Sunday, 4 September 2011
Deanem Collections: A very modern con.
Deanem Collections: A very modern con.: This week’s blog has been inspired by a case that is about to go through the courts and I hope it will prove to be a salutary lesson in why ...
A very modern con.
This week’s blog has been inspired by a case that is about to go through the courts and I hope it will prove to be a salutary lesson in why if sometimes an offer/proposal can be too good.
A couple of months ago we were contracted by John* a Solicitor as he was trying and failing to get a £20,000 debt settled from Fred* obviously before we could act I had to know the background and this was the story John told me.
It seems John knew Fred from a club they frequented, Fred came up to John in the bar one day and asked him if he would like to make some serious money. Well John like the rest of us was/is finding money tight was immediately interested. Fred explained that he was involved along with Bob* a nodding acquaintance of John in the purchase of a property but they were £2,500 short and they needed to complete the deal within 48 hours or the whole deal would collapse. Fred explained that even though he had in excess of £170,000 in his post office account it would take too long to access it and so they wondered if John would like to put up the shortfall. Fred promised John that if he did stump up the £2,500 he would receive £10,000 within 4 weeks. John was interested as the additional £7,500 would be very useful but being an intelligent man he was rightly concerned that it might be a con. Fred then played his masterstroke he not only showed John his Post Office book which showed a balance of £178,750.69 but said that of the money was not repaid he would agree to pay interest on the money until it was settled. John thought this sounded fair and agreed on the proviso that Fred agreed to pay £1,000 per month interest if the debt was not repaid by the agreed date.
The next day Fred accompanied John to the bank as he withdrew the £2,500, as they parted Fred reassured him that he would “definitely” get his £10,000 by the agreed date as he didn’t want to pay any extra in interest.
I’m sure you can guess what happened, yes you’re right John hasn’t seen a penny, and 9 months later John instructed Deanem to collect the debt. I explained to John that due to the fact that the interest charge could be classified as” Usury” it would be unlikely that we could force the debtor to pay the interest but we should be able to get the agreed debt settled. John was adamant that he was entitled to the interest as well and didn’t care what we had to do to get it!
When Sandra Field, my collections manager first spoke to Fred, he apologised and said it was never his intention to catch John but he was waiting for the deal to be completed however, if John wanted his money he would ask his “Dad” to get the money out of his saving account! He said that as they had to give notice for the withdrawal it would take a few days and as soon as he had the money, he would settle John’s account. This conversation took place at the beginning of June. At the beginning of July when Fred had been making different excuses and promises on a daily bases, Sandra warned Fred that if he didn’t settle we would serve him with a “Statutory Demand” on 8 July and once served and he did not settle he could be declared Bankrupt. The 8th duly arrived and the Statutory Demand was served on his home address, this action provoked a response from Fred’s mother who claimed that her son didn’t owe “Nuffink” and if anyone came near the house again “She’d have the law on to them”. Since that date Fred has continued to say that A) he has the money and will be paying the debt, on that day B) He has asked his “Daddy” to get the money, C) he was trying to raise the money the list goes on and on and on. Finally on Friday I lost patience with Fred and decided to call at his home to see as he now claimed he had the money if I could collect it and avoid the need to make him Bankrupt. Fred was aware that I was going to attend and when I arrived, I text him to let him know and received a text back that said “HAHA I don’t live there”
Unfortunately there is only one way this can now be settled that is through the courts and hopefully when Fred is ordered by a Judge, he will comply and finally settle his debt with John rather than face the prospect of loosing everything including his “Post Office” savings.
The sad thing is had John thought about it for more than 30 seconds he would have realised that there was a high chance that he was being conned and should have walked away.
I’m sure that there are many out there who if offered the same opportunity would have like John taken it, but please remember this con has been going on for as long as people have used money. If you’re still not sure go to your local Video/DVD reseller and rent out the BBC’s excellent programme Hustle.
While the above is true due to the fact that this case is about to go in to court all names have been changed.
If you would like to find out how this case ends or the work carried out by David & the Deanem Collections team, please either visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or email David at david@deanemcollections.co.uk
A couple of months ago we were contracted by John* a Solicitor as he was trying and failing to get a £20,000 debt settled from Fred* obviously before we could act I had to know the background and this was the story John told me.
