SmartDebit responds to small firms turning away business to avoid late payment

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SmartDebit

(PRWEB UK) 4 February 2013

The study comes at a time when Bacs, the governing body behind Direct Debits, claims that over £36bn in late payments is owed to small businesses in the UK. According to YouGov, 22 per cent of small businesses have declined to do future business with customers who have paid late in the past.

The research revealed that 85 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have been severely affected by late payments over the last two years. Furthermore, 47 per cent of these businesses claim their worst repeat offenders pay late three times a year or more.

The impact of late payments on business owners was also highlighted with 30 per cent stating that they have used personal money or assets in order to improve their cash flow. Respondents have also suffered from mental health issues with 20 per cent having suffered from extreme stress. In addition, 11 per cent of case said late payments nearly caused their business to fail.

In terms of time taken to receive payment, 66 per cent stated they have to wait more than a month past the agreed terms for owed monies, whilst 11 per cent had to wait more than half a year.

SmartDebit offer paper and paperless Direct Debit payment collections services for SME, corporate, not for profit and public sector organisations across the UK. A spokesperson from the bureau explained the benefits, “In the battle against late payments, we have seen businesses begin to request payment upfront, resort to legal action, spend valuable time chasing their customer’s finance team and now refuse future business altogether. There has been large increase in the number of small businesses approaching us to improve their business-to-business payment collections and gain control of their cash flow once more. A number of our clients are signing their customers up to pay via Direct Debit and simply issuing them an invoice which states the amount owed and when the money will be debited from their account. There is no time or money wasted chasing payments, resulting in increased productivity and a healthy cash flow.”

About SmartDebit

SmartDebit is the UK’s leading Direct Debit Bureau, specialising in payment processing services since 1998. A Bacs approved Bureau, scoring ‘Excellent’ in all five categories of the Bacs audit, and ISO 27001 compliant. Providing a complete range of services: Outsourcing; SmartDebit-Admin cloud based portal; SmartDebit-Online payer sign up; SmartDebit-API integrated solution and SmartDebit-Contingency.

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