Virtually a Credit Circle

I had a very interesting exchange of e-mails last year with a Mr. Russell Lawley Gibbs of Enigma Marketing Services Limited about a on-line service they had developed, and which they hoped would act as a 'virtual' credit circle.

Mr. Gibbs was kind enough to let me have access to the service - which is called Creditlook incidentally - and in many ways it does work in the same way as a regular Credit Circle.

Basically, members of Creditlook provide information on their defaulting customers (or customers that are trading outside of their Terms) by logging into the system and inputing the relevant information. That information becomes available to other members within twenty four hours (along with with a year’s worth of history) thus enabling them to make a more informed decision as to whether to grant credit or change credit limits.

The only real fault I could find with the system was that members remained anonymous and therefore could not contact each other directly by telephone or e-mail to ask questions - as members of traditional Credit Circles do - but in fact that safeguards the system from abuse, and ensures that members don't overstep the mark so far as the Competition Act is concerned, so I suppose it's for the best.

When last I spoke to Mr. Gibbs he was selling Creditlook into Federations in the building trade with a good deal of success. If you are in that trade you might want to look into the matter further. You can contact Mr. Gibbs by e-mail at russell@enigma-marketing.co.uk.