David Lee Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Hi is this 8% a month for late fees. I have been waiting 10 months for £580 It is 8% above base rate - set at certain periods of the year. At present it is 8.5% per year so it doesn't amount to huge amounts (yours is approx 14p per day. But, and more importantly, you can charge compensation for lack of payment which should be £40 per debt for debts below £1000. Google late payments of debts act for more info and form letters to send off. If in any doubt send the letters "signed for" via royal mail so you have proof of delivery. You may think £580 is not a lot but in terms of cash flow it may be everything. If it is owed to you it should be paid, end of story. You should start chasing as soon as the payment is late, then maybe as a group we can stop this shoddy practice of thinking the self employed are easy targets. The law is pretty good on this for us and very simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbotsmike Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 £580 is hardly pocket change, expecially for smaller companies/people working alone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfmonk Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=36537 I've been through it all fairly recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzAV Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I read these threads getting more and more annoyed at the protection offered to those that owe us money and seem to have no intention of paying it back. Why can't we just intimidate and abuse these people until they pay-up?? Then I recalled my time in a past life when I worked in the accounts receivable for Nestle in Croydon. One of the people that was on my list owed about £1500.00 and I would periodically chase her for the money she eventually went bankrupt, one day we received a letter, telling us of this women's death. Turns out her husband had run off with the money from the shop and left her with lots of debt and nothing to pay it with, she had been pursued by a couple of debt collectors, even after going bankrupt, she was being visited at home by heavies asking her for the cash or property and being threatened. She eventually put her kid in the car and drove off a cliff. I know most of the people who owe us money are pulling a fast one or being untruthful but I guess the law has to ensure it protects those individuals who are having a very bad time of it. I know this doesn't help anyone, just explains a little why the Law is the way it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 We do have good protection from late payers, we just have to keep on top of credit control and be willing to pursue it within the law. It may take time but that is also because debtors have the right to some time to sort the problem out themselves. The problem comes when there is no correspondance. If the debtor refuses to talk to the debtee it can be very frustrating. If there is a problem paying then they can explain that to the people they owe money to and usually an arrangement can be made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I have (on nehalf of our venue) have a claim going through the system which went via MCOL - something we've had to do in the past. The current case is against a young woman who set up a theatre 'academy' using us as a base, and had a good start. First show went reasonably well, but whilst the performance quality was there, the business acumen was not. She basically dug herself in too deep over her 2nd and 3rd shows and for various reasons she managed to blag her way past settling hire bills on time. That led to her being told that until settlement was made her academy was no longer able to use the premises. Came on bended knee about 18 months back saying she'd had some funding (which she indeed had) and would we take her back...After a lot of negotiation and a payment plan being worked out, we allowed her to restart.However, bills still didn't get paid on time, so longer story shortened, after further renegotiation stalled, we pulled the plug on the planned show. Basically the woman has stuck her head in the sand - she said she would fight any court action, but failed to even put in a defence, and failed to appear at court. We had the judgement rule in our favour, so went through the next stage of offering to accept saged payments - but not even a simple response was received. So - passed the matter into the hands of the bailiffs last month. Which also fell on stony ground as she'd moved back in to live with her mother, so all assets in the house are declared as her mum's, meaning the bailiff wasn't able to sieze anything at all. She is currently unemployed (this academy was supposedly going to be her employment) so we can't tag her earnings. All of which means that our theatre is currently almost £2k out of pocket due to the total lack of business sense of an individual who we placed a good deal of trust in. Short of sending some boys round (and no, I'm NOT seriously considering that...) we're at a bit of an impasse here... So good luck with your claims. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 If she's unemployed, and presumably therefore claiming state benefit, is there no way that her payment installments can be deducted from that? SUrely if the court have found in your favour and ruled that this woman has to pay up, and have agreed a staged payment plan, they have the power to stipulate that payments should be deducted from her benefits. Or does it not work that way? I don't know ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 If she's unemployed, and presumably therefore claiming state benefit, is there no way that her payment installments can be deducted from that? SUrely if the court have found in your favour and ruled that this woman has to pay up, and have agreed a staged payment plan, they have the power to stipulate that payments should be deducted from her benefits. Or does it not work that way? I don't know ...Really not sure what the next step is going to be.The bailiff's still had a few days of their 'courtesy' period left when I spoke to them last, but think that's now expired. so I guess I'll have another chat early next week.I don't know, but I had heard that it is NOT possible to attach her benefits in the same way as it would have been to do so with a pay packet - but something else to look into. I'm also having to stringly resist the urge to plaster the case all over the local press - much as it would help me release some anger towards the situation I fear it wouldn't really help anything.Unfortunately... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Its always harder to get the money out of somebody who hasn't got the money. It is a shame when trust is lost as the next person to approach you will probably get short shrift unless they can put together a really good plan. Luckily I deal with established companies rather than individuals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I'm also having to stringly resist the urge to plaster the case all over the local press - much as it would help me release some anger towards the situation I fear it wouldn't really help anything.On the other hand, if it saves someone else from being stung as a result of her woefully inadequate business acumen, then it might be justified ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Luckily I deal with established companies rather than individuals. If there is any lesson from last couple of years it is that `established companies` can be just as flaky as insolvent individuals :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I'm also having to stringly resist the urge to plaster the case all over the local press - much as it would help me release some anger towards the situation I fear it wouldn't really help anything.On the other hand, if it saves someone else from being stung as a result of her woefully inadequate business acumen, then it might be justified ...Believe me, the temptation hasn't gone away...And also be assured that I (and others) are certainly keeping a VERY wary eye on her situation..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 If there is any lesson from last couple of years it is that `established companies` can be just as flaky as insolvent individuals :-( That is true, sorry, when I said "established" I really meant companies that have established a relationship with me, I know them personally and know what there payment is like. So far I have had two companies that I will not work for and have lost no money in bad debts since becoming self employed in the early 90's. The only action I have out at the moment is one for compensation charges not paid from a late payment of debt that has ben part paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfmonk Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 Try a garnishee order combined with summoning them to court for information gathering purposes. C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerdydd Posted March 15, 2010 Author Share Posted March 15, 2010 Hi all, Apologies for not getting back earlier, eventually got BECTU in, who chased down the company and were excellent at getting my money! Thanks for all who have replied, as I'm sure it will help many others in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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