Final Notice Service
BENEFITS OF THE CREDIFAX "FINAL NOTICE" SERVICE
- Collection of high proportion of overdue accounts free of charge (10-day grace period).
- The CREDIFAX Final Notice is recognized and carries more clout than either; your own letter, a lawyer's letter or other types of final notices. The perceived threat of damage to one's credit ratings, as all claims information passes through to credit reporting databases, ensures quick debtor response and payment.
- Separates slow accounts (won't pay) from potential bad-debt situations (can't pay). Non-responding debtors clearly signal third party collection action is required.
- Removes the guesswork out of when to place an account for collection.
- Receive payment of accounts before others.
- Receive payment of accounts instead of others.
- Identify accounts that cannot or will not pay.
- The Final Notice is more than a "last resort"; it should be a normal, routine part of your regular company collection procedures. It is another collection tool at your disposal.
- Use a statistical approach issuing a Final Notice on all accounts over 90 days past due. The ad-hoc approach of picking and choosing implies guesswork. It is not an effective use of time to continue to pursue an account that is seriously past due that has already received several statements and phone calls, had a salesman visit and been placed on hold or COD. There is an opportunity cost of working more current receivables that will pay rather than accounts that have already indicated an unwillingness to pay.
- The Final Notice should be used monthly for best results as new accounts are always rolling over into 90 + days.
- From our experience, the maximum recovery from a Final Notice is at 90 days. You will receive the highest dollars paid at the lowest cost. Recovery rates suffer and collection costs rise with every month of delay.
- Use of the Final Notice should be a logical business decision, not an emotional one. Consider the time it costs to continually chase someone while effectiveness diminishes with each call.
- Use of the Final Notice is a written request for payment. Collection activity does not start until after the grace period.
- While you may not wish to do business again with accounts where a final notice has been used, it offers the opportunity to keep valued customers. Helping keep accounts current enables them to stay within their credit lines and to maintain the ability to buy from you. If an account is seriously delinquent, they cannot buy from you or they may be too financially embarrassed to buy from you, so they are buying from your competitors. Good collection procedures encourage future sales.
- Collect money and keep goodwill intact. CREDIFAX can use a goodwill approach on selected accounts in accordance with your wishes. Credits, reconciliations, product and price disputes, etc. should have been resolved in 90 days. Disputes and claims of this nature at this stage should be suspect. Accordingly, a Final Notice should be sent to accounts over 90 days.
- The Final Notice will educate your customers to respect the privilege of credit and train them to more closely follow your published credit terms. You must train your customers to pay on time.
- The Final Notice can be used to collect undisputed partial balances to avoid being held ransom by accounts.
- The Final Notice will determine when to sever goodwill.
- The Final Notice system should be used before legal action is considered as it identifies assets to allow you to separate the hopeless situations (and avoid unnecessary legal costs) from the situations where legal efforts will provide results.
- Delay costs time and money. Consider that we are probably already going to the well for money. It is only so deep.
- The Final Notice Program will lower your cost of receivable management, lower your days sales outstanding, lower your bad debt write-offs, increase sales, and reduce the time and effort involved in collecting accounts (and labour costs). Bottom Line - increased profit.