FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Petersburg, FL | Contact: [email protected]
April 2, 2026
CANNABIZ CREDIT ASSOCIATION
The Cannabis Industry Has a Credit Bureau. CCA 2.0 Sets the Standard.
With $2.6B+ in reported AR data, real-time collections intelligence from CannaBIZ Collects, and the debut of the Best Payers Index, CCA 2.0 redefines what it means to know who you are doing business with in cannabis.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Cannabiz Credit Association (CCA), the cannabis industry’s first and only dedicated credit reporting bureau and trade intelligence platform, today announced the launch of CCA 2.0, a landmark platform upgrade that cements its position as the definitive source of accounts receivable, collections, and credit risk data for cannabis operators across the country.
Already trusted by hundreds of licensed cannabis operators and ancillary companies nationwide, CCA has become the backbone of credit and collections infrastructure for brands, distributors, manufacturers, and service providers who can no longer afford to extend terms without data. CCA 2.0 expands that foundation with new tools, deeper intelligence, and a platform built for the realities of how cannabis businesses actually operate today. CCA data shows that more than 55% of cannabis invoices are paid late. The problem is not isolated. It is systemic, and it demands a systemic solution.
“In 2015, I watched $500,000 walk out the door as a cannabis CEO in Colorado. I built CannaBIZ Collects to help operators get paid, and every client asked the same question: how do we make sure this never happens again? CCA was built to answer it, by listening to operators and doing whatever it takes to reduce their risk."
Brett Gelfand, Founder, Cannabiz Credit Association
Built by an Operator Who Lived the Problem
CCA was not born in a boardroom. It was born out of necessity. In 2015, Brett Gelfand was a cannabis CEO running a vertically integrated operation in Colorado when he discovered firsthand how difficult it was to know whether a buyer would actually pay. There was no infrastructure, no transparency, and no recourse. The result was bad debt, strained relationships, and lost revenue that operators across the country were silently absorbing.
In 2017, Gelfand founded CannaBIZ Collects (CBC), the first collections agency purpose-built for the cannabis industry, to solve the back-end problem. Then, in 2023, he launched CCA to solve the front end: giving operators the data they need before extending credit, not after the damage is done.
The Data Advantage No Competitor Can Match
CCA's mandate is simple but powerful: every member is required to report their accounts receivable data every single month. No exceptions. This mandatory reporting structure is what separates CCA from every other platform, group, or bureau attempting to serve cannabis trade credit:
$2.6 billion+ in reported cannabis trade credit data across the membership network
Hundreds of licensed cannabis operators and ancillary companies actively reporting and utilizing CCA insights today
Members include industry leaders such as Jeeter, Rove, Leafly, eBottles, and hundreds more spanning cultivation, distribution, retail, and ancillary services
Exclusive real-time collections data pipeline from CannaBIZ Collects, delivering thousands of verified collection claims as early risk indicators
All reported data held in strict anonymity, aggregated to generate objective risk ratings from Low Risk to High Risk, with no individual member’s proprietary AR data ever exposed
No Facebook group has this. No blacklist has this. No competing platform has this. CCA’s mandatory reporting model means the dataset grows every single month, compounding its accuracy and value in ways that passive, self-reported, or anecdotally sourced platforms simply cannot replicate.
Strict Data Anonymity. Objective Risk Intelligence.
CCA is built on a principle that makes participation safe and the data trustworthy: all member-reported AR data is held in strict confidence. No member ever sees another member’s raw data or proprietary accounts receivable records.
Instead, CCA aggregates the full membership dataset to generate objective, data-backed risk ratings for buyers across the cannabis supply chain, giving sellers a clear, actionable signal on any account before extending terms, without ever compromising the confidentiality of the members who contributed the underlying data.
This structure is what makes the CCA dataset both honest and scalable. Members report freely because their data is protected. Buyers are rated fairly because the ratings are grounded in real, multi-source AR behavior, not rumors or single-vendor grievances.
Solving Cannabis’s Identity Problem: Proprietary License Matching and Dynamic Search
One of the most underappreciated challenges in cannabis commerce is knowing whether the company you’re dealing with is actually who they say they are. Cannabis businesses operate under a labyrinth of DBAs, parent entities, legal names, and trade names that rarely match cleanly across state licensing databases, invoices, and credit applications. Getting this wrong means your risk data is useless and your credit decisions are built on a false identity.
CCA’s data team has spent years solving this problem. Through a proprietary matching process, CCA has systematically cross-referenced reported trade lines against state cannabis regulator license information across the country, finally bringing clarity to who is who in cannabis.
The result is CCA’s Proprietary License Lookup and Dynamic Search, available exclusively to members. Before extending terms to any buyer, members can search by company name, DBA, license number, or state, and instantly surface the verified licensed entity behind the account. This is not a directory. It is a living, continuously updated identity layer built specifically for the realities of cannabis commerce.
“In cannabis, the same company can operate under five different names across three states and two license types. If you don’t know exactly who you’re dealing with before you extend credit, all the risk data in the world won’t save you. We solved that. No one else has.”
Brett Gelfand, Founder, Cannabiz Credit Association
Full AR Management: Flag Risk Before It Becomes Bad Debt
CCA 2.0 goes beyond lookup and reporting. Members can now manage their entire accounts receivable list directly within the platform, giving credit and collections teams a single, data-enriched view of every outstanding account.
