Bill issue date

MOH

Is there any general legal definition of an "issue date" on a bill?

For example, if I were to offer a debtor two weeks from issue date to pay a bill without penalty, and then post them a bill today with an "issue date" backdated to 6 days ago, could I legitimately penalise them if they don't pay within a week of receiving it? Assuming it's a regular occurrence and can be reasonably demonstrated to not be due to postal delays.

I'd take "issue date" to mean the date the bill was actually dispatched (or could reasonably be assumed to have been dispatched), rather than whatever arbitrary date I choose to print on the bill.

GerardKeating

MOH wrote: »

Is there any general legal definition of an "issue date" on a bill?

For example, if I were to offer a debtor two weeks from issue date to pay a bill without penalty, and then post them a bill today with an "issue date" backdated to 6 days ago, could I legitimately penalise them if they don't pay within a week of receiving it? Assuming it's a regular occurrence and can be reasonably demonstrated to not be due to postal delays.

I'd take "issue date" to mean the date the bill was actually dispatched (or could reasonably be assumed to have been dispatched), rather than whatever arbitrary date I choose to print on the bill.

How can you legally penalise anyone for late payment of a bill?

Losty Dublin

GerardKeating wrote: »

How can you legally penalise anyone for late payment of a bill?

Telecom firms commonly do it in the form of a "Reconnection fee". At least one also charges a "late payment fee", or at least they used to levy one onto customers. I'm sure they will point to it on clause umpteen hundred and twenty ten of the T+C's. The hard bit is in challenging them over same.