creditsafe

Casu777

Hi all
Im being badgered to death by Creditsafe. They say that as an AAT member, was I aware of the fact that they are linked up and can provide good deals.

Firstly - is the link up true?
Secondly - do they actually provide anything more than you can already get from companies house?
Lastly, if its yes to the two Qs above, are they any good and what are folks experience of the costs?

Call me a cynic but i think its all just a sales pitch, especially given their pushy staff

MarieNoelle

There is nothing on the AAT website that links Creditsafe with AAT. However they may have special deals for accountants - I don't think this would be limited to AAT though.

What product are they selling you? AML checks? This goes beyond checking a company and their PSC on companies house (they would normally ask for passport number etc...).

I use TaxCalc and I am considering using their add-on AML checks. No experience of Creditsafe but read on Aweb that they use aggressive selling tactics...

burg

Creditsafe can be aggressive and want to insist that you are breaking the requirements of your licence with AAT by not checking everyone in a similar way to theirs. However their process is considered enhanced CDD so is only necessary where your risk assessment indicated enhanced CDD is required. In most cases enhanced CDD will not be required unless you have a habit of not meeting directors/shareholders and/or you have lots of cash intensive businesses or foreign directors/shareholders.
In the odd cases we have needed to do such checks we have used Veriphy who charge per check at about £5 a time.

MarieNoelle

Funnily enough Creditsafe called me this afternoon. As @burg mentioned they are trying to sell a product which most of us do not require. Their pitch is that the traditional AML checks are not compliant with the professional bodies requirements. Needless to say I didn't sign on to their product!