Overdue invoices - how to deal with debt recovery?

Although statistics show that entrepreneurs are getting better at recovering receivables, it does not mean that overdue invoices do not exist. It is still present in business practice, and it is a real pain for entrepreneurs. How to deal with debt recovery? Best of all - how to prevent invoices being past due? We describe below.

Overdue invoices - first contact with the customer

If the invoice due date has passed, the first step that must be taken is both the simplest and the most obvious - contacting the customer and finding out the reason why he did not pay the payment. How many contractors, so many situations and reasons, and the most common, is not remembering about payment.

If contact with the customer is difficult, the next step is a request for payment sent to the customer by registered mail. It is important that it is delivered to it, so to be sure of this, it is worth sending it with a return receipt. This serves as evidence in the event of a possible legal dispute. The professed principle is "up to three times art."

Soft debt collection, i.e. the driving force for the debtor

To understand the meaning of soft debt collection, it is worth considering what, apart from money, is important in business. Well - the image. It is natural before concluding a contract with a new contractor to check his credibility, which is based on reviewing his data, opinions about him and the possibility of entering into the debtors' register. Only this information determines whether the entrepreneur wants to conclude a contract with such a contractor. Bad image and arrears will not contribute to it.

Soft vindication is created, among others, by professional Economic Information Bureaus that specialize in keeping debtors' registers. When concluding a contract with one of such offices, you can not only view a given register, but also add a contractor who is in arrears with payment. Notification of the contract concluded with one of such offices on the request for payment may be a guarantee of recovery.

If you want to recover the debt on your own, the soft recovery stage, the so-called amicable, it is impossible to jump over. Only if it does not bring results, a number of actions already taken constitute a premise for initiating court proceedings.

It may also be a good decision to refer your case to a professional debt collection company. Then the entrepreneur is obliged to carry out a number of procedures to recover his receivables and this is done by a specialized entity. Sometimes the debtor may react differently to the call of the debt collection company than to the call of the creditor. More importantly, the faster and more efficiently the recovery attempt, the more effective it is.

Risk minimization and overdue invoices

Out-of-date invoices represent a risk that cannot be completely eliminated. However, you can, and even should, minimize this risk by verifying the contractor before concluding the contract by using, inter alia, with the help of the aforementioned Economic Information Bureaus. It is also worth using the Internet search engine and checking the links related to the client, both official and less, e.g. internet forums.

Another thing that seems obvious is drawing up and signing a contract, which describes all the conditions and consequences of its conclusion. It is an absolute basis in the event of problems with the recovery of receivables. The principle of limited trust in each contractor with whom any transactions are concluded is extremely practical.