Debt Collectors

Can anybody recommend me a decent debt collector, havent used one for a few years thanks Gary

Is there such a thing as a decent debt collector?

Is it that bad gary?

Yes it is, my wife is a fully qualified accountant and has been for over 20 years, I'm getting grief for not having been paid, every night she asks have I been paid, I say no then get a lecture, i'm fucking sick of it.

Give Nigel Wilkinson a ring, decent guy but stands no nonsense...

http://www.norbiz.co.uk/Northern-Business-Associates-Contact/

Just wish I had met him before the illustrious collumpton man...

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Yes it is, my wife is a fully qualified accountant and has been for over 20 years, I'm getting grief for not having been paid, every night she asks have I been paid, I say no then get a lecture, i'm fucking sick of it.

Not sure if you need a debt collector? Why dont you give your wife the task of being the debt collector, that will get her off your back at least? .. Especially when the norm for payment can be anything from sameday to 120+ days depending on business types, but thats down to you and your terms of business..

Just give the wife a rolling pin and send her out.

Any solicitor should be able to sort this out for you, just don't forget to keep piling on the daily interest at 8% over the base rate plus any legal costs, and don't forget to keep sending out the letters and calling.

They will most likely pay up quite quickly once they start getting them.

An mtvan member invited me to bid for a job. He gave it to me and I performed it properly. He invited me to submit invoice by email, which I did, with BACS details included on the invoice. Although the price was agreed, there was no discussion of payment terms, so when I invoiced, I included my terms, "Payment Terms 14 days, Due 02-Apr-14".

I haven't been paid. It was only a small amount, so not worth even considering Debt Collectors, so I shall send copies marked "Overdue" and he'll get lousy feedback when (if) I ever do get paid!

Scott Reid said: just don't forget to keep piling on the daily interest at 8% over the base rate plus any legal costs, and don't forget to keep sending out the letters and calling.

That is worked out of course on a daily basis which currently amounts to 0.022% per day..... for a £1,000 debt 60 day interest is a whooping £13, you are required to send another invoice for the interest, late payment fees or interest are not vat chargable

Time for statuary late payment charges I think!

https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery,

Don't bother with debt collectors they are a total waste of time for the people with more CCJ's than customers like you know who!

The debt goes bac

Dennis said:

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An mtvan member invited me to bid for a job. He gave it to me and I performed it properly. He invited me to submit invoice by email, which I did, with BACS details included on the invoice. Although the price was agreed, there was no discussion of payment terms, so when I invoiced, I included my terms, "Payment Terms 14 days, Due 02-Apr-14".

I haven't been paid. It was only a small amount, so not worth even considering Debt Collectors, so I shall send copies marked "Overdue" and he'll get lousy feedback when (if) I ever do get paid!

14 days I wish, these debts go back Nov/Dec last year.

Interesting comment re mtvan work. As no one has their payment terms listed on their profiles, one can hardly then complain if your terms differ to the vendors terms, unless its pointed out before the job is accepted by both parties beforehand (unlikely). There is an assumption, rightly or wrongly that any work is generally 30 day payment terms, so i think it would be very useful to include your payment terms on your profiles.

Admin, one for you to add me thinx.. To avoid any confusion, and therefore any unjustified feedback

Speed Couriers Nationwide Ltd said:

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Interesting comment re mtvan work. As no one has their payment terms listed on their profiles, one can hardly then complain if your terms differ to the vendors terms, unless its pointed out before the job is accepted by both parties beforehand (unlikely). There is an assumption, rightly or wrongly that any work is generally 30 day payment terms, so i think it would be very useful to include your payment terms on your profiles.

Admin, one for you to add me thinx.. To avoid any confusion, and therefore any unjustified feedback

I have been caught out a few times as I generally accepted that 30 days is the norm, however I accept that if I have omitted to ask then I accept the vendors terms supersede mine it is quite simple

Sound advice Speed and one that's been heeded.

Too many wonkers in this game but I'm going to have the last laugh.

MK BIKES said:

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Scott Reid said: just don't forget to keep piling on the daily interest at 8% over the base rate plus any legal costs, and don't forget to keep sending out the letters and calling.

That is worked out of course on a daily basis which currently amounts to 0.022% per day..... for a £1,000 debt 60 day interest is a whooping £13, you are required to send another invoice for the interest, late payment fees or interest are not vat chargable

Nope you charge £40 late payment fee for £1000 or less debt, plus you apply 8% above the current base rate (0.5%) so the interest is 8.5% daily.

As if

The Gov.uk says

The late payment charge of £40 can also be issued in retrospect, so if you've had enough of a late payer you can write them a carefully worded letter saying that if they don't pay on time you will issue a late payment fee for every invoice for some considerable time back, I believe it to be up to 6 years

Here's a calculator and very usefull to...

Or Alternatively I have Cathy as Backup, she beats dept collectors. She is a good friend of mine.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Can anybody recommend me a decent debt collector, havent used one for a few years thanks Gary

Thomas higgins, look on their website

Speed Couriers Nationwide Ltd said:

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Interesting comment re mtvan work. As no one has their payment terms listed on their profiles, one can hardly then complain if your terms differ to the vendors terms, unless its pointed out before the job is accepted by both parties beforehand (unlikely). There is an assumption, rightly or wrongly that any work is generally 30 day payment terms, so i think it would be very useful to include your payment terms on your profiles.

