Tuesday 24 February 2009

DUE2PAY addresses late payment, what businesses want

Never before has the need for businesses to pull together been as important as now. For many a day UK companies have been regarded as ruthless and with a reputation as being the latest of the late with regard to being late payers. The government has put in place legislation over the years to stop payment delays and with the extra bonus of adding interest to overdue invoices. There has been no indication that take up has been popular

One of the main reasons that businesses in the UK have taken to increase their payment times was the increase in interest rates. During periods of high interest rates businesses naturally resorted to using their suppliers as a bank able to give low interest loans but in their case, it is interest free. When a company extends paying an invoice by 1 month, that business will not have to fund the equivalent amount with their bank, it also means that they do not have to approach the bank for a loan for that amount. We now know that banks are more reluctant than ever to advance loans. Even today even considering the reduced interest rates the delay of paying continues as a way of managing cash flow.
Industry late payment figures have surprised observers of industry trends, they fear that the uncertainty in the economy will make things worse for those who supply the late payers. The downturn in the economy, the heavy discounting by retailers is getting worse and with the global economic conditions and anything that a company can do to retain cash for as long as possible will be even more attractive. This trend to late payment is in spite of the legislation phased in since 1998 which was designed to develop a better payment practice by letting businesses ask for or claim interest on Invoices that have not been paid on time.
The UK dependency on late payment is detrimental to business, jobs and also global trading. It is thought that one of the biggest challenges to increasing the growth of business is late payment and lack of bank loans. They go hand in hand. If a bank is not lending to businesses, the supplier will be put under pressure and will suffer.

All businesses which supply others have to be aware of tools which can help them be more successful. When considering new business, a company credit check is usually the first port of call, although giving historical information they are extremely good to use. Other methods which are available such as http://www.due2pay.co.uk/ , business debt collection and solicitor’s letters may be thought to be aggressive but can be essential today. DUE2PAY has a novel way which to tackle late payment taking the company credit check to a new level. Companies have been wanting a central register of late payers for a long time. These businesses can now list a late paying company and other members have sight of this information, simple.
Late payment has traditionally been very one sided in favour of the late payer, DUE2PAY addresses this in giving the late payer the chance to flag up a reason for his late payment of a specific invoice or invoices. Every member of DUE2PAY can access this information and all members can contact the late payer or other members. Court action or solicitor’s letters do not offer this service. Debt recovery now has a meaningful alternative with DUE2PAY.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Try DUE2PAY and the on stop accounts will start again

From www.due2pay.co.uk, the easy way to manage late payment and debt recovery. Follow the link to find a 60 day free trial and a low monthly membership for features to help your business.

The business world is a two way affair between Customers and Suppliers. Whilst things look gloomy on the payment front, customers will look at legitimate ways to delay payment.
Legitimate ? ? Yes, they may ask for extended terms. They will want to do this to create a buffer in their business. They don't want to be subjected to business debt collection agencies knocking on their door. They don't want to have a company credit check show them as a bad risk. Many suppliers will put their customers on stop, an onstop system is fine until pressure is placed on the supplier, it may be the threat of losing business to a competitr or being held responsible for their customer ceasing to trade.

Banks have been concentrating on quantity of loans and will look closely at the quality of loans with their accounts. A move could may take place to change interest only loans to another style, perhapes those which show more payment off to the capital other types certainly ones which show payment to the capital. Some banks may not be concerned about losing customers as other banks will not want to pick up the business.
The credit cycle is forever ightening, it’s a knock on effect throughout industry.
One business starts to tighten its terms and it cascades right down the supply chain.

Make sure you and your staff are on the watch out for the tell tale signs of late payment. These are numerous, amongst them are late delivery of cheques, bouncing cheques and excuses over the telephone.

Look at your existing businesses now, any which are showing signs of slowing their payment should be monitored regularly. Overdue Accounts which are allowed to stay that way are difficult to turn round. Don’t forget that if customer has problems now in paying outstanding debts, then it will be hard to catch up unless his customers start to pay monies owed to him on time.

Debt recovery from a company on the slide is a hard thing especially if they have been with you for a long time. Tough decisions need to be made especially if you have developed close personal times with the key players.

New customers need to be subjected to a normal company credit check there is no harm in vetting them using other industry sources. Information can be gleaned from Companies House and any of the other credit referencing companies which use their information.