Debtor not replying? 'Small' debt?Too small and expensive to take to court? What to do? Try this ... Dear Mr Smith,Records indicate that we have now tried every reasonable way to have this account settled without having to resort to policy. If/when this becomes necessary when next reviewing your account additional costs will be incurred [...]
Just in time for Christmas!*TIP #1 - Text Messages If you've got a mobile phone, your debtor probably has one too. Send a text msg to them from a service like SMS-IT. It's sent from your email, goes to their phone and their reply comes back to your email. You can send the same message [...]
Our client, the creditor, is an accounting firm. * All "standard" reminders had been ignored. * Phone promises to pay not kept. * Even a final "Letter of Demand" went unheeded. The accountant who knew the client advised "He's got a serious cash-flow problem”. We suggested we offer them a payment plan that the debtor [...]
If YOU had an overdue account you probably WOULDN'T want to talk to your creditor about it would you? So, a face-to-face discussion or phone call would be your least preferred options. From the Creditors point of view though, there are several ways to follow up an overdue account. The graph here looks at the [...]
When you * State The Facts, * Use Bullet Points and * Keep Your "Threat" Vague it makes your email or letter easier to read and is generally more successful in eliciting payments from or at least some sort of response from a debtor. We frequently use similar wording as in the email below as [...]
When push comes to shove and your account customer still hasn't paid or responded, it's time to get "heavier" - more assertive. Here are a few suggestions of wording and approaches you can use.
Small unpaid account. Long overdue. You've emailed, written snail-mail letters, phoned and left messages to chase up payment. All to no avail. Complete silence and lack of response. What now? The two main options people normally take are ... 1: Give it to a Debt Collector or Lawyer. But, if the debt IS a small [...]
THIS is the wording from one of the most powerful emails that we send. It's the VERY LAST one we send for our clients to show that they really mean business. If debtors are going to respond, they WILL respond to this one. IMPORTANT: It only works as long as the debtor has been 'softened' [...]
* The debt was $197,000. * It was for three invoices. * The creditor is an accounting firm. * The debtor was a national, very large legal practice. * Trading terms are that payment becomes due fourteen (14) days from date of issue. * The Partner was initially reluctant to release the account for follow [...]
What can you do when you want a debtor to pay but you DON’T want to threaten legal action? Ever been there? If so, try this. Send a “no real threat” threat email. Threaten the “non-specific”. Things like * consider other alternatives * have to submit a report to the Board * have to revert [...]