JIM,FINUCAN,BILL,COLLECTING,AN finance, share, loan JIM FINUCANS BILL COLLECTING Q AND A, Issue 4
If your financial problems have reached the point where you do not see a way out and you feel as though you are drowning in debt, your best way out is through declaring bankruptcy. Filing may well allow you to get your finances back on track Thankfully, there are now several web sites that are there to help people like you with bad credit to find the fast personal loans that you need. When you have bad credit, the first thing that you should be looking for is a loan company that
Q) My small business has grown over the past year, but withthe growth I also have more past due accounts. This is the firstyear Ive had these problems. Am I doing something wrong?Tom S., Boulder, CODear Tom:Theres an old saying If you dont have accounts receivables -why not? I dont know enough about your billing proceduresto know if youre doing anything wrong, but let me start bycongratulating you on the increased growth of your businessin what was for many a very difficult year. Because you aredoing more business now you are experiencing the associatedaches and pains of having more accounts to worry about. Letslook at some basic structure that lays a good foundation forloss prevention.Do you make your fees clear to the client before agreeing toprovide your product or service? Some people are uncomfortabledoing this and think it is counter-productive. Nonetheless, subjectslike price, payment method and other contract terms should becovered up front. Make sure the customer understands his obligationto you before you do business with him for the first time.What does your contract include? Do you offer a discount forquick payment? (Sometimes this is a good idea.) Do you specifya certain number of days after which the account is considereddelinquent? Is there a clause that allows you to add collectioncosts, attorney fees and interest if the bill becomes delinquent? Ifnot, those costs will come right out of your own pocket!And when a bill falls into the delinquent category do you have aprocedure to follow? If not you should have such a procedure andyou should be sure to follow through on it. (Ill deal with this topicin a later article.) Despite the delinquent accounts it sounds like2001 was a great year for you. I wish you an even more successful2002.
JIM,FINUCAN,BILL,COLLECTING,AN