Payment remarks – Is all hope lost?

According to historian and archeologist Jonathan Kenoyer did the first trade on credit happened 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia, and it was as early as 1841 in New York that one of the first information gathering company created, the predecessor of the company which is now Dun & Bradstreet.
Bisnode, which has a strategic partnership with Dun & Bradstrees, is the company that Axactor Norway AS uses to collect information in Norway. Axactor also reports payment remarks to both Experian and Creditsafe.

So, what is a payment remark? Bisnode gives the following definition.

“It is a remark registered to a person (or an enterprise) concerning a debt collection case, judgement by consent, attachment of property or earnings or insolvency. In most cases, such remarks are a disadvantage, and they will often lead to the rejection of any application for credit, a loan or a subscription from various companies.”

The word «blacklist» has often been used in a more informal way, and it is not uncommon that Axactor gets inquiries from a private person who is afraid that the have been blacklisted because of a collection warning or payment request.

But how do you get a payment remark?

• For private people a payment remark is generally triggered when the case is sent to court of conciliation or the bailiff, or the agreed upon agreement is breached.
• For companies is it enough that the case has been to collection for 30 days.

Even though, a private person or a company receives a payment remark, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be blacklisted for many years to come. The payment remark is removed when the collection claim is paid.

So, all hope is not lost, if you should be unlucky to receive a payment remark.

In Norway trading on credit is very common, for example through invoicing after a purchase of both goods and services or using a credit card. It would have a dampening effect for the economy should companies deny people the possibility to trade on credit.

We have created an easy and efficient way to examine payment history and payment desire for Norwegian private people and companies, using the information gathering companies.