You do not need to include as much detail when writing to trade references. Mostly, you want to know how long they have been doing business with the customer and the average amount of time it takes for the customer to pay. You also should inquire as to how much credit these other companies are giving your customer. Again, you can reduce your risk by learning what other companies have already researched. You need to be more cautious with trade references, however, than you do with banks.
Many businesses do a poor job of getting credit information.
In the case of trade references, I would trust your own research more. Credit Cruncher by Interregional Credit Systems, Inc. also includes bank and trade reference verifications. You simply enter the name of the customer, then fill out the bank or trade references name and address right on your computer screen. You can print these one at a time, or enter several and print them all at once. They are instantly ready to be mailed or faxed.