Freelancers. When do you chase up invoices?

[spidermama]

When do you expect people to pay you after you have sent them an invoice?
Is it OK to chase invoices up?
My dh is very reluctant to ever chase them up, but I think it's fine so long as it's done in a friendly casual way.

Anyone?
I'm itching to chase some on his behalf you see. But I feel I need MN permission on my side.

I would definitely chase them up - maybe after 2 weeks - depends on your cash flow how long you are prepared to wait.

(this is all from over DH's shoulder - he's a contractor not a freelancer so there may be subtle differences)

Put in your T&Cs when you expect to be paid (28 days from date of invoice seems standard but 14 is common).
If nothing after stated, send a standard reminder letter (like the pink gas bill).

If nothing after further two weeks, send letter saying interest will be charged at base rate on the total - this is completely legal, and you can even backdate the interest from the date of invoice. 6 weeks interest on a big invoice can work out to a lot.

If nothing still happens and you're seriously cross, there is a line you can use (I forget the legal niceties, DH had a friendly solicitor help him) that basically says 'you haven't paid me or contacted me about payment in the agreed time despite reminders, therefore I must assume you are bankrupt and unable to pay, therefore I will report your company as bankrupt and you'll have to cease trading'.
DH has used this on a recalcitrant multinational and they leapt to pay him.

Wow! Great advice Badge. I'm surprised about the timescale. We're definitely waiting too long.

Throck it has been about three weeks now since I posted the invoices to six different employers and not one of them has responded yet. I will chase them up this evening.

DH only started trading last year and decided from the start to be absolutely firm re timescales - I think there's probably a bit more leeway if you've let repeat (ie valuable) clients get away with longer in the past - maybe ease them in gently!

I think big companies can be particularly bad a paying up to little people.

Definitely I would say 3 weeks is long enough to start chasing. Strange that none of them have paid yet.

I am in charge of paying invoice and I pay all bills at the end of the month from the previous month iyswim - I have just paid all of May's invoices.

BUT the cleaner, window cleaner, photographer odd job man etc, gets paid straight away. Because I am just so nice.

Also, the ones that shout the loudest get paid the quickest imo, I have one that is a pain in the arse for one day over....but they get paid before the end of the month....

I also debt chase and send a copy followed up with a friendly "did you get my copy invoice?" call a few days later. Get names and make notes of dates of calls & faxes etc then you have a record for a later date.

i work in the accounts department of a medium-sized company.

with reference to mrsbadger's comment about charging interest - you can actually charge 8% above base rate - although the rate gets fixed every six months - google Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act.

cultivate relationships with the accounts payable people at each company. some will be friendly - like oliveoil. some won't. some may have cashflow issues themselves. but keep phoning every week - be nice, but persistent. never be rude - the person may not have the authority to pay, but they probably have the ability to put your invoice at the bottom of the pile!

ooh - also, large companies will often have a monthly bacs run - it's worth finding out when that is, so that you can time sending in invoices so that they will be approved in time for the payment run.

I chase after 30 days.

DH is an actor and workshop leader so it's mainly theaters, schools and theatre education departments. It's all pretty friendly and personal on the whole which makes it harder to hassle people for money I think.

The likes of BBC and ITV pay when they fancy, it seems.

Ring after a week or so to ask if they have received the invoice and is everything in order, "coz u know what the post is like etc etc". Then ask when they are likely to pay. They will usually give you a date so expect then, if not you can go back and ask for that person (do remember to get names etc) and say "you said you would pay on ....."

Always keep it friendly (at least to begin with) and you should be ok. If things get bad there is always the small claims court.

Good luck

Set a day a week aside for chasing. Wednesday is usually my day and I put my Firm but Friendly head on.

I print out a list of debtors, look at my record of what I have already done and phone and say 'oh you said on X it would be paid on Y, how is that coming on?' etc etc

I am always always friendly and polite, rudeness gets you absolutely nowhere. Even when I have been fobbed off for months, I grind them down with my annoying fake camaradery (sp?) and they pay up in the end.