Late payments?

Hello Nitim, :)
I have had a couple of issues in the past. To be honest there is late payment legislation for overdue invoices but I dont know anyone who has used this as it will often disrupt any future client relationship. Dont rely on emails that can easily be deleted - always phone up to chase. If you feel you are not getting anywhere use a debt collection service or go through the small claims court - which I have done before.

Hi Nitim,
I've had several problems with this. I would, in the future, build in a percentage for late invoices into your contract. That will help for the future, but not necessarily the present situation if the client is overdue. Withhold any future deliverables from him until he pays. Claims court is an option, but as a last resort unless you can claim financial hardship and get legal fees waived.

nitim, post: 23480, member: 28369 a écrit : Does anyone else suffer from late payments from clients?

What issues does it cause you, and how do you deal with the issue?

No late payments, just install Smartgroschen and make free chat & very cheap international calls.

threelancer, post: 23481, member: 3804 a écrit : Hello Nitim, :)
I have had a couple of issues in the past. To be honest there is late payment legislation for overdue invoices but I dont know anyone who has used this as it will often disrupt any future client relationship. Dont rely on emails that can easily be deleted - always phone up to chase. If you feel you are not getting anywhere use a debt collection service or go through the small claims court - which I have done before.

Conversely, we know many freelancers who use it to great impact in the rare instances they have trouble getting paid. But then our argument is do you really want an ongoing relationship with a client that doesn't respect you enough to pay to agreed terms? We would suggest not, but each to their own ;)

As Melissa said, if you are in a position to withhold final deliverables until paid in full this will go a long way to negating any issues with late payment.

If you need help calculating late payment charges you can get our free late payment app on Android, iOS & BlackBerry. Just search late payment in the store, oh and did we mention it's free 🙂

Thanks for feedback guys....it's really appreciated!

Have you ever asked (or considering asking) your clients to pay upfront, as a retainer, or in an escrow?

If so, how did it go?

nitim, post: 23489, member: 28369 a écrit : Thanks for feedback guys....it's really appreciated!

Have you ever asked (or considering asking) your clients to pay upfront, as a retainer, or in an escrow?

If so, how did it go?

If you work in an industry that it is accepted, then our advice is to charge a deposit. Any potential client that baulks at the idea of paying a deposit should be treated as a potential bad payer. After all if they are serious about the work and as prompt a payer as they promise, why the reluctance?

nitim, post: 23489, member: 28369 a écrit : Thanks for feedback guys....it's really appreciated!

Have you ever asked (or considering asking) your clients to pay upfront, as a retainer, or in an escrow?

If so, how did it go?

A number of years ago most of my work was freelancing on site for more established agencies. There was no chance they'd pay upfront. Now though almost all my work is for direct clients - in those cases I often ask for a percentage in advance. If they don't respect that it's a warning that they're not going to be a good payer anyway.

Overall though, have clear terms for payment agreed, invoice promptly, confirm that they've received the invoice and then chase payment if it is overdue. You won't be frowned on for chasing overdue payments (unless you go off on one!) - you'll be respected for being organised. In fact, if a client knows that you'll be phoning up to chase it'll often prompt them to make sure the payment is made before you do so. Get to know the people in the accounts department - if they feel they know you and you treat them well, you'll increase the chance of them looking after you. I've known companies where the policy has been to hold off paying until they receive a call requesting payment. They aren't acting properly, but play the game if necessary. Whose invoice will be on the top of the pile - the one that they gets chased up or the one where the supplier seemingly doesn't care?

I've been burned once or twice by being too trusting of people. Most people are honest, but you can weed out some of the problems by demonstrating that you have clear procedures in place for ensuring that you will be paid.

Opus, post: 23494, member: 2054 a écrit : A number of years ago most of my work was freelancing on site for more established agencies. There was no chance they'd pay upfront. Now though almost all my work is for direct clients - in those cases I often ask for a percentage in advance. If they don't respect that it's a warning that they're not going to be a good payer anyway.

Overall though, have clear terms for payment agreed, invoice promptly, confirm that they've received the invoice and then chase payment if it is overdue. You won't be frowned on for chasing overdue payments (unless you go off on one!) - you'll be respected for being organised. In fact, if a client knows that you'll be phoning up to chase it'll often prompt them to make sure the payment is made before you do so. Get to know the people in the accounts department - if they feel they know you and you treat them well, you'll increase the chance of them looking after you. I've known companies where the policy has been to hold off paying until they receive a call requesting payment. They aren't acting properly, but play the game if necessary. Whose invoice will be on the top of the pile - the one that they gets chased up or the one where the supplier seemingly doesn't care?

I've been burned once or twice by being too trusting of people. Most people are honest, but you can weed out some of the problems by demonstrating that you have clear procedures in place for ensuring that you will be paid.

We could not have put this any better ourselves 🙂

nitim, post: 23480, member: 28369 a écrit : Does anyone else suffer from late payments from clients?

What issues does it cause you, and how do you deal with the issue?

Hi Nitim, I work at FreeAgent and we have lots of users who struggle with this same issue. As a result we wrote an article about Dealing with late payment of invoices - getting over the awkwardness, and I thought this might be a useful read for you 🙂