Serving credit professionals ...since 1899 |
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Monthly news & updates
FOR CREDIT AND FINANCE PROFESSIONALS
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Welcome to the March.
Opening comments from our President & CEO
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Upcoming Events
See what's happening this month...and beyond
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Industry Groups
NOTE: All Group meetings are being conducted online until the Coronavirus subsides. Hawaii Hospitality is on hiatus throughout COVID-19.
Puget Sound
Thursday,3/11
11:30 Floor
Tuesday, 3/16
11:30 HVAC
Wednesday, 3/17
11:00 Tacoma Construction
1:00 Food
Thursday, 3/18
11:00 Eastside Construction
1:00 Wiring
Alaska
Wednesday, 3/17
1:00 (AKDT) Alaska Suppliers
Hawaii
Friday, 3/26
11:30 (HST) Hawaii Building
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Conferences - Save the dates
April 28-30, 2010
Online
Southwest Business & Construction Credit Conference - Virtual
May 10-13, 2021
Online
NACM National Credit Congress
Kansas City
October 10-13. 2021
Virtual Plus
June 8-10, 2021
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PARTNERS IN CREDIT REPORTING |
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The Retirement Virus returns to NACM BCS |
We are preparing to see two more of our long time office colleagues opt for retirement in the coming weeks.
Steve Shaw, Collector, has decided to spend more time with his golf clubs beginning March 31st. Steve joined us in 2010 and has been a Collector Extraordinaire. We wish him long drives, great putts, and successful avoidance of sand traps.
Nancy Tapely, Customer Service, will be leaving us effective May 1st. After 17 years with NACM, she has decided it's time to relax and enjoy life. It's hard to argue with her! Her work will be taken over by Sheila Humphries.
We extend our best wishes to Nancy and Steve, and send them off with our gratitude for their great work over the last many years.
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Did you miss the most recent Monthly Webinar? Or our podcasts? |
If you have missed previous presentations, here's your chance for a re-do. Just click on the link below and you can watch or listen to several recent presentations. Best of all, they're all FREE! Just click below.
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Small businesses stepped up hiring in the quarter as performance improved
Click on the image below to download the latest quarterly report from our partners at Experian and Moody's.
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Special: Emergency Preparedness |
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20 years after the Nisqually earthquake, are we ready for the next one? |
Twenty years ago this Sunday, at 10:54 a.m., the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake suddenly upended lives across the Puget Sound region. Hundreds were injured and property loss totaled in the billions of dollars.
Seismologists believe that chances are better than even that another Nisqually will happen in the coming few decades. Are you and your company ready?
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ShakeAlert: An Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast of the United States |
ShakeAlert® is an earthquake early warning (EEW) system that detects significant earthquakes so quickly that alerts can reach many people before shaking arrives.
ShakeAlert is not earthquake prediction, rather a ShakeAlert Message indicates that an earthquake has begun and shaking is imminent.
The intent is to give you enough warning to drop, cover, and hold on. At this time, it's available in California, Oregon and Washington.
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Register for the ShakeAlert Early Warning system |
The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) is a system that broadcasts public safety messages over the commercial cellular system.
WEA is one of the multiple methods that will be powered by the ShakeAlert® Earthquake Early Warning system.
Customers with compatible smartphones can receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them to threats to safety in their area. All Wireless Emergency Alerts, regardless of type, behave the same. Register today.
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On March 6, the Senate passed the American Rescue Plan, a new COVID-19 relief package which will provide new federal funding to help families and local businesses during the pandemic. It is expected to pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by the president in the coming days.
Although the following links to various programs have been provided by Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, they are available nationwide.
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The wave of COVID bankruptcies has begun across the nation |
Nearly a year since coronavirus-related shutdowns began affecting large swaths of the American economy, more businesses are filing for bankruptcy as Chapter 11 filings were up nearly 20% in 2020 compared with the previous year, court records show.
Because bankruptcy filings lag other signals of economic distress, experts say the worst may be yet to come. Bankruptcies stemming from the 2007 financial crisis didn’t peak until 2010.
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More consumers complain about errors on credit reports |
Add this to the financial fallout from the pandemic: More consumers are complaining about errors on their credit reports, and many are frustrated when trying to fix the mistakes, according to federal complaint data.
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Study finds employment rose among those in free money experiment |
After getting $500 per month for two years without rules on how to spend it, 125 people in California paid off debt, got full-time jobs and reported lower rates of anxiety and depression, according to a study released Wednesday.