As new CCA data and CBC collection claims are added to the platform, members are automatically flagged when an account they are actively carrying begins to show risk indicators backed by the broader membership dataset. This means operators are no longer waiting for an invoice to go 90 days past due to discover a buyer has a pattern of delinquency across multiple vendors. They find out early, when they can still act.
Key AR management capabilities in CCA 2.0 include:
Upload and manage your full AR list within the CCA platform
Automatic risk flagging when accounts on your AR list trigger data-backed risk indicators
Risk ratings updated continuously as new member data and CBC collection claims are reported
Side-by-side view of payment history, risk rating, and outstanding terms for every account
Introducing the Best Payers Index: Reward the Relationships Worth Keeping
CCA 2.0 also debuts the Best Payers Index, a proprietary ranking that surfaces the cannabis buyers with the strongest, most consistent payment track records across the CCA member network.
For too long, credit tools in cannabis have been exclusively focused on identifying bad actors. The Best Payers Index changes that entirely. For the first time, cannabis operators can identify which accounts deserve more favorable terms and deeper credit lines, based on verified payment data rather than intuition. Members can search by state market, review the buyers with the strongest payment histories in that market, and use that intelligence to prioritize outreach, qualify accounts before extending terms, and approach new markets with real confidence.
Turning data into a competitive advantage for growth, not just risk avoidance.
“The best operators don’t just want to avoid bad buyers,” said Gelfand. “They want to double down on the good ones. The Best Payers Index gives them a data-backed reason to do exactly that.”
“The best operators don’t just want to avoid bad buyers. They want to double down on the good ones. The Best Payers Index gives them a data-backed reason to do exactly that.”
Brett Gelfand, Founder, Cannabiz Credit Association
Exclusive CBC Partnership: Real-Time Collection Claims as Early Warning Signals
CCA 2.0 deepens the exclusive integration with CannaBIZ Collects, the industry’s leading cannabis collections agency. When a vendor places a buyer into collections with CBC, that claim is automatically surfaced as a risk indicator within CCA’s platform, in real time.
This is not self-reported. It is not anecdotal. It is verified, operationally grounded data that functions as the earliest possible signal of a buyer going delinquent. Thousands of real-time CBC collection claims are now flowing through the CCA platform, a first-of-its-kind integration that no other platform in cannabis comes close to replicating.
Education as a Pillar: The Ultimate Credit Process Framework
Beyond data and ratings, CCA has developed the Ultimate Credit Process framework, a set of best practices for credit and collections management built collaboratively with feedback from CCA’s own member base.
The framework covers the full credit lifecycle: how to structure credit applications, set appropriate terms for new accounts, manage aging AR, escalate to collections at the right moment, and use data to make defensible credit decisions. Members receive access to Ultimate Credit Process resources, templates, and ongoing education as part of their CCA membership.
A Word on Blacklists: The Legal Risk Nobody Is Talking About
Across the cannabis industry, informal blacklists and Facebook-group warnings have proliferated as operators try to protect themselves from non-payment. CCA understands the impulse. With more than half of cannabis invoices being paid late, the anxiety is real and justified.
But the legal exposure these informal groups create is significant and growing. Unverified, unstructured blacklisting among competitors can constitute antitrust violations, tortious interference, and defamation liability, regardless of intent. As the industry matures, regulators and plaintiffs’ attorneys are paying closer attention.
CCA was built to be the legally sound, transparent, and compliant alternative. Every data point is reported voluntarily by members under structured agreements. Every risk rating is grounded in aggregated, anonymized data. The platform operates within established credit reporting frameworks, giving members the protection of a regulated process rather than the liability of an informal one.
CCA 2.0: What’s New
The 2.0 platform represents the most significant evolution of CCA since its 2023 founding:
Proprietary License Lookup and Dynamic Search matching trade lines to state regulator license data so members always know exactly who they are dealing with
Real-time CBC collections integration surfacing thousands of verified collection claims as early risk indicators
Best Payers Index to identify and reward the accounts with the strongest payment track records in each state market
Full AR management with automatic data-backed risk flagging for every account on your list
Strict anonymity framework aggregating member data into objective risk ratings
Ultimate Credit Process framework and educational resources included with every membership
Enhanced buyer credit profiles drawing on $2.6B+ in trade AR data and hundreds of active reporting members
Rebuilt, tech-forward member dashboard for faster reporting, deeper insights, and more intuitive navigation
See What CCA 2.0 Can Do for Your Business
If your business extends terms to cannabis buyers, CCA gives you the data, tools, and infrastructure to do it with confidence. Hundreds of operators are already using CCA to protect their AR, flag risky accounts before they become write-offs, reward their best customers, and build a credit department that runs on facts, not guesswork.
Schedule a demo at www.cannabizcredit.com
About Cannabiz Credit Association
Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Brett Gelfand, Cannabiz Credit Association is the cannabis industry’s first and only dedicated credit reporting bureau and trade intelligence platform. Hundreds of licensed cannabis operators and ancillary companies across the country actively report and rely on CCA insights today. With $2.6B+ in reported trade credit data, mandatory monthly AR reporting from its membership, an exclusive real-time data pipeline from CannaBIZ Collects, and the Ultimate Credit Process educational framework, CCA provides the most comprehensive and legally compliant credit intelligence available to cannabis operators. CCA’s mission is to bring transparency, trust, and data integrity to cannabis commerce so operators can grow with confidence.
Website: www.cannabizcredit.com
Media Contact: [email protected]