Debt Recovery – Get Your Business in Shape in 2019
At the start of a new year, individuals often make resolutions about getting healthier and back in shape. Why not take some positive steps to help your business get in shape too and tackle any problems with bad debt that over time can creep up and have a significant impact on your cash flow.
Our debt recovery team have created a set of top 10 tips to help your business get in shape in 2019.
Rule 1 – NO credit
If you have payment on delivery or service provision (or upfront) then there is no bill to chase. If you feel compelled to offer credit, do so only to your customers with a proven track record of payment and after a course of transactions, as an exception rather than the norm to build that relationship of trust first.
Rule 2 – Have some rules
You know T&C’s Terms and Conditions. You should stipulate what your terms are – do you allow 28 days to pay? DON’T cobble them together from the internet and copy and paste from your suppliers T&C’s – they invariably won’t be right, appropriate and believe me it will be false economy. Get a solicitor to prepare a properly tailored set for you.
Rule 3 – Stick to the rules
What’s the point of having rules if you don’t stick to them? Make sure you stick to them. No hesitation, deviation or variation.
Rule 4 – Chase ‘em
That’s right – chase your debts. At first not in a rude, aggressive manner, but in the first instance with a polite reminder enquiring when your defaulting customer will be settling their bill. This flushes a lot of them out as sometimes people genuinely forget or lose track of time.
Rule 4b – Chase ‘em again
Don’t hesitate, don’t doubt yourself; write again, or even better pick up the phone, and politely ask for the money to be paid to you – and enquire if there are any difficulties. If there are difficulties are you willing to accept a payment plan – say three instalments. It may not be an ideal scenario but an agreed plan can be better and cheaper than other options.
Rule 5 – Stop chasing and take the gloves off.
So you’ve chased, you’ve chased again and you’ve been told the cheque is in the post, they’ve been on holiday, the dog has eaten their wallet or their mother in laws next door neighbour’s budgerigar has escaped and they have been too distraught deal with their affairs and keep your livelihood on track. Its time to get serious. Send a final letter, and 1 letter only, Simply saying this:
Dear Bob
The amount of £x in respect of our fees remains outstanding.
Unless the same is settled within 7 days, we will instruct our solicitors to issue court proceedings against you.
Yours
Etc
Rule 6 – Instruct the lawyers
A letter from a lawyer signals a formal approach to debt collection and often is enough to see the account settled.
Rule 7 – Issue court proceedings
If payment still remains outstanding then Court may be necessary. You can issue a claim yourself, using the Court service web site, or you can instruct the lawyer to do it. It’s pretty straightforward and the court fee will depend on the amount you are claiming. You also get the benefit of Statutory interest. That’s a fabulous 8% – better than any bank is offering.
Rule 8 – Use your diary
Stick to the dates set down by the court, and watch the calendar, if your debtor misses the date that their reply or defence is due. Ask the court to enter “judgment in default”. Hey presto you now have a court enforceable order confirming that you have the right to recover your debt, the court fee, and the fabulous 8% interest from your non paying customer (by this point you can be pretty sure they are no longer a customer of yours – but it has been known for customers to come back even after this)
Rule 9 – Enforce
That’s right – enforce your judgment . There are several ways to do this. But by far the best way is to instruct a High Court Enforcement officer. These guys (you have seen some of them on the telly) have the right to enter property and seize goods. They are good and they are motivated by money – they get paid based on results.
Rule 10 – Forcing blood from a stone
Don’t chase money from people who haven’t got anything. You are wasting your time – before you have got here and before you are offering credit do some credit checks to ensure that they are going to be able to meet your fees.
PS. Know your customer
Are you dealing with an individual, a partnership, a limited company, who are the directors and where is the registered office. Too often when solicitors are asked to chase debts, it is apparent that the identity of the entity, who the debt is being chased against, is not known, no full name, no address, uncertainty as to whereabouts etc. Always take full details – address and land line telephone numbers. Business debts are different from personal debts and they are quite separate unless there are personal guarantees in place.
