CM club - She is in the wrong, so why do I feel guilty??

[FeelingOld]

I will try to keep it short.

I care for 2 siblings after school (don't pick them up as from a school from other side of town to my kids school so a friend of their mum's drops them at my house), their mum never lets me know til at least monday morning which days they will be coming, if not coming monday she doesn't ring til tues or weds iyswim. Have asked her constantly to let me know no later than sunday 4pm. She is also always a couple of days late paying me.
Anyway to top it all the kids didn't turn up at all last week and her payment is now 10 days late, sent her a reminder after 7 days saying if not paid by 6pm that day would implement the £5 per day late payment fee. Still no payment today so dh has just dropped off another reminder and I have added 3 x £5 for late payment and have stated that will not have mindees unless payment is made in full and if she has to start letting me know in advance which days she needs me.
I know I should charge in advance but she works shifts so it gets so complicated to work out.
After putting up with all of this I still feel guilty for doing this as have never implemented the late payment fee before. Dh says I should give them notice, but I feel sorry for the mindees as they are so lovely.

But if you have a F/T say 10 [email protected] phr it works out at about £70 a month which is 14 days late

The sums don't quite work like that. If the total is £3120, each term is £1040. 12.5% of that is indeed £130, but that's per annum. It's only £2.50 per week.

As for charges vs. penalties: as various people have pointed out, it's fine for nurseries to charge late collection fees because they are providing a service for them. However, if a bill is paid late the only servic provided is credit, and you simply aren't allowed to charge extortionate interest.

I've never had or paid a childminder, but I'd have thoughtit would be much easier to say "fees up front, no money no minding" than to worry about it after the event.

Out of interest, what would happen if a parent was late paying and therefore you incurred a penalty from your bank?

Banks charge around £35 for a bounced cheque or direct debit. It seems unfair that a childminder should have to pay for this if the reason the cheque or direct debit bounced is due to a parent paying late?

berkschick - this is why I have a charge on my contracts. I HAVE been stung with this in the past when someone paid late!