ProfitGuard LLC, Bingham Farms, Mich., is sponsoring a scrap-specific e-mailed newsletter that will alert subscribers to breaking credit news in the metals industry.

“The Credit Insider,” which is being offered free to members of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), has been designed to offer “access to breaking credit information, frequently before it even hits the standard news channels,” according to a letter from ProfitGuard LLC to ISRI members.

The letter’s author says the product can be helpful to scrap dealers in an era termed the “Perfect Economic Storm.” The chain of steel and scrap-related bankruptcies is referred to in the letter, as are the overall depressed pricing and demand conditions.

Past credit practices may not be sufficient to cope with the current climate, the service’s promoters contend. “Too many firms rely on historical payment experience as a means to manage credit risk. We have witnessed all too many bankruptcies where the debtor firm has continued to pay vendors timely up until the filing date.”

More information on “The Credit Insider” service can be found at ProfitGuard’s Web site at www.eProfitGuard.com.