Merchants? Credit Guide Named to the Inc 500 List

Inc. magazine this week announced its 25th annual Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. Merchants? Credit Guide Co., a 110-year old Accounts Receivable Management firm, ranks No. 215 on the list, with three-year growth of 570 percent.

Merchants Credit Guide Co. (MCG) was founded in 1896 and the 110-year old company is the oldest company in this year?s list. MCG is currently in its 4th generation of family ownership. In 2002 the company decided to grow beyond its Chicago roots, become a national player and capture a greater share of the $15B Accounts Receivable Management industry. By attracting high caliber talent, utilizing a firm but fair approach with past-due customers and treating them with dignity and respect the company has been able to deliver exceptional results to its clients. While growth has been rapid, the company is focused on maintaining its quality management systems to ensure scalability of its processes through its expansion.

The 2006 Inc. 500, as revealed in the September issue of Inc., reported the most robust bunch of companies the magazine has ever compiled, with aggregate revenue of $19.7 billion, up from $16.5 billion last year and $12.9 billion in 2000. The two largest companies on this year?s Inc. 500 are the biggest ever to make the list ? No. 170 Western Refining ($3.4 billion in revenue) and No. 376 Newegg.com ($1.26 billion) ? and the third and fourth companies in Inc. 500 history to crack the billion-dollar mark. In all, 14 companies topped $200 million in annual revenue, compared with 11 last year.

Most important, the 2006 Inc. 500 companies were engines of job growth, having created more than 90,000 jobs since those companies were founded.

?If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500,? said Inc. Editor Jane Berentson. ?These are the most innovative, dynamic, fast-growth companies in the nation, the ones coming up with solutions to some of our most intractable ills, creating systems that let us conduct business faster and easier, and manufacturing products we soon discover we can?t live without. The Inc. 500 list is Inc. magazine?s tribute to American business ingenuity and ambition.?

?We are proud to now be a member of one of the most prestigious clubs in America,? said Dan Burtis, Chairman and 4th generation owner. ?Past editions of the Inc. 500 have included companies such as Microsoft, Timberland, Domino?s, Intuit and Oracle and we are delighted to have our company name added to this list. We are very proud of our long and successful history and are even more excited about our bright future.?