in late payers

Tuesday 19th October 2010

Businesses are reporting late-paying customers more quickly, and in far greater numbers than in the past, says John Roberts, the head of the country’s largest credit bureau, Veda Advantage.

“We’re definitely seeing increased reporting and more defaults as well,” Roberts told BusinessDesk, after reporting an 18% jump in consumer debt defaults in the first nine months of this year, compared to last.

“A lot of companies are getting sick and tired of not being paid,” said Roberts.

Veda Advantage’s Positive Trade Commercial Bureau shows 336,716 firms have outstanding debt, representing around half the country’s registered trading companies.

Unpaid and overdue bills are listed when individuals or companies fail to pay after 30 days.

“Baby boomers are leading the default pack,” said Roberts. Their defaults were up by 20.9% over the nine months to Sept. 30, Generation X was close behind at 19.4%, while the younger Generation Y continued to hold its end up, with a 15.3% default rate increase slightly below the average.

“Tens of thousands of New Zealanders are finding they just can’t pay their bills, they are going into arrears and then finding their credit record is affected. Defaults stay on credit reports for five years and will have a huge negative impact for anyone trying to obtain credit during that time.”

Veda also sees a continuing loss of interest in credit cards, with applications for the nine months to September 2010 down 13.5% on the same period last year.

“Our statistics show there is a lot more pain to come,” said Roberts, although the economy was recovering slowly and would probably be more solid over the longer term.

Businesswire.co.nz

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