CFSA Funeral Home Credit Guide Program Member Profile: Eagle’s Wings Air

Available only to member companies, the CFSA Funeral Home Credit Guide Program provides participating companies with valuable information about the payment histories of current and potential funeral home customers.  Based on data contributed by over 75 participating funeral supply companies, the CFSA Credit Guide Program contains payment information about more than 15,000 funeral homes in the U.S. and Canada.  A critical component of the program is the CFSA Past-Due Survey Program, which provides current and timely information about amounts owed by funeral homes with past-due accounts. 

We rely heavily upon our participating CFSA Credit Guide Program users to provide us with current, updated data. This critically important program is only as valuable as the timely and relevant data provided to us – and other CFSA members – on a regular basis. With the recent upgrade of the program to a user-friendly, online, cloud-based, powerful database now available 24/7 to participating member companies, it is now easier than ever to provide updates and search new ratings. (For more information on the CFSA Credit Guide Program, please contact Ms. Chris Lindom, CFSA’s Project Manager, at 847.295.6630.)

From time to time, we like to showcase a participating CFSA-member company that continually provides timely updates and leverages our program to complement its own internal credit management strategy. This month we are pleased to profile Eagle’s Wings Air (EWA), a CFSA member since 2009. Our thanks to EWA’s Accounting Specialist, Michael Robertson, for participating with us in the following Q & A exchange.

1. Your company is doing an excellent job at keeping your CFSA Credit Guide ratings up-to-date.  Why is this such a priority for Eagle’s Wings Air (EWA)?

The reason we make this a priority is to determine whether or not to issue credit to our funeral home customers. Since we use it for issuing credit, we want to make sure that every funeral home customer is fairly represented and make sure the CFSA users have the most up-to-date information.

2. How often do you try to review and update your company’s Funeral Home ratings?  

Our goal is to update our scores at least every 6 months.

3. How does EWA use the CFSA Credit Guide data to make decisions regarding your Funeral Home customers?

EWA uses the CFSA data to help us assess risk when issuing credit to our customers.

4. What features do you like best about the online, cloud-based CFSA Credit Guide program?

The feature I like the most is that all of the scores are updated in real time. If a score was entered yesterday, I can see how the score has changed today. I don’t have to wait for a printed update.  I also like how simple it is to put in and change scores for new and existing funeral homes.

5. What changes would you like to see made to the CFSA Credit Guide program?

I would like to see one rating change. I feel like there is a huge gap between paying within terms and paying within 60 days. I would like to see a “paid within 30 days beyond terms” option.  I think it could give a better representation of how funeral home customers are performing.

6. Any tips to help other CFSA members make it a priority, like you do, to update their ratings on a regular basis?  

The easiest way is to update them is when you receive the check from your customer. If that isn’t feasible, take a little bit of time each month on slower days and fill out as many scores as you can. Doing this will make it easier to manage your ratings over time, and you’ll have less work to do in the future.

Editor’s note: EWA includes this company description in our 2017 CFSA Membership Directory:

“Established in 2007, Eagle’s Wings Air (EWA) is the nation’s leading provider of logistics services to North American funeral homes and shipping services. Through a centralized customer service center, EWA leverages proprietary software and its knowledge of global airline networks to deliver the best transportation solution and proactive management for human remains transport. Learn more at www.EWAcares.com or by calling 866-550-1EWA (1392).”