Admin, one for you to add me thinx.. To avoid any confusion, and therefore any unjustified feedback

Payment terms on profiles? This was a phone call to me inviting a quote. In that circumstance, is anyone going to say "hang on whilst I go home to my computer and look up your profile to see if you have terms which I don't agree with before I quote"? I don't have the rep to allow me to look at profiles anyway! Frankly, I'd prefer the site to check these matters when they take in new members, then they headline the site with "Every member observes (and accepts as standard, payment terms of xx days from date of invoice (or end of month or whatever the site Admin concluded was the best [single] condition to suit both parties)." (It would of course be a bigger headline, saying about insurances, phones and addresses being checked etc), it is, after all, a trade exchange site and such things should be its backbone and should also be standardised for ALL members as a site protocol.

Let's face it, somebody wants a subbie, neither party wants to be farting about wondering what the terms and conditions between them are. That's where the likes of TNT, CitySprint et al are quite clear - they shaft you, pay very little, expect the earth in return and you both know it. Just a case of them ringing and saying they want you in Timbuctoo by 04:30 tomorrow and you tug your forelock, bend over, and reach for the vaseline!

Gas Motorcycle Couriers said:

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Here's a calculator and very usefull to...

Very useful, cheers gas

The calculator shows that the interest is pants, your time is worth more than the interest

It would be far easier if people didnt pick up the phone and call you unless they had money in there bank accounts to pay you.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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It would be far easier if people didnt pick up the phone and call you unless they had money in there bank accounts to pay you.

Agreed

I find it staggering that there seems so much confusion about what an 8% charge actually means, then again we did have the same tosh going on about VAT last year didn't we... Lol

Late payment and the interest rate you can charge isn't much of an incentive for the debtor to pay in my view. £1000 over 12months equates to an extra charge of £155... Hardly enough for them to lose sleep over is it

Speed Couriers Nationwide Ltd said:

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I find it staggering that there seems so much confusion about what an 8% charge actually means, then again we did have the same tosh going on about VAT last year didn't we... Lol

Late payment and the interest rate you can charge isn't much of an incentive for the debtor to pay in my view. £1000 over 12months equates to an extra charge of £155... Hardly enough for them to lose sleep over is it

As MK pointed out, this charge can be issued for invoices as far back as 6 years, so if you have a customer who regularly pays late, it can indeed be very lucrative.

If you have a customer that regularly pays late then i suggest you don't work for them again.

The bigger the company the harder it can be. It can take so long to get your money that there really is no point helping them out. You then get stuck with the dilemna of thinking you have to keep doing the work otherwise you may jeopordsie getting paid for what you've aleady done. Tiz a fools game, plays havoc with your cashflow and shows a complete lack of respect on there point towards you.

I do agree with you there Rob, however when my mate and I first started doing courier work we had a client that always paid anything up to two weeks late.

We just took it on the chin, although we always called them up and hassled them for payment.

After the first year when we had enough work from other sources we sent them a £40 late payment charge plus interest for each invoice (which was effectively every invoice).

Since we no longer wanted their work it was a rather profitable way to end the business relationship with them. :-)

You can only charge late payments and interest if it is stated on the bottom of your invoice

The bigger the company the harder it can be

Thats because the people you are dealing with dont give a shit, about anyoneas its not there business and not there money

SMH said:

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You can only charge late payments and interest if it is stated on the bottom of your invoice

Or if you notify them in writing 7 days before the charge

MK BIKES said:

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SMH said:

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You can only charge late payments and interest if it is stated on the bottom of your invoice

Or if you notify them in writing 7 days before the charge

Thought it still had to be on the bottom of the invoice

Gary,

As mentioned above send them a bill for late payment with the following item

Late Payment Fee: The Late Payment Of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 Incorporating European Directive 2000/35/EC

The charges are listed on this page

https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/claim-debt-recovery-costs

Remember if there are multiple invoices you can charge the fee on each invoice.

What then happens is one of two things.

1. They send you payment quickly for the original amount, you can then decide if you want to pursue those extra charges. I tend to make a judgement call on that depending how annoyed I am.
2. They ignore the bills in which case go to Money Claim Online and issue a summons.

Cheers everyone who commented.

A judgement doesn't mean jack.

We took a bloke through the courts and had a judgement, Still not paid.

It wasn't huge amount but it's the principal. We the called the enforcement section who told us that enforcement would be a further £60.00. This didn't guarantee that the person will pay and they will only visit twice and if no joy they will return the debt.

I then called a private Certified bailiff and told him the situation. He said forget it mate it isn't worth the hassle. If they know the law they can just tell us that the person doesn't live there. We only visit twice and then return the debt to you.

I would like to know how come the council will hound you to death for a £60.00 PCN.

Nottingham & Derby Couriers said:

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A judgement doesn't mean jack.

We took a bloke through the courts and had a judgement, Still not paid.

It wasn't huge amount but it's the principal. We the called the enforcement section who told us that enforcement would be a further £60.00. This didn't guarantee that the person will pay and they will only visit twice and if no joy they will return the debt.

I then called a private Certified bailiff and told him the situation. He said forget it mate it isn't worth the hassle. If they know the law they can just tell us that the person doesn't live there. We only visit twice and then return the debt to you.

I would like to know how come the council will hound you to death for a £60.00 PCN.

This is why we waited a couple of years to begin pursuing the late payment fees and interest.

That way there were about 6 invoices per month across the two years which the company always paid late (anything up to two weeks) and they were always snotty about it when we phoned them.

So all those late payment charges plus the combined interest per invoice for two years was well worth chasing.