Doing due dil on an agent

[LondonManc]

I have always managed to get weekly invoicing and 7 day payment terms. It is the best way to insulate yourself against really bad agencies. But keep on top of it. The minute a payment isn't received on time be prepared to down tools.

Well said. It may involve an extra 5 minutes of your day but it's worth doing.

[MrWebDev]

Point noted re. changing payment terms.

Would anyone on here like to share how they go about doing their due diligence, what they normally look out for?

[fidot]

You could use https://www.duedil.com/

[Safe Collections]

We love seeing threads like this and commend the OP on starting it, if only every contractor we met did their due diligence properly...

If you are looking for free sources for company info we would recommend Companies House Beta and DueDil as they both provide limited information for free. Duedil gives a good instant breakdown of details like cash at hand, assets and liabilities etc. Companies House can show you any charges registered against a company and this is a good way to identify if the agency is factoring or using invoice discounting, as they will have a charge on the company.

The problem with these searches in our opinion is what they don't tell you. Specifically they do not include records of court action such as County Court Judgments or Winding Up proceedings, nor do they give you an easy way to investigate any companies the directors/owners have previously been involved in.

As a rule we would say you need to know if anyone has previously sued your agent and if your agent has a history of starting and sinking Ltd companies. Needless to say, both of these are red flags as far as offering credit goes.

In our opinion the easiest way to get the information you need is to sign up for a credit report package from one of the bigger suppliers like Experian or D&B and use this to credit check every agent you have dealings with. All credit reporting packages give access to the full financials and court histories of companies along with suggested credit limits and risk analysis. In addition they also provide an easy way for you to investigate the directors/shareholders and their previous company history.

Whilst they aren't free, they aren't ridiculously expensive and may well save you money in the long run if they help you spot and avoid high risk agents.

[northernladuk]

I use CompanyCheck not duedil. Any difference between the two?

[MrWebDev]

Thanks SC, this was more the sort of detail I was looking for. In terms of a package that lets you run multiple CCJ checks etc, what would be a reasonable cost (I've seen them ranging from hundreds of pounds per month to ~£20 for one check)? Is it the sort of thing that perhaps you could sign up for and then cancel when you're in contract?

I use CompanyCheck not duedil. Any difference between the two?

I also use Company Check and have a free account with them, judging by what SC has said above they seem to be almost the same. I guess it's worth having a look though.

[Safe Collections]

Thanks SC, this was more the sort of detail I was looking for. In terms of a package that lets you run multiple CCJ checks etc, what would be a reasonable cost (I've seen them ranging from hundreds of pounds per month to ~£20 for one check)? Is it the sort of thing that perhaps you could sign up for and then cancel when you're in contract?

It depends on the amount you need, if you only need a handful of reports a year PAYG at £20 a report is probably the most cost effective option.

A basic subscription will probably be overkill for most contractors you can get an SME package starting at £250 a year.

I also use Company Check and have a free account with them, judging by what SC has said above they seem to be almost the same. I guess it's worth having a look though.

The difference with suppliers is in the data they use and how they use this data to calculate company credit scores. The bigger companies crunch the data in-house and many of the smaller providers are just re-sellers.

We see a great deal of credit information from a variety of providers and we continue to use Experian as our main supplier. Make of that what you will

[garethevans1986]

We use Company Credit Reports & Business Credit Checks – Creditsafe

I did some duedil on an agent before signing a contract and found they were marked as "cash transactions only"....this news to the Director didn't go down very well.

[SlipTheJab]

We use Company Credit Reports & Business Credit Checks – Creditsafe

I did some duedil on an agent before signing a contract and found they were marked as "cash transactions only"....this news to the Director didn't go down very well.

What did he say when you told him?

[MrMarkyMark]

We use Company Credit Reports & Business Credit Checks – Creditsafe

I did some duedil on an agent before signing a contract and found they were marked as "cash transactions only"....this news to the Director didn't go down very well.

What did he say when you told him?

Used £50's only, followed by enquiring whether the OP wanted to buy a "weight"