[kris]

A few questions for everyone, we hear farmers are carrying more debt than ever before is it possible that it's because no retailer or equipment dealer etc will no longer hold in house accounts and have deflected there risk to credit providers thus making us look like we are borrowing more than ever before. Now I know that some do need the credit but there is also many that don't and just need a monthly statement to pay(net 30days) so I am finding that every month there is a never ending bunch of credit apps being handed out. Are we not paying more now because there has been another middle man added just to throw my monthly statement in an envelop and apply a stamp. Maybe this was more of a rant but cant the likes of the big input supplier's handle it or should I send them a credit application or are they this hard up.

 

[bobofthenorth]

Debt is debt - it doesn't matter whether you owe it to Joe's Local Farm Supply or Big Bank Inc. The industry has moved to third party financing of in house receivables. That may make it easier to identify and quantify debt but it doesn't change the total amount of the debt. I'm sure some farmers would prefer to borrow from their local dealer but there aren't many of those truly "local" dealers left and the ones that are left clearly prefer the third party arrangements. I think 3rd party financing is likely more expensive for farmers but that's because the local dealer often had to write off legitimate finance charges in order to collect his principal.

 

[skgrain]

Its like insurance. Insure 1000 acres for hail and the company could get screwed really bad on a hail year. But insure half the earth and there is no risk at all. Most input companies want to make a bit on product and leave the financing profit to someone thats does it big time. ie Rabba Bank and Richardson.

 

[lambear]

Let the input dealers do what they do best, and let the banks do what they do best. I used to work at a bank. I know of a couple independent suppliers that got stung bad on huge accounts. I don't think anybody wants that.

 

[SWFarmService]

I have a shop in my own town and it really hurts especially on a year like this one, no one wants to give thier crop away and I end up financing it by them just ignoring there bill, I am not a banker and never intended to be, it is hard to pay my bills when they can't pay there's, and I'll be damned if I have to give away my crop to fill the gap they are leaving in my account, currently 60% of this years business is still on the books even with all the suppliers leans I have on my customers. Banking should be left to bankers

 

[cptusa]

I have a shop in my own town and it really hurts especially on a year like this one, no one wants to give thier crop away and I end up financing it by them just ignoring there bill, I am not a banker and never intended to be, it is hard to pay my bills when they can't pay there's, and I'll be damned if I have to give away my crop to fill the gap they are leaving in my account, currently 60% of this years business is still on the books even with all the suppliers leans I have on my customers. Banking should be left to bankers

I know this happens more than I realize not being on that side of the business, I just don't get why. If you can't pay your bills look into a line of credit and use it if you need too. Don't buy stuff if you have outstanding bills. It is not the supplier/dealer/shop or whoever's job to loan you money by you not paying your bill like you should. They have inputs to they have to pay. Nothing pisses me off more than the guy in his new shiney truck that has several outstanding bills around town, then when he does pay 4 months later the finance charges get waved.

Maybe I'm just old school, but you got the parts or service, pay the freaking bill when its due.

 

[noacres]

The local shops should tack on that 1.5% per month when the bill is paid late. At least they have 18% interest to show for the folks who don't pay up on time. When a customer comes in late once or more, that 30 days should be shortened to 10days.

Miss your 10 days and then we are working on cash at time of sale. Maybe if the cash at time of sale works good for 5 times in a row we can start going back out to the 10 days and eventually the 30 days again. The trust needs to be lost when the bills aren't paid and it can be earned back when they are being taken care of.

 

[Don Boles]

According to me...

The thing that bugs me is those that use credit cards paying the same as me with a cheque for product.
The merchant gets gouged by the credit card company, makes more on me, I in effect am subsidizing a bloated bureaucracy cash grab machine.

Correction.
It doesn't bug me.
It pisses me off!

 

[Licensed to kill]

The thing that bugs me is those that use credit cards paying the same as me with a cheque for product.
The merchant gets gouged by the credit card company, makes more on me, I in effect am subsidizing a bloated bureaucracy cash grab machine.

Correction.
It doesn't bug me.
It pisses me off!

Using a cheque rather than a CC is your choice. The merchant accepting CC's (and their charges) is the merchants choice. Cheques can bounce, CC's don't. Now, what pisses me off is merchants that UPCHARGE when you pay cash rather than charging. THAT baffles me.

 

[Licensed to kill]

One of the biggest advantage IMO of a supplier NOT providing credit is that the cost of bad credit gets passed on to those that pay.

 

[Fena farms]

I think why there is more dept then ever is because everything is way over priced, inputs machinery ext,

 

[noacres]

There are several cards here in the states that get you 1% cash back. Write that check (even same day) to your credit card and put the charge on your VISA and end of the month you should have 1% back. With how much you guys spend on stuff, that could be some real money before long.

I put my pole building on my master card for that reason. My inlaws run their remodeling business on a card that gives them airline miles for places that take cards same as check/cash.

 

[kris]

These are all real good responses, I do understand let the bankers bank and suppliers supply but what gets me is this FCC type crap that to do business on a cash basis I need a let's say 30000 line of credit showing up on my credit history all to receive a bill from one supplier, now I also buy from another supplier so I need to have there line of credit from FCC, we are paying these finance companies kick backs through this thus adding to our costs. We have tried the credit card but pretty soon the supplier has a surcharge to cover the cost of the transaction or they won't let you use it at statement time. I am with Don on this, if I pay cash and not include a third party I had better get a sizable discount.

 

[deetwocat]

I use my visa for a $10 part all the way up for all my seed it has a very high limit but if that ain't high enough I will pre pay on the card ,at the end of the year I can cash in my points and put the money towards my bank loan.