It seems John knew Fred from a club they frequented, Fred came up to John in the bar one day and asked him if he would like to make some serious money. Well John like the rest of us was/is finding money tight was immediately interested. Fred explained that he was involved along with Bob* a nodding acquaintance of John in the purchase of a property but they were £2,500 short and they needed to complete the deal within 48 hours or the whole deal would collapse. Fred explained that even though he had in excess of £170,000 in his post office account it would take too long to access it and so they wondered if John would like to put up the shortfall. Fred promised John that if he did stump up the £2,500 he would receive £10,000 within 4 weeks. John was interested as the additional £7,500 would be very useful but being an intelligent man he was rightly concerned that it might be a con. Fred then played his masterstroke he not only showed John his Post Office book which showed a balance of £178,750.69 but said that of the money was not repaid he would agree to pay interest on the money until it was settled. John thought this sounded fair and agreed on the proviso that Fred agreed to pay £1,000 per month interest if the debt was not repaid by the agreed date.
The next day Fred accompanied John to the bank as he withdrew the £2,500, as they parted Fred reassured him that he would “definitely” get his £10,000 by the agreed date as he didn’t want to pay any extra in interest.
I’m sure you can guess what happened, yes you’re right John hasn’t seen a penny, and 9 months later John instructed Deanem to collect the debt. I explained to John that due to the fact that the interest charge could be classified as” Usury” it would be unlikely that we could force the debtor to pay the interest but we should be able to get the agreed debt settled. John was adamant that he was entitled to the interest as well and didn’t care what we had to do to get it!
When Sandra Field, my collections manager first spoke to Fred, he apologised and said it was never his intention to catch John but he was waiting for the deal to be completed however, if John wanted his money he would ask his “Dad” to get the money out of his saving account! He said that as they had to give notice for the withdrawal it would take a few days and as soon as he had the money, he would settle John’s account. This conversation took place at the beginning of June. At the beginning of July when Fred had been making different excuses and promises on a daily bases, Sandra warned Fred that if he didn’t settle we would serve him with a “Statutory Demand” on 8 July and once served and he did not settle he could be declared Bankrupt. The 8th duly arrived and the Statutory Demand was served on his home address, this action provoked a response from Fred’s mother who claimed that her son didn’t owe “Nuffink” and if anyone came near the house again “She’d have the law on to them”. Since that date Fred has continued to say that A) he has the money and will be paying the debt, on that day B) He has asked his “Daddy” to get the money, C) he was trying to raise the money the list goes on and on and on. Finally on Friday I lost patience with Fred and decided to call at his home to see as he now claimed he had the money if I could collect it and avoid the need to make him Bankrupt. Fred was aware that I was going to attend and when I arrived, I text him to let him know and received a text back that said “HAHA I don’t live there”
Unfortunately there is only one way this can now be settled that is through the courts and hopefully when Fred is ordered by a Judge, he will comply and finally settle his debt with John rather than face the prospect of loosing everything including his “Post Office” savings.
The sad thing is had John thought about it for more than 30 seconds he would have realised that there was a high chance that he was being conned and should have walked away.
I’m sure that there are many out there who if offered the same opportunity would have like John taken it, but please remember this con has been going on for as long as people have used money. If you’re still not sure go to your local Video/DVD reseller and rent out the BBC’s excellent programme Hustle.
While the above is true due to the fact that this case is about to go in to court all names have been changed.
If you would like to find out how this case ends or the work carried out by David & the Deanem Collections team, please either visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or email David at david@deanemcollections.co.uk
Saturday, 13 August 2011
Deanem Collections: What links having a cat spayed and credit control?...
Deanem Collections: What links having a cat spayed and credit control?...: "I’m grateful to Craig Lesser of Key Connectors for this weeks blog challenge.
Craig wanted to know if I could link the spaying of a cat a..."
Craig wanted to know if I could link the spaying of a cat a..."
What links having a cat spayed and credit control?
I’m grateful to Craig Lesser of Key Connectors for this weeks blog challenge.
Craig wanted to know if I could link the spaying of a cat and credit control and I pleased to report that I can. As a responsible pet owner Craig took the commendable action of taking his kitten to the vet and by haviong it spayed he was insuring that his pet would not be responsible for adding to the cat population. This precautionary action can be translated to helping a business maintain healthy cash flow, how so I can hear you ask.
