We’ve made a change to our terms of business, by inclusion of a new paragraph reading:
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28. Credit terms
a. Unless agreed otherwise, credit terms for invoices not being settled by standing order, including balances arising where a standing order arrangement is not honoured, are 14 days from invoice date or, in the case of a failed standing order, from demand.
b. We reserve the right to charge interest on overdue accounts at the rate of 2% per month.
c. Queries on invoices must be raised within fourteen days of the date of issue.
d. In the event of credit terms being breached we may levy credit charges and interest in accordance with Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1988 as amended by EC Directive 2000/35/EC
e. Balances over 30 days old may be passed to our solicitors or to credit managers, and you agree to be liable for their charges and disbursements, including court costs from you, in addition to the principal sum and related interest / charges.
f. As set out in clause 3 of this agreement, for corporate entities the directors or, where relevant, other officers, are responsible for settling the charges for a corporate body.
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By way of explanation, most of this paragraph brings together existing arrangements and clauses from our terms of business. What is, however, new, is the right for us to add solicitors and credit managers costs onto amounts otherwise due to us- this is a necessary protection for us in the very few cases where we have to pass a outstanding amount across for recovery.
Obviously for the vast majority of our clients – both those who pay by standing order and those who don’t but who pay on time or talk to us proactively when theres a problem – there will be no effect.