Before 1890, ‘credit men’ had begun to form local associations to share information and work out ways to deal with insolvents. The Panic of 1893, however, acted as a trigger for the formation of a national group – the National Association of Credit Men (NACM). Formed in Toledo, Ohio, in 1896, on the basis of a nucleus of ten existing local associations, it was incorporated in New York State the following year. Despite hesitation and suspicion on the part of credit-reporting firms, attorneys, associations of retailers, and even credit men themselves, the new organization attracted six hundred members initially. This trebled during the first year, and by 1920 the NACM could claim a membership of over thirty-three thousand, making it one of the largest commercial organizations in the world at the time.