Blink and you can miss a telling statistic. In this case, it’s a figure published by Sage Pay in January. The payment service provider found that small and medium sized enterprises in the UK are owed more than £55 billion in unpaid or outstanding invoices. That’s a truly shock statistic alongside the finding that 67% of SMEs use paper invoices and spend the equivalent of two weeks a year chasing unpaid invoices. For
The backlash from private landlords against selective licensing by local councils appears to be growing. The Daily Telegraph has reported that the National Landlords Association is gathering evidence for legal action against a number of local authorities. One objection is to the way the swelling numbers of buy-to-let landlords appear to be the target for ‘voluntary’ registers presented by councils as measures to tack
Contract law is the basis of all business activity, whether you trade in goods or services. The law applies to your purchases from a small shopkeeper or the multi-billion deals made between multi-national companies. Legislation can fill in the gaps in contracts with statutory implied terms, such as the Sale of Goods Act, or offer protection to the vulnerable, for example through the Consumer Credit Act governing the
It was only a matter of time before the TV cameras were trained once again on the collections industry, given the growth in personal debt. Last July we wrote in the blog about a BBC documentary recording the difficulties landlords have when tenants stop paying their rent or refuse to leave at the end of a lease. Now it’s the turn of Channel 5 with a documentary series called Can’t pay? We’ll take it away! Which is de
Two big takeover deals involving well-known debt collection firms in the past month caught my eye. First, the company described by the Financial Times as Britain’s largest debt collector, Cabot Credit Management, which is controlled by American debt recovery group Encore and New York buyout house JC Flowers, bought its smaller UK rival Marlin Financial. Marlin and its £2 billion worth of loans were bought from privat
Online security is as just vital for businesses as it is for members of the public surfing the internet. And if small and medium-sized enterprises fail to take basic precautions to protect the electronic records containing personal data of customers it could cost their reputation dear. As well as any losses to fraudsters, fines of up to £500,000 can be levied under the Data Protection Act on businesses found guilty o
Many businesses have been flooded out in the recent terrible weather and my heart goes out to them. I think the collections industry should respond to the appeal made by David Cameron to banks and other financial services companies to play their part in helping people get back on their feet once the waters have receded. If that means giving people a payment break in an arrangement to pay off outstanding debts in inst
A small minority of bailiffs have been allowed to give the collections industry a bad name, a government minister has said. But Lords Faulks added that tough new regulations, coming into force in April, will tackle the rogue bailiffs while ensuring that debts can be collected. Faulks, a junior justice minister, urged representatives of bailiffs’ companies and local authorities to rise to the challenge of the new regi
A leading debt advice charity published a single figure a few weeks ago that helps explain why the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, is casting about for reasons not to increase interest rates when unemployment drops below 7.1%. In what was billed as Debt Awareness Week, the StepChange charity was contacted by new clients who owe a total of £230 million. It’s not clear how many people sought advice on managing
Over twenty years experience in Debt Collection and Credit Control at your service. The worst thing you can do about collecting slow and overdue accounts is: "NOTHING"