Experian, a global information services company, today announced that the national average commercial risk score is up 2.4% and overall delinquencies have declined since the beginning of the year.
The national average percentage of dollars delinquent has improved by 5.9%, and the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent has improved by 1.9%. The findings are part of the company's Business Benchmark Report for March.
The report further reveals that businesses in states with large metropolitan areas, such as California and Texas, had among the lowest rates of severe delinquency, coming in at 14.8% and 28.8% below the national average. Other key findings from this month’s report include:
1. The national average commercial risk score was 58.60* in March, the third consecutive month of improvement (a 2.4% increase in 2010), highlighting ongoing improvement seen in the business sector overall.
2. Although down slightly from February, the education services and public administration sectors have shown the greatest average risk score change, improving by 8.3% and 9.8%, respectively, since December.
3. All geographic regions have shown marked improvement since December, improving by as much as 8.7%. The Plains states continue to have the highest risk score average of all geographic areas (62.56).
4. The largest businesses (those with more than 1,000 employees) have seen a slight decrease in the average credit score from February, but have seen the greatest improvement over the last six months, with a 1.3% improvement.
Percentage of dollars delinquent:
1. Overall, delinquencies are declining. The national average percentage of dollars delinquent has improved by 5.9% since the beginning of the year, and the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent has improved by 1.9%.
2. Over the last six months, the average percentage of dollars delinquent has improved by 1%. Large businesses with 500 to 999 employees and midsize businesses with 100 to 249 employees have seen the greatest improvements at 2.1% and 3.3%, respectively.
3. Texas, Arizona and California were among the areas with the lowest percentage of dollars delinquent, with an average of 10.14%, 9.6% and 9.27%, respectively. Additionally, California and Texas ranked among the areas with the lowest rates of severe delinquency, coming in at 14.8% and 28.8% below the national average.
In other findings, average Days Beyond Terms for most business sizes showed improvement in their payment behavior over the previous month month. The largest changes came from midsize to large businesses, or those with 100 to 999 employees showing as much as a 5.8% improvement.
Finally, payment performance from all industry groups appears to be stabilizing, with some industries showing signs of improvement over the last six months.
