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Paid invoices make the world go around

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Photo by Mohamed Hassan / CC0 1.0

Late payments are the bane of a business owner’s life. They limit cash flow and prevent you from paying your own bills. In the aftermath, suppliers feel disgruntled, your stock runs low, and perhaps you can’t pay your employees. Whatever the effects, it’s safe to say, they’re not pretty. Unfortunately, this is something that typical business insurance policies don’t cover.

So how do you deal with late paying customers and clients? We’re glad you asked because there are a few simple measures you can take to protect you and your business.

Discuss terms upfront

Before you provide a service or a product, make sure that your customer or client understands the payment terms. Some business clients assume that they have 30-days to make payment while others may even assume they have three months. Be sure to clearly outline how soon they must pay so they can budget accordingly.

Ask for 50% deposits

Some service providers ask that their clients make a deposit of up to 50% of the full payment before they carry out any work. This 50% should ensure that your own expenses are covered and allows you to pay your employees or suppliers on time. Not all clients or customers will agree to this, so again, be upfront and honest about your plans.

Make late payments fees part of your terms

Late payment fees are a great way to discourage clients from taking advantage of the line of credit you extended. Once this is clearly outlined in your original payment terms, then they can have no complaints when you charge them extra for being late. Ideally, you’ll never have to charge them as this is more of a deterrent than anything else.

Offer discounts for upfront payments

A 5% discount for full payment upfront is a nice benefit that many of your customers and clients will jump at. While you may make a bit less on the deal, the security of having that payment upfront is well worth the cost. Just ensure that the discount doesn’t mean you lose money on the deal. No need to be too generous!

Consider a short-term loan

If all of your measures to limit or prevent late payments have failed, then you may find yourself in a position where cash flow is low and paying your own bills or employees’ wages is a struggle. In this case, a short-term loan could be the solution. Even if your credit score has taken a beating due to matters outside your control, a short-term lender will still be able to help you. While it’s not an ideal scenario, it does provide you with a safety net of sorts should your clients fail to make payment on time.

Don’t offer credit

This is the toughest one of all but the most effective. If you set a policy that all services and products must be paid for upfront, then you’ll never have a problem with late payments. You may feel like this isn’t possible, but it’s your business, and you can set your own terms. If you are providing high-quality service that guarantees satisfaction, then your clients and customers won’t think twice about paying upfront.

Unfortunately, late payments are part and parcel of business life. Dealing with them could be the difference between staying afloat and shutting up shop. So take a moment to consider the tips outlined above before agreeing to providing a service without upfront payment.

Things to know about energy mis-sellling

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Miss-sold energy has become frequent in the recent days. It is a situation in which you are billed more than the actual amount for any form energy like gas or electricity The energy companies make profits more than any other sector by miss-selling or miss-billing but their customer satisfaction tends to fall. . If you are one of the victims who had emptied your pockets spending pounds and dollars for paying these bills, you have the right to claim back the amount. You can also get the compensation of missing your savings.

Miss-sold energy bills and disputes errors

The independent energy Ombudsman can award you compensation up to 5000 Euros and the average given so far is 150 Euros.

How to claw back money for wrong energy bills

You have to check some points before finalizing that you have been miss-sold or miss-billed. To check if you have been miss-sold, you need to confirm any one of these like whether they have switched without your permission, whether they have provided you with direct debits to pay less but actually paid more. Direct debits may be offered by the supplier after knowing what you are paying, thus encouraging you to switch. But later they will charge you more. You also need to check whether have been sold any fixed tariffs without explaining you about how it works. Fixed tariffs are nothing but the amount you pay irrespective of whether the prices increase or decrease. There are also other tariffs like capped tariffs which will ensure you not to go above a certain level, tracker tariffs which follow above or below the standard rates. Lastly, check whether you have not been informed about the cancellation fees or the cooling off period and about how to cancel it.

Compensation for Bill error

To get the compensation, you need to follow some guidelines that will help you through this procedure. You need to complain to the supplier as the first step. This complaint should be in the form of a letter which has a standard template. If the complaint is not very serious, you can let the supplier know about it by just calling him over phone. If there is no response for more than two months, you can take the complaint directly to Ombudsman. Ombudsman is an independent body which settles the disputes in the fields of communication energy, licensing sectors and property. The information needed to be provided are the date you first complained to the supplier, the steps taken by you and the supplier about the problem, the type of resolution you need and if it is money , you need to say what it is based on.

It is important to file the complaint as soon as you find the problem because the Ombudsman can investigate your complaints only within nine months from the day of noticing the problem. If your supplier gave a wrong bill ten years back, you cannot claim the compensation now. There is also a case, when the supplier made the mistake some two years ago but you have noticed it just now, then the Ombudsman may have a chance to look into your complaint.

Guest post Written by www.money-meerkat.co.uk