BUSINESS-CREDIT REPORTING SERVICE OFFERED BY GROUP

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 25, 1992                   TAG: 9201250243
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
BUSINESS-CREDIT REPORTING SERVICE OFFERED BY GROUP
The Credit Marketing & Management Association of Roanoke said Friday it would offer a new business-credit reporting service to its members.
The association already provides credit information about consumers to its 1,400 members in Western Virginia and others served through its affiliated offices in parts of West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.
The new service means credit data on companies in all 50 states will be provided by Equifax, a national credit service based in Atlanta. The reports cost in the range of $30, according to Larry Poteat, president of the local merchants' organization.
The new service, effective Jan. 15, allows an out-of-state supplier to find out whether a Roanoke clothing firm or a jewelry store is paying its bills, for example, Poteat said. The service was provided at the request of members, he said.
Through the Equifax data base, local merchant members can learn current and previous payment records, industry payment profiles and public record information, according to Poteat. Automated trade data will be updated to help customers determine when they will be paid, he said.
Poteat called the additional service "an expansion of what we had." Business credit reporting had been provided by the association in the Roanoke Valley, Bedford and Botetourt counties.
Equifax has processed and stored individual credit information for the Roanoke organization for years.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB