Extending Credit 

Plain English Guide to Extending Credit – Business.gov -- The Guide's recommendations on how to properly extend credit.

Selling on Credit – Small Business Notes -- Selling on credit means offering credit directly to your customers, not simply allowing them to use credit cards.

Accepting Cash and Checks – Business.gov -- Should your business accept personal checks or debit cards?

Information Compromise and the Risk of Identity Theft: Guidance for your Business – Federal Trade Commission -- These days, it is almost impossible to be in business and not collect or hold personally identifying information about your customers, employees, business partners, students, or patients. If this information falls into the wrong hands, it could put these individuals at risk for identity theft.

Credit and Collections – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- Discusses the pros and cons of accepting credit cards or offering trade credit, and tells you how you can more quickly and effectively collect the money your customers owe you.

Consumer Credit Laws – NOLO Law for All -- If your business extends credit to its customers, you'll need to comply with federal consumer credit laws.

Credit and Collections – Iowa Small Business Development Centers -- Practically all of the goods and services which make up the well-over one trillion dollar American Gross National Product move through the channels of distribution on credit.

Checking a Customer’s Credit – AllBusiness.com -- When you extend credit, you are in effect loaning customers your own money.

Collections 

Plain English Guide to Collecting Debt – Business.gov -- The Guide's recommendations on how to collect debts from customers.

Demand Payment Before You Sue – NOLO Law for All -- Settling your dispute may be easier than you think.

Creditor’s Legal Rights – Lawyers.com -- Collecting business debts can be difficult enough without worrying about whether you’ve stepped over the line in going about the collection.     

Collecting Business Debts – Lawyers.com -- Getting slow-paying customers to cough up what they owe is frustrating and a big drain on cash flow. But there are ways to nudge a customer into paying.

Collection Scenarios – CCH Business Owners Toolkit -- Here are a series of scenarios illustrating how a collection process might be organized.

Articles on Collections – All Business Resources.

Credit and Collections – Entrepreneur.com – Series of articles.

Collecting Accounts Receivable – Small Business Notes -- The longer an account goes unpaid, the more difficult it becomes to collect.