Tackling bad payers via adjusted payment terms?
Tackling bad payers via adjusted payment terms?
August 2023 - Perhaps you already had to deal with it: customers who don't pay your invoices or pay them late. It is not only annoying but downright dangerous for your business. What stick do you have to tackle late payers as a business leader? And does it make a difference whether that customer is a business owner or an individual?
B2B: What payment term?
Do you send an invoice to a b2b customer? Then he has 30 calendar days to pay your invoice, counting from receipt of this document or an equivalent request for payment. If this date is not fixed or your customer receives the invoice earlier than the goods or services, its receipt counts as the start of the payment period.
Unlike the general terms and conditions in your customer agreement, as a supplier, you can agree to a shorter or longer payment period. Note that this cannot be unlimited. After all, a payment term may not exceed 60 calendar days. With this, the legislator wants to protect smaller suppliers or service providers from big market players who have the power to force long payment terms on their customers.
Quid in a b2c context?
In a sale to a private customer, different rules apply. Did you not agree on a concrete payment term with your customer? Then he must pay your invoice within a reasonable period. This term is not defined by law. In practice, one to two weeks is usually a reasonable standard.
However, you can also agree specific payment terms with private customers. Think, for example, of cash payment, or a term of two, four or even 12 weeks.
New law
On 4 May 2023, the federal parliament in our country approved a new law on the recovery of consumer debts by companies. This law was inserted into the Economic Code as Book XIX "Consumer Debts".
This new law applies to all unpaid debts of consumers to businesses and provides a regulatory framework for amicable debt recovery and other activities related to consumer debt recovery by businesses.
This new law - which comes into force on 1 September 2023 - gives de facto longer payment terms to your retail customers. If a customer does not pay your invoice by the due date and you send a reminder, the customer will have at least two more weeks to pay your invoice. You may not charge interest for this additional two-week period, nor may you charge damages for late payment. The first reminder you send must also contain all kinds of mandatory notices, and you may not charge a fee for it.
Adjusting the payment term?
An agreed payment term with your customer can be adjusted by mutual agreement during the course of an agreement. It is best to put these renewed agreements - within the stipulated legal deadlines, of course - on paper. Modifying such a term unilaterally is not possible, even if your customer did not pay his invoices on time. Do you make a unilateral change anyway? Then your customer is not bound by it. Even more so: he can use your unilateral action as a basis for dissolution of the agreement, including damages.