The program in the Northern California city of Stockton was the highest-profile experiment in the U.S. of a universal basic income
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Seattle among top markets as U.S. home prices increase by double-digit percentages for the first time in years |
In December, home prices in the Seattle area continued to rise faster than the national average, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday. The index reports a three-month rolling average of home prices and lags by two months.
Prices for homes in the Seattle area were up 13.6% in December compared to a year earlier. Nationally, prices rose 10.4% year over year.
Seattle maintained its No. 2 spot behind only Phoenix, where prices shot up 14.4%.
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Kauai to open doors to more tourists |
Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami said Tuesday that he is seeking to rejoin the Safe Travels Hawaii program, which would make it unnecessary for Kauai’s out-of-state visitors to stay in a resort bubble or spend time on another Hawaiian Island to qualify for a quarantine exemption.
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Small cruise operators are still planning to sail in 2021 |
The fate of the 2021 Alaska tourism season is still very much an unknown for the large international cruise lines that operate vessels with thousands of passengers, but small-vessel operators are preparing to get back to touring the Inside Passage.
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Hawaii’s economic damage assessment improves |
Hawaii’s battered economy last year may not have been as bad as previously estimated, and recovery this year should be a bit stronger, a new state report says.
The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism estimates that Hawaii’s real gross domestic product fell by 7.9% last year as the state contended with the coronavirus pandemic. Prior estimates forecast a contraction of 11.7%.
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Legislative Activity and Politics |
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The state legislatures are in session and actively considering a number of bills with potential impact on the business community. As always NACM BCS is monitoring several of them and is prepared to engage through our lobbyists on those bills relevant to our member companies. See below for more information on the bills we are following as well as other matters of concern. |
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Washington's latest economic review: positive indicators amid ongoing uncertainty |
The Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) released their latest economic review this week, finding positive trends in the context of ongoing economic uncertainty.
Among the primary takeaways ERFC provides in their economic reviews is how the revenue picture looks. While ERFC underscored that the COVID-19 pandemic limits predictability, revenues are on the right track.
Revenue collections since the November forecast are $593 million (9.0%) above expectations.
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The bill Imposes a 7.0 percent capital gains tax beginning January 1, 2022. This bill had passed out of Senate Ways and Means on February 16th and had not seen movement out of Senate Rules since. Then on March 3rd, it was placed on the 2nd Reading which gets it ready to be pulled to the Senate Floor for a vote.
The current version is slightly different from the original with the following changes:
- Lowers the tax rate from 9 percent to 7 percent;
- Increases threshold exclusion to $250,000;
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Exempts all sales or exchanges of real estate – however there is an amendment to include back real-estate;
- Replaces sole proprietor deduction with a family-owned small business deduction;
- Exempts the value of goodwill received when a car dealership is sold;
- Deposits the first $350 million in revenues collected each year into the Education Legacy Trust Account and deposits the remainder into a new Taxpayer Relief Account;
- Makes other technical clarifications and corrections.
NACM BCS opposes this bill.
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No new taxes without a statewide vote on constitutional amendment, says Alaska Gov. |
Barring sharp increases in the price of oil, the elimination of the Permanent Fund dividend or unprecedented cuts to state services, Dunleavy’s position means at least two more years of deficit spending by the state.
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Hawaii unemployment compensation tax exemption bill advances |
Senate Bill 614 -- A proposal to exempt unemployment compensation from state income taxes won a key approval on Thursday with the Senate Ways and Means Committee unanimously approving the measure.
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Get on top of delinquencies |
In addition to regular use of credit reports, history tells us that the sooner you deal with A/R issues, the better off your company will be.
Just as we've noted about trends in credit report use, we are also seeing a trend of letting delinquencies linger. The longer those past due bills are allowed to languish, the harder it will be to get paid.
There's as easy solution. Turn your A/R over to NACM BCS for Collections and we can help get you paid soon. Call us today!
800-423-5710
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Are you trying to fill a position? Use our Job Center! |
Take advantage of the Job Center at nacmbcs.org. If you're having trouble filling a position in your company, use this opportunity to reach a lot of people!
It's easy to post an opening. Just fill out the form. After that, the most viewed part of our website will get attention to your needs.
Best of all, it's a free service that comes with membership in NACM BCS.
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In Memorium - Doug Jacobsen |
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Douglas Leroy Jacobson was born on July 27, 1961 in Springfield, Oregon and passed away at his Happy Valley, Oregon home on February 26, 2021 at the age of 59. He was the Regional Credit Manager for Beacon Building Products. Doug served as Chair of the NACM Business Credit Services Board of Directors from 2018-2020.
A public Celebration of Doug's life will be announced after the restrictions on public gatherings have been lifted.
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NACM Business Credit Services
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Serving commercial credit professionals.
Since 1899
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