Today, as I’ve pointed out in previous blogs it has now become the norm to instantly offer credit to all customers. The reason given is that if you don’t offer an average 30 days credit then the customer may not place the order with them, obviously in the current financial climate all orders are needed. However we can all be vigilant and responsible like Craig and carry out a simple credit check on new and existing clients.
Not long ago he only way to obtain a credit check/report was to use a specialist and licensed agency such as Deanem Collections, nowadays there are a number of options available. The first is to use Barclays Banks Credit Focus product, for £10 per month you can carry out an unlimited number of credit checks on limited companies. Unfortunately these reports are not available for non-limited entities such as partnerships or trading as, nor can they provide a report on individuals. If you need a report on either a partnership or a non-limited agency then I would recommend www.riskdisk.net if however you need to credit check an individual and you’re not registered with the Information Commissioner you will need specialist agencies such as Deanem Collections, who are licence by the Information Commissioner.
So what information can you find out, much will depend on who is providing the report. However having said that, the level of information available is limited by the constraints and parameters of the Data Protection Act.
A typical basic limited company report will provide you with the companies registered number and address along with details of the Directors, but not their home address. It will provide you with details of their last 3 years published trading figures (turnover, profit & loss etc), any adverse information such as CCJ’s (County Court Judgment). A report should also provide you with a suggested credit limit. The possible information available on a non-limited company report by its very nature is limited and I would suggest in these cases that a credit check should be carried out on the company’s principle officers.
At this stage I would like add a word of warning regarding CCJ information. Currently if a company or individual is the subject of a CCJ you will be able to find out the date it was registered, case no, amount and the court it was heard in, it will not tell you who the claimant was. If I’m carrying out a credit check and a CCJ has been registered I always recommend that before deciding to offer credit our client should speak to their potential client to find out the reason behind the CCJ. This way if say the Judgment was for the non-payment of a utilities bill and you’re selling widgets you may still wish to offer them limited credit. If however the Judgment was due to them not paying a trade invoice, you will probably not want to offer them any form of credit.
Please remember that a credit report can only provide a snap shot of a company’s current trading position and as such should be used as a guide when offering credit terms. At the end of the day it will always be your decision as to who is worthy of being offered credit.
I trust that you have found the above of interest and I look forward to answering Mr Neville Spears blog challenge of linking Salmon to credit control.
If you would like to find out more about David and or Deanem Collections Ltd please visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or have a specific question please do not hesiatet to send David an email to david@deanemcollections.co.uk
Craig wanted to know if I could link the spaying of a cat and credit control and I pleased to report that I can. As a responsible pet owner Craig took the commendable action of taking his kitten to the vet and by haviong it spayed he was insuring that his pet would not be responsible for adding to the cat population. This precautionary action can be translated to helping a business maintain healthy cash flow, how so I can hear you ask.
Today, as I’ve pointed out in previous blogs it has now become the norm to instantly offer credit to all customers. The reason given is that if you don’t offer an average 30 days credit then the customer may not place the order with them, obviously in the current financial climate all orders are needed. However we can all be vigilant and responsible like Craig and carry out a simple credit check on new and existing clients.
Not long ago he only way to obtain a credit check/report was to use a specialist and licensed agency such as Deanem Collections, nowadays there are a number of options available. The first is to use Barclays Banks Credit Focus product, for £10 per month you can carry out an unlimited number of credit checks on limited companies. Unfortunately these reports are not available for non-limited entities such as partnerships or trading as, nor can they provide a report on individuals. If you need a report on either a partnership or a non-limited agency then I would recommend www.riskdisk.net if however you need to credit check an individual and you’re not registered with the Information Commissioner you will need specialist agencies such as Deanem Collections, who are licence by the Information Commissioner.
So what information can you find out, much will depend on who is providing the report. However having said that, the level of information available is limited by the constraints and parameters of the Data Protection Act.
A typical basic limited company report will provide you with the companies registered number and address along with details of the Directors, but not their home address. It will provide you with details of their last 3 years published trading figures (turnover, profit & loss etc), any adverse information such as CCJ’s (County Court Judgment). A report should also provide you with a suggested credit limit. The possible information available on a non-limited company report by its very nature is limited and I would suggest in these cases that a credit check should be carried out on the company’s principle officers.
