Latest Data from Cortera Shows the Vast Majority of Commercial Accounts Receivable Debt Continuing to Deteriorate

Boca Raton, Fla.– Cortera , a premier provider of collections and credit insight for commercial enterprises, today released their most recent data that assesses the overall economic health of a region based on how well companies are paying their suppliers. Cortera’s database tracks 18 million public and private companies in the United States based on thousands of trade payment contributors and contains more than $250 billion in accounts receivable information.

This analysis, which can be accessed at http://www.cortera.com/stats, revealed the following:

• Percentage past due across all companies has grown 6.94 percent over the last four months
• Percentage 90+ days past due grew 6.93 percent month over month for all companies across the United States
• 40 states have had a double digit increase in the number of accounts that are 90+ days overdue
• The finance and insurance industries have the highest percentage of A/R debt 90+ days past due at 5.11 percent
• Washington, DC saw the highest rate of improvement
• For the May 2009 Top 10 Best and Worst states, please visit http://www.cortera.com/best-and-worst-states

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Cortera CEO Jim Swift commented, "I agree with The White House’s top budget official Peter Orszag’s statements on Sunday that the decline of the U.S. economy seems to have slowed, but there’s not enough positive momentum yet to indicate that we are out of the woods. Our data reveals that the amount of commercial A/R debt over 90 days past due has grown 15.4 percent over the last four months. This is a concern given the fact that prior research by Commercial Law League of America has demonstrated that the total amount collected on balances over 90 days is less than 73 cents on every dollar owed. Based on the continued aging of commercial A/R it’s likely that some form of write-offs are looming. Interestingly enough, Washington, DC witnessed the

highest rate of improvement with percentage past due dropping a whopping 11.8 percent month over month."

To help companies of all sizes improve their cash flow, Cortera has launched its new Collections Priority Rating – CPR(sm), designed to assist commercial collections departments in evaluating customer portfolios for signs of delinquency, changes in payment behavior and indications of internal and external events that could affect future payment behavior. Unlike a credit score which is typically based on rolling averages, CPR is based on immediate and relevant data that at any given time, can determine a company’s ability to pay. Cortera CPR(sm) also provides a unique segmentation feature that clusters accounts based on overall payment risk. This can assist customers in prioritizing their collection efforts. To learn more about Cortera CPR, visit http://www.cortera.com.

About Cortera
In a sea of business information providers, Cortera is different. With over 15 years of industry innovation, Cortera provides a fresh perspective on business information and offers innovative tools to improve corporate intelligence. With its robust database containing virtually every private and public U.S. company, innovative analytics about each of those companies and advanced workflow software, available at http://www.cortera.com/products/, Cortera helps credit & collections professionals know more than ever before about their prospects, customers and partners. Cortera also offers free company profiles on millions of companies at http://start.cortera.com. More information about Cortera can be found at http://www.cortera.com.