1,000

600



B



B



C



D



D



E



D



E



E



It is not to be expected, of course, that these ratings
should in every case be in perfect accord with actual
conditions. It must be remembered that the Agency
has no means of compelling the dealer to give out in-
formation about himself or about his business. If he
is unwilling to furnish such information, the agency is
compelled to gather it from other soiu^ces as best it
may. Moreover, inasmuch as about three thousand
changes occiu* daily in the credit ratings of the country,
it is readily seen that the rating book must contain a
large nimaber of errors even on the very day of its pub-



104 CREDIT AND THE CREDIT MAN

lication. For all that, however, the ratings given by
the large commercial agencies are on the whole re-
markably exact,

5. Special credit reports. — The mercantile agencies
usually seek to obtain from every dealer a property
statement or its equivalent as a basis for the informa-
tion to be kept in their files, adding to the information
thus obtained such other data as its local reporters
may from time to time obtain. From this informa-
tion special reports are prepared for subscribers at
their request. These reports include a record of the
dealer's business and personal character, his wealth,
in and out of business, his debts, his associations and
his reputation. They contain, also, a description of
the business itself — capital, debts, outstanding ac-
counts, the volume of annual business, and frequently
the names of the chief creditors. In a concluding
statement, the agency oflFers its judgment with regard
to the worth, credit limit and other factors bearing
upon the credit risk involved.
