国际商务函电 Unit 3 Status Enquiries 山东女子学院外语学院

Objectives Upon completion of this unit, you should:  Know when and why you should make a status enquiry.  learn and master key words, phrases and sentence patterns about status enquiry.  know how to write business letters for status enquiries and replies.

Introduction The definition of status enquiries Status enquiries are those written communications in which traders request information about the financial position, credit, reputation, business methods and management capacities of other companies.

Introduction Before establishing business relations with potential business partners Get the information about the partner through different channels:  Old customers  Advertisements and exhibitions  Commodities fairs  Banks  Internet

 Market investigation  Business association of the same trade  Chambers of commerce both at home and abroad  The commercial counselor’s office  Government organizations  Branches, agencies and sales representatives of your own company

Status Enquiries To get information concerning status enquiries, You can ask:  Banks  Chambers of commerce  Some professional finance/Credit agencies  Most reliable: bank,chamber of commerce

Content of a status enquiry  The intention of the letter  Tell the name of the company about which you are enquiring  Ask about the general financial status and size of business of the firm as well as the amount of credit you expect to give.  Express thanks for the help  Assure the addressee that everything will be kept confidential

Sample Letter 1 Dear Sirs, 写明信息来源和要查询的内容 Your name has been given to us as a credit reference by ABC Company Ltd., 336 Moon Street, Brest,who wants to start business with us. We should be highly appreciated if you could let us have your opinion on their reputation and their financial standing. 保密 Any information given to us will be surely treated in strict confidence. Yours faithfully,

Sample letter 2 Dear sir, Subject: The London Trading Co., Ltd. The subject company has recently asked if they could represent us in the sale of our products in UK as our sole agent, and the reference they have given us is Bank of London. Will you please be kind enough to approach the mentioned bank for detailed information about the credit standing, businesscredit standingbusiness capacitycapacity and character of the above company. We shall appreciate it if you will give us your frank opinion on these points regarding the company. Any information you may give us will be treated strictly in confidence. We await your early reply. Yours truly,

Language points  subject company: mentioned company  sole agent: 独家代理  Approach ： contact

 credit standing ：  Standing ：资信情况，信誉，固定的，永久的 standing cost 长期成本，固定成本 standing orders 长期订单 standing director 常务董事  商务英语 中有关 “ 资信情况 ” 的表达方法： credit standing 信誉情况 financial standing 财金情况 financial performance/position credit rating 信用等级，信用评价

 business capacity ：业务能力  Character ：品质，特性, 特色  Regarding ：关于  concerning  with regard to  about  as to

Sample letter 3: Dear sirs, Subject: Atlantic Electronic Co. Ltd. We have received an order from Atlantic Electronic Co. Ltd., with which you are now doing business and the firm has given us your name as a reference.We shall be grateful if you inform us of your own experience. Any information you may give us will be treated as strictly confidential and expenses concerned from this enquiry will be gladly paid by us upon receipt of your bill. Yours truly,

Replies to status enquiries  Give an fair opinion  Information given is legally required to be accurate  Remind that the information is confidential and no responsibility for it can be accepted.  In order to avoid trouble, the bank/trade reference or credit agency will not mention the name of the firm enquired; they will use “the firm concerned”, “the firm in question” or “the company you enquired about”, etc..

Content of replies  Give a matter-of-fact statement of the credit status of the company and an honest expression of opinions.  Express a hope that the information will be useful  Give a reminder that the information offered is confidential and that no responsibility for it can be accepted.

Sample letter: Confidential Dear sirs, Re: The London Trading Co., Ltd. In reply to your letter of September 15, we wish to inform you that we have now received from Bank of London the information you require. The firm mentioned in your letter was founded in 1940 with a capital of ￡ 1,000,000. Their chief line is in the import and export of textiles. Their business’ suppliers are satisfied with them. We consider them good for business engagement up to an amount of ￡ 300,000. For larger transactions we suggest payment by sight L/C. The above information is strictly confidential and is given without any responsibility on this bank. Yours truly,

 chief line: business scope  Full line: 经营各种货物  Transaction ： ( 一笔 ) 交易 ; ( 一项 ) 事务  Buying a house is an important transaction for most people.  sight L/C ：即期信用证

Sample 2 Dear Sirs, In reply to your message of May 27 about the credit standing of the mentioned company, we give you the following information you asked for. The company you mentioned has been enjoying high reputation. They have now a sound business standing. Our opinion is that they can be trusted to do business together. However, this is just our personal view and we assume no responsibility to your future business with them. Yours faithfully,

Unfavorable reply  State the essential facts only.  Suggest the enquirer make enquiries through other channels.  Make clear the information is given without responsibility.

Sample Private and Confidential Dear sirs, Re: Atlantic Electronic Co. Ltd. We are sorry to say that our experiences with the company which you enquired about in your letter of July 9 have been unsatisfactory. It is true we were in business relations with the firm of the last two years and on several occasions we have had lots of trouble in effecting settlements. The company still owes US $ 1,600 for purchase made over 7 months ago. The account is now in the hand of our attorneys for collection. [ə'tə:ni] May we ask that you treat this information as strictly confidential without responsibility on our part. Yours truly,

 Settlement: 结算, 支付  Cash settlement 现金结算  Collection: 托收  Collection is not pay.  托收款未能照付。

Useful Patterns:  Our prospective customers…have given us your name as a banking reference.  我们的潜在客户 … 把您定为他们的银行证明人。  ….have referred us to you that… for information concerning their standing.  … 介绍我们向您了解他们的资信情况。  We should be very grateful to you for any information you can give us about their reputation and credit- worthiness.  我们非常感谢您能给予我们有关他们的声誉和资信情 况的情报。  We should be obliged / appreciated if you would let us know / inform us/ assist us…

 We shall be most grateful for any information you can obtain for us.  Will you please be good enough to / be so kind as to furnish us with…?  We assure you that any information will be treated in absolute confidence.  Any information we receive from you, of course, will be held in strict confidence.  We thank you for your courtesy and assure you of strict confidence.

 This information is confidential and is given without any responsibility on our part.  This information is supplied in the strictest confidence.  信用良好的情报：  We inform you that we can give nothing but favorable information about the firm in question.  我们只能向您报告，该公司在各方面均博得好评。  The firm enjoys the fullest respect and unquestionable confidence in the business world.  In all these years our relations with them have been consistently and entirely satisfactory.

 信用不佳的情报：  We are sorry we are not able to give accurate information you ask.  We regret that we must advise you to regard their request for credit with caution.  遗憾的是我们必须奉劝你方要谨慎对待该行提出的贷 款要求。  Our own experience with them has not been satisfactory.

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