To stop allowing my clients to pay via bank transfer?

[BusinessMama]

I am a single mum and self-employed cleaner and have been allowing some of my customers to pay via bank transfer. This is fine for some clients as they pay straight away, but others don't.

I frequently find myself texting my clients to remind them to pay and some don't pay for days! I rely on this income to pay my bills and it is really raising my anxiety when I have to wait 3, 4 sometimes even 5 days because someone 'forgot' to transfer the money.

Would I be unreasonable to introduce a blanket ban on all bank transfers? I am considering sending a text message at the start of the May half term (most of my clients are off for the week, as am I), to tell them that I will no longer be accepting bank transfers, cash only.

I do feel bad for the ones that do consistently pay on-time via bank transfer. The issue is many of my clients are friends with one another, so I couldn't say to an unreliable one 'cash only' and let their friend continue with bank transfer IYSWIM.

Loobyloomicles That's a good idea, but often I am in a rush to get from client to client. I wouldn't be able to wait around whilst people faff to find a card, card reader is broken/doesn't have signal. Also I don't really feel comfortable raising the prices to cover the 1.75% charge, I work at a premium rate for a cleaner as it is.

I think you need to treat each client depending on what kind of payer they are and introduce late payment fee for persistent offenders or make them pay a week in advance. I would never insist on cash from everyone. It’s inconvenient for people and could make you look like you are doing a tax fiddle!

You could number invoices so when they bank transfer thy state invoice number making it easy to match up

Yeah those little card readers you link to your mobile are great. Just say you're switching to cash or card only, and card carries a 2% fee. Job done. I think very few people will complain about paying their cleaner an extra 2%

Perhaps I do need to get a little tougher with introducing a late payment fee or fees in advance.

A text along the lines of:

'Cash can be paid on the day and time of cleaning, but please ensure that bank transfers are made prior to me arriving.'

I'm just concerned that some may take it the wrong way, or as a dig against them being late.

So maybe:

'Dear clients,

I hope you are all having a good half term.

Unfortunately after the May half term I will no longer be able to accept bank transfer as a means of payment. I am switching to cash or card payments on the day only, and card carries a 2% levy.

Thanks for your understanding,
Cleaner'

I would have no qualms in saying that "regrettably this has been forced on me by a significant number of customers paying late or forgetting to pay every week"

I know C8H10N4O2, and I probably should say that, but I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt and I don't like offending people. Silly I know.

Yes and I'd add 'due to issues with late payment'.

When I fill out my cash book it's a lot easier to do it on the day of the work and much easier to be organised. Rather than payments being received late and on different days, it makes it much harder logistically too.

So instead you fill out your A/cs Receivable book with the details of who you cleaned for, the date and the amount owed. Then on a regular basis you match this to the payments received into your bank account. This then shows any outstanding amounts or that you've received everything owed. It's basic book-keeping. No harder than filling in a cash book.

FreudianSlurp It's not me who puts the levy on it, it's the card machine?

Cross posted with C8H10N4O2. That phrasing is good as it doesn't target one client. They can kid themselves it's the other clients
Also means they know you're not dodging tax.

HundredMilesAnHour That is true and I could do that, but I would still have to chase people via text message for late payments almost daily. And to be frank, between 2 DC and my cleaning job + everything else I have to get done over 24 hours, the hassle isn't worth it to keep allowing bank transfers.

I always pay by BACS on the day. Trying to find the cash every week as I don't carry it would be a total pain.

Paypal fees are extortionate for business owners.

I have a business where people pay me in advance for 10 services. It doesn’t matter if a week is missed, once 10 are done, I invoice them for the next 10 and so on. It’s easy to keep track of and saves dealing with weekly money.

it's illegal for you to charge your customers

Good old British government

It's illegal to put a levy on card payments.

This!!! The fee paid for a credit card transaction is a cost to you OP i.e. you will be worse off by this amount. You can't pass this on to your clients as this is now illegal.

So in the case of not being able to charge them the 2% as it seems to be illegal, perhaps I should say that I am not able to accept card as the fee for business is too high - it's cash only?

But then I don't want to seem like a tax dodger as has been suggested on this thread earlier

Just wondered if you have made it clear to everyone that you need payment the same day? I have always paid cleaners at the end of the month and my new cleaners provided me with bank details to pay them after they had come for the first time but didn't say anything about when to pay. I intended to pay that afternoon just to keep things straight forward but got distracted by the children and forgot. They chased me up the next day and I paid straight away but it hadn't really occurred to me that they would expect it the same day and they actually still haven't specified but I make sure I do it the same day now.

So you could just tell everyone clearly that bank transfers need to be made the same day/within 24hrs or something specific otherwise cash will be required in future. I'd hate to have to remember to have the correct cash available so would make sure I did the bank transfer in time

You could number invoices so when they bank transfer thy state invoice number making it easy to match up

I don't know if all banks are the same but mines a real PITA if you want to change the reference on a payment. I know they do it for security reasons but if my cleaner asked me to do this I'd look for a new one, way too much hassle for me.

Is using paypal any easier than doing a bank transfer? Why does that help,I don't use paypal except for ebay but don't both involve logging on and doing a payment, I don't see how that would help

Actually Bloomed I think your wording is better but because I'm a bolshie sod I'd put "significant" in front of issues :)

Honestly its just crap. Its a planned item every week, they don't even need to go get cash, its a simple transfer. They are just not prioritising it appropriately.