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Modest CMI Gain Signals Growth—But Collection Challenges Persist

NACM’s seasonally adjusted combined Credit Managers’ Index (CMI) improved 0.5 points to 54.3. “Favorable factors are driving the gain this month, especially the Dollar Sales factor,” said NACM Economist Amy Crews Cutts, Ph.D., CBE®. “Respondents are indicating optimism on new orders but caution that they are still experiencing slow payments and requests for extended terms.”
 |  Sara Asomaning, Managing Editor  |  ,

NACM’s seasonally adjusted combined Credit Managers’ Index (CMI) improved 0.5 points to 54.3.

“Favorable factors are driving the gain this month, especially the Dollar Sales factor,” said NACM Economist Amy Crews Cutts, Ph.D., CBE®. “Respondents are indicating optimism on new orders but caution that they are still experiencing slow payments and requests for extended terms.”

Unfavorable factors fell 0.2 points to 49.7 points, still not moving much above or below the 50-point line, which denotes the break between contraction and expansion.

  • Half of the six unfavorable factors deteriorated in the March survey. The largest decline was in the Accounts Placed for Collection factor, which lost 3.8 points and remains in contraction at 44.3 points.

Favorable factors gained 1.5 points to 61.1, remaining in expansion.

  • The primary driver of the improvement was an increase in the Dollar Sales factor which gained 3.6 points.

What respondents are saying:

  • “New orders received but not yet shipped are higher, however concerns with rising oil costs have caused some to go on hold.”
  • “We are seeing significant slowing of payments coming from general contractors on large jobs.”
  • “All customers that are behind keep telling me they are waiting to get paid—a very common reply.”
  • “We’re definitely seeing an increase in new applications that are not passing our scoring models, even with additional research.”

Read the full report here. Be sure to sign up for CMI alerts so you can be reminded to participate every month! Two minutes of your time is all it takes to make an impact.

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Sara Asomaning, Managing Editor

Sara Asomaning holds a B.S. in English from Towson University. With a background in writing, copyediting and proofreading, she has a keen eye for detail. Outside of work, she spends much of her time being creative with music, photography, and social media content creation.