Sources of Credit Reports

Unit 3.1- Sources of Credit Reports
This unit describes the purpose and components of credit reports. There are different perspectives when it comes to credit reports: from an individual, from a seller--business/ commercial-- or from a financial institution such as a bank.

The focus here is on the seller’s perspective. Assume that a person or persons within a business are responsible for assessing whether a buyer ( an individual, another business) has a credit history that demonstrates whether this party or parties can and will make payments accordingly. The credit report is obtained from a source outside the seller’s business. This type of information is contained in external credit reports.

The persons who request credit reports and analyze them have many titles--for example, analyst, credit manager, international credit manager. To keep things simple, assume that this  person is an  international credit manager (ICM).

In order to convey the purpose of a credit report, the following topics are presented:
 * the definition of a credit report and its components
 * purposes of a credit report
 * influences on a credit report.

Unit Objective
The goal of this material is to introduce you to credit reports, their purpose, uses, and components. This information will also identify reliable sources for credit report information for international transactions. By the end of this unit you will be able to
 * define a credit report and its purpose.
 * recognize components of credit reports.
 * identify reliable sources of credit information.

Unit Outline

 * Introduction
 * Credit Report Components
 * Purpose of a Credit Report
 * Direct Sources of Credit Information
 * Other Sources of Direct Investigation
 * Indirect Sources of Credit Information
 * Summary
 * Resources
 * Activities
 * Assessment

Correlation: Materials from this unit correlate with NASBITE CGCP's Knowledge Statement 04/03/01: Knowldege of sources of credit reports (e.g. credit bureau, D&B, Hoovers, US Department of Commerce, International Company Profile)

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