Krediidiinfo’s new research on Credit policy completed in 2010 shows that even though the share of entrepreneurs very satisfied with payment habits has dropped considerably, 77% of companies are still generally satisfied with their clients’ payment behaviour. 

Surprisingly, the results of the research show that 59.1% of companies pay their invoices on time, which is 4.8 percentage points higher than last year. 32.7% of companies pay invoices with a 30-day delay and 8.2% of companies are more than 30 days late, including 1.3 per cent of companies that leave invoices unpaid. 

There have been no great changes in payment due dates and delays in payment in the past year. The average payment due date in Estonia is 12.6 days and the average delay in payment is 12.8 days. Mostly, clients are informed of the lapse of the due date by telephone (88.1%) and by e-mail (70.2%). In recent years, notification by regular mail has decreased sharply. 

In crediting a new client, 66.3% of companies always check delays in payment to the Tax and Customs Board and 49.4% of companies always checks arrears to other companies (Estonian Credit Register). 43.1% of the respondents check signatory rights. 

Existing clients’ background is checked less often than in case of a new client. Compared to 2009, these indicators have gone down significantly – before making a credit decision, 35.1% (51.0% in 2009) always check tax arrears and only 25.3% (33.5% in 2009) of the respondents always check for payment defaults. 

In making credit decisions, arrears to suppliers are considered the most significant financial indicators – 92% of the respondents chose the answer “very important“ or “rather important“. Equity capital, turnover and return were considered of little importance. 

40% of the companies that responded to the research enforced credit limits, with 25% of the respondents enforcing limits on a certain group of clients and 15% of the respondents enforcing limits. 

Further information about the research is available on Krediidiinfo’s homepage (under Statistics).