Check credit by telephone

Press, 24 June 1986, Page 25

Check credit by telephone

Finding out whether a company is credit-worthy can be a tedious process, but Dun and Bradstreet in England has just launched a computerised credit checking service which “talks” directly to the customer.

To use Duns Voice, subscribers need a standard multi-frequency push button telephone. By pressing their password number they are connected to Dun and Bradstreet’s main computer database holding 1.4 million company records. They key the details they want, which are passed into a highly-modi-fied personal computer with a synthesised voice. In reply, the voice “speaks” around 1400 words which have been

recorded as sentences with natural phrasing. Unusual words or phrases are spelt out. Subscribers can hear details of company reports, county court judgments and payment records.

"People feel in touch with a voice and want to call again. But because it’s a computer they are less guilty about putting the phone down when they’ve got what they want, and they only pay for what they take,” says the company. “The service is open 12 hours a day and it is suitable for small businesses who have not been able to check credit before because of cost.” — Observer News Service.