finance charges?

hl_tree

hl_tree

Location
New Fairfield, CT
Normally when I do a pruning or removal job it's COD. Job is done, I get paid. If I have to come back for a stump or something later on, I get paid for what has been done, and get the rest upon completion. If the people are out of town then I'll send a bill and will wait for a check, or I'll go over to collect when they return.

This year has been a bit different though.

Did a job this past winter, terms were set, job is done... all of a sudden they don't have all the money and want to make 2 or 3 payments.

Right now I've got a couple of bucks outstanding with a doctor... that's more than a few weeks out, and a few bucks with a lawyer as well... that's over a week now, with no sign of payment in sight.

What do you guys do in situations like these? I know that with the economy the way it is, this will become a more common occurence... late fees? after how long a time frame?
 
On my estimate sheet I had a payment section written out.
It basically was a copy of what I was going to have with my VISA card. A five dollar minimum service charge for anything beyond 30 days plus the current interest rate which is somewhere around 15%.
 
Call them.
I do it all the time. Don't tick them off, it's ok to sound a little stressed, tell them you're trying to collect so you can pay your bills. Most people are understanding and may have just forgotten to drop a check in the mail.

I have on occasion, had people pull the payment thing on me. But hey, At least I got my money.

Never had to do the late fee, and don't plan to.
 
Usually we go COD, or if they are not home at the time we'll drop an invoice in the mail or email. Most folks are good about it.

Everyonce in a while though we have problems. Most often companies are on a 14 day or 30 day AP cycle so we end up waiting. This includes condo associations.

Seems book keeping doesn't always communicate with management to know the contract.

We try to give people room to move. If they are seriously late then we will hit them with a late fee. Sometimes I wonder if that fee ought to reflect thier attitude!

I do try to remember that I'm not always on time myself and when ever I get cranked up at a late customer I remind myself of parable of the "Unforgiving Servant" (Matt 18:23-35) to temper my frustration.

But then again there are those who intend to cheat you from the beginning and don't give a rat's a$$ what the contract says.

We have a guy who jumped all over us to get the his job "squeezed in today" and has been pissy every since.

His latest attempt to screw us was sending payment for less than he owed us and writing "payment in full" in the memo section.

Here in VT if we had deposited the check it would mean that we accepted it as "Payment in full" and would have had to discount the amount he was short.

Normally if a cust aint happy we'll write off more than what this guy owes, but from the get go this joker was demanding more than the contract stated, threatening us because we didn't do it his way, even though we did it exactly according to the terms of the work order and exactly as we told him we would on the phone.

Normally we just suck it up and walk away from pests, but this guy is so blatant about it that I keep throwing it back at him. I guess I'm treating him like the bully he is and aint gonna let him get away with it.

I figure I can outlast him on this one. Mebbe he'll have a change in attitude.

As bad as this guy is, he is really only the first real jerk we've had to deal with in over 10 years.
 
Chislers are the worst form of consumers.

It was rare that I ever had to add finance charges. Having it on my contract made the client aware of the payment process. When I scheduled the job I would tell the client when we were scheduled to be there, that a statement would be left in their mailbox and that payment was due by return mail.

Having a keen sense of when a client is going to be a bad payer takes some years of getting stung. Find out what the procedure is for filing a lien against their property. It generally doesn't take much effort. At some time the property is going to be sold/refinanced and you'll get paid then.

At one lien property I waited a few years to resolve payment. The client was a jerk and there was some sort of petty problem that they whined about. When my lien was holding up their loan their attitude changed. They were nicey-nicey to me and met me at my convenience to bring payment and the lien waiver.
 
Tom,
I remember that guy.

hl,
That sucks, but one good thing comes out of situations like this, you learn to read people better. If I sense trouble I ask for money down or I just pass on the job. Try to be patient and work with them. If you know , without a doubt, that they're taking advantage of you, file the lien.
 
I just recently added finance charges to my new run of estimate sheets. It is not a heavy fine-- 5% after 30 days, but I am anxious to see if it will help. I have had a few people run me over 90 days on payments, but in 3 years, I have only written off $115 in bad debts. I do tend to get really nasty when they go over 90 days and make it very clear that it is a principle thing with me. I would spend $500 to get paid $200 if it came down to it.
 
I have a statement on my invoices stating 25% late charge after 20 days of invoice date. most times i let it go way past.

ive not filed a lien here but was going to once. I found out in Oklahoma, a contractor has 90 days from the last day worked to file the lein. a sub has 120. I was way over. I doubt i will ever see the money. the house is even currently for sale. ive thought about takeing a load of wood over and dumping it in the driveway.
 
ive not been stiffed yet. been over 60 days before. i offer to some folks to break the bill up at no interest if it helps, won a few jobs that way. i have been thinking of adding a charge after 30 days for those that havent made payment arrangements.
 
In NY a lien has to be renewed annually and cost $300. I have had good luck when it comes to someone like that in court although it takes time. When I broke my arm in05 I finally could justify taking a day to file paper work on a judjement from 2002. 1 month later his vehicle was seized and I got my $$
happydance.gif
 
The doctor paid up, and I've since done other work which he has paid COD with a smile.

The lawyer on the other hand... I'm tempted to go there one night and either torch the house (a weekender) or trash the beamer. His bill is $2,000... he wants to pay me $1,000 and have me sign a "full release" before I get my hands on the check. I'll be going to court after Labor Day if he doesn't send me the check.
 
Hi, newbie here!

Payments are due on completion for us. If customer isn't going to be home, they can leave us a check somewhere for us to grab on our way out, or call in with a credit card. If we have to send out a bill, there is a $10.00 invoice charge (since we shouldn't have to invoice at all). Then, on top of that, there is a 18 APR charge.

I have about 2,000 in receivables that are over a year. We always have over 15,000 in receivables, and have gotten up to 40,000 before, but it trickles in, so it works out okay.

I tried out a collection agency before, and it helped bring in payment from a couple of people, and a couple of others I've sent to the attorney to get taken care of. But really, it's only been a couple of people, and I'm sure eventually, now that I've sent them to the attorney.

Good luck to everyone else trying to get paid! I HATE those customers that call and want you to put them ahead of everyone else, and then have a problem with the littlest of things, claim you aren't doing things right (we abide by all TCIA and ISA standards (husband is Certified Arborist as well), and then takes 3 months to pay!
 
this summer i had to investigate late payment penalties when a city i subcontracted for was several invoices behind, and i felt like i was getting the run around from the finance dept.
i started giving a "term" for when the invoice was due, and i changed the term for different clients. in accounting i guess it is often phrased as "Terms: Net 21". then i put in italics at the bottom of the invoice "Accounts not paid within terms are subject to a 5% finance charge". for private clients i use different terms, 7-14 days usually, and i explain it to them. i found out that you can legally charge for sure whatever the going rate is for a business/commercial loan. i also found out that banks like to know you have a collection process in place, when they are considering you for a business loan.
i recently had to put it into effect when the city dropped 5+ invoices behind, and let me tell you, suddenly i had their attention, even though the charges were really quite nominal.
 
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