Ways to take payment more reliably

thomasjad · 24-01-2021 1:51pm #1

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while. Have a question that's been wrecking our heads for a while now so just wondering if anyone has any advice.

Currently, we run a business that's been going about 2 years that rents out products that customers pay a weekly fee for. Since starting we've just given our IBAN to customers and told them to set up a standing order every week to our account. We do take a holding deposit of 4 weeks as well.

The problem is people who are consistently running late with payments. It's not possible for us to remotely 'cut them off' from using the product if they're late. It's not an issue of them not paying, just that they're late constantly and this is affecting our cashflow.

Are there any other ways to take payment that might guarantee we get the money on time? I've looked at using their card details but that would charge a % fee and if there's no money in the account I don't think it would help. I've read about putting pre-authorizations on cards but as far as I've read that can only last a few days? To be honest, I'm not sure about direct debit mandates, do I do them through my bank or a third party? Is there a charge to us with direct debit mandates?

This is affecting about €4,000 a month that's being consistently overdue.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can recommend anything.

Regards,
Thomas

capefear · 24-01-2021 2:06pm

thomasjad wrote: »

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while. Have a question that's been wrecking our heads for a while now so just wondering if anyone has any advice.

Currently, we run a business that's been going about 2 years that rents out products that customers pay a weekly fee for. Since starting we've just given our IBAN to customers and told them to set up a standing order every week to our account. We do take a holding deposit of 4 weeks as well.

The problem is people who are consistently running late with payments. It's not possible for us to remotely 'cut them off' from using the product if they're late. It's not an issue of them not paying, just that they're late constantly and this is affecting our cashflow.

Are there any other ways to take payment that might guarantee we get the money on time? I've looked at using their card details but that would charge a % fee and if there's no money in the account I don't think it would help. I've read about putting pre-authorizations on cards but as far as I've read that can only last a few days? To be honest, I'm not sure about direct debit mandates, do I do them through my bank or a third party? Is there a charge to us with direct debit mandates?

This is affecting about €4,000 a month that's being consistently overdue.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can recommend anything.

Regards,
Thomas

Gocardless is the way to go you can get all clients to sign up and it is all reconciled in xero automatically

thomasjad · 24-01-2021 2:15pm

Thanks for reply, I signed up to that before but was trying to avoid it since the 1% fee + 20c would end up costing us thousands a year. If a customer has no money in the bank account they use for it then the transaction would fail right or would the customer be sent into overdraft?

capefear · 24-01-2021 3:03pm

its capped at 2euro per transcation

thomasjad · 24-01-2021 8:26pm

Hmm ok the cap makes a difference. Thanks

Ways to take payment more reliably

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