The Business Doctor gives you the opportunity to ask questions on late payment legislation and late payment legislation related credit management issues. Please use the form below.
Your message will be forwarded to a relevant group member who will reply to you via e-mail in 5 working days.

Before doing so, please check that your question is not already answered by our frequently asked questions page or elsewhere on this website. The main questions are listed below with a link to the answer.

• What type of firms can I apply the late payment legislation to?
• What if a customer has more than one overdue invoice? How do I claim these multiple debts?
• Can I claim compensation for debt recovery costs and VAT, as well as late payment interest?
• How do I deal with collecting late payment interest when the invoice has been partially settled?
• Do I have to notify a customer of my intention to charge late payment interest and debt recovery costs?
• Should I sue for late payment interest?
• I don’t have a contract with my customer. Can I still claim late payment interest and compensation?
• How do I credit check a company I wish to do business with?
• A customer is refusing to pay. What should I do?
• I need some effective letters to use if my customers do not pay on time.
• What wording should I use on invoices to display my intention to charge interest if I am paid late?
• A customer is not paying me and is saying that I am harassing him for the payment. What shall I do?
• One of my business customers is going into liquidation. How do I collect what I’m owed?
• What do I do when a customer disputes an invoice and won’t pay it?
• If I am claiming interest on a debt that spans one year and there has been four changes to the base rate in that period, what base rate do I use, is it a combination of all four or just one,. i.e. the base rate when the debt started to accrue?
• We don't have any Terms and Conditions of Sale yet, although this is on our 'to do' list. We simply can't afford the solicitor fees for this at the moment. Do you have any standard terms and conditions?
• Our customer told us that they no longer issue cheques. They insist on paying by BACS. We have not been informed of this change of policy. Is a company allowed to dictate what method they will pay by?
• Over a period of months, we have erroneously charged the wrong amount to a customer. Can they refuse to pay the correct amount?
• In the event of a dispute as to whether the supplier’s or the customer’s terms of trade are relevant to a contract, who is right?
• How do I record late payment interest and compensation in my accounting records for tax purposes?

No liability is accepted by the Better Payment Practice Campaign, its members, servants or agents for actions taken as a result of advice received from the Business Doctor.