ASA Credit Reporting Service (ARCS) is a new benefit now being made available to wholesalers in key metropolitan areas around the country. The service was developed in response to the needs of members in several cities whose prior programs had been discontinued.

At this writing, the availability of ARCS is being promoted to wholesalers in the following metropolitan areas: Dallas, Houston, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Albany, NY. Additional cities will be rolled out on the basis of demand.

How Does it Work?

The ACRS is based on a very simple premise: We will compile information submitted by wholesalers about their delinquent accounts into one, comprehensive and confidential report to give participants a “snapshot” of that customer's paying practices among the other participating companies. The identity of the reporting wholesalers is not revealed, but the report speaks volumes about potential credit risks.

The annual fee provides the wholesale distributor the ability to submit information from as many locations (in that particular marketplace) as it wishes to include. Information can be submitted in a variety of ways, electronically via email (using ACRS software, Excel or comma-delimited file, etc.) or via fax or email of manually-created data. ACRS will compile the data and submit the aggregated reports to all participants within 10 days after receipt (before the 25th of each month).

On the “Up and Up”

To protect the anonymity of the participating wholesalers, their identification will not appear on any report. A set of Legal Guidelines has been established, and participating wholesalers will be asked to sign off on having read and understood them, protecting both the participating wholesalers and ASA.

No Meetings…Yet

Because the program is new, ACRS is being introduced as a report-only program. Wholesalers accustomed to attending credit group meetings are advised that the ACRS does not include any organized meetings of local participants. At such a point in time where interest to establish such meetings will warrant it, ASA will examine the steps that need to be taken to organize local meetings, including compliance with all legal considerations.

Questions?

If you have questions about the ASA Credit Reporting Service, or want to investigate how to get a group of your local wholesalers involved, call or email Inge Calderon (ingec@asa.net) or Diane Ziller (dziller @asa.net) at ASA at 312-464-0090.