At this stage I would like add a word of warning regarding CCJ information. Currently if a company or individual is the subject of a CCJ you will be able to find out the date it was registered, case no, amount and the court it was heard in, it will not tell you who the claimant was. If I’m carrying out a credit check and a CCJ has been registered I always recommend that before deciding to offer credit our client should speak to their potential client to find out the reason behind the CCJ. This way if say the Judgment was for the non-payment of a utilities bill and you’re selling widgets you may still wish to offer them limited credit. If however the Judgment was due to them not paying a trade invoice, you will probably not want to offer them any form of credit.
Please remember that a credit report can only provide a snap shot of a company’s current trading position and as such should be used as a guide when offering credit terms. At the end of the day it will always be your decision as to who is worthy of being offered credit.
I trust that you have found the above of interest and I look forward to answering Mr Neville Spears blog challenge of linking Salmon to credit control.
If you would like to find out more about David and or Deanem Collections Ltd please visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or have a specific question please do not hesiatet to send David an email to david@deanemcollections.co.uk
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Deanem Collections: What links the Taming of the Shrew and Credit Coll...
Deanem Collections: What links the Taming of the Shrew and Credit Coll...: "This week’s blog has been inspired by Jacqui Frost of The Office Genie who challenged me to write a blog linking The Taming of The Shrew and..."
What links the Taming of the Shrew and Credit Collection?
This week’s blog has been inspired by Jacqui Frost of The Office Genie who challenged me to write a blog linking The Taming of The Shrew and credit control.
When I first received the challenge my mind went blank was it possible to link William Shakespeare’s masterpiece with credit control. But then I thought of the “Shrew” in Shakespeare’s tale Katherine & her sister Bianca. In the story Bianca is everything that Katherine is not she is soft-spoken, sweet and unassuming and is the one that all the men want to wed. The problem is that Bianca cannot get married until Katherine does. In the story Katherine is eventually “tamed” by Petruchio and eventually both Kate & Bianca find happiness.
There is a direct link between the characters and credit control and I hope this illustrates why I can make this statement. When I started in business over 30 years ago being allowed time to pay was not expected or demanded as it is today, you had to earn the right to be granted credit. Once you had proven yourself worthy of being offered credit and you had passed the vigorous vetting procedure, well OK it wasn’t that vigorous as it usually consisted of you providing 2 trade references. Obviously the salesman, or Bianca would be delighted and they soon became a “friend”. They would show you the latest goods, they would shower you with compliments etc etc.
Depending on the size of the company you were dealing with there would be at least 1 or 2 people, who were generally ladies who took care of the credit control for the company. These ladies could also be like Bianca as it was in their interest to be nice with customers who paid. However, if you didn’t pay your invoice Bianca would suddenly become Katherine.
I once met a Katherine when I was asked to meet Maggie* who was the credit control manager for a major publishing house. Maggie had a reputation for being a bit of a dragon and was for ever stopping new customers from obtaining credit and as such upset the sales team who found it hard to attract new advertisers who would not be granted credit. The board felt that while Maggie was doing a good job they wanted to know if she was acting unreasonably and asked me to carry out a review.
Maggie & I met for a cup of coffee and I found her to be charming very much like Bianca, she explained that before joining her present employer, she had been a tax inspector. It was her belief that if as long as a client let her know if there was a difficulty and sorted out a payment plan and stuck to it, she was happy. However woe betide anyone who did not keep their promise, as she then became Katherine. When I asked her how far she would go to get paid, she pulled out a portable credit card machine! She explained that she would attend exhibitions both here and abroad and if she saw an errant advertiser entertaining someone, she would march up to them and demand that they pay their overdue invoice.
I reported back to the board that Maggie was the perfect example of a competent credit controller whose goal was to insure that her company did not suffer from bad or late payers. John* the sales director asked what did I think of Maggies’ attitude to granting credit as it affected the sales staff’s ability to attract new customers as they wanted credit before placing an order. I explained that I felt Maggie was right and gave him my favourite analogy of not being able to go to Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose etc and fill up a trolley and then walk out with out paying. I finished my report by saying that I felt as long as they allowed Maggie to carry out her job the company would continue to grow and remain relatively debt free.
A few years later I met Geoff* who was the Chairman of the publishers at a networking event and as we both had some spare time I treated him to a coffee and asked how things were, howMaggie, John and the rest of the team that I had met were. Geoff explained that after Maggie had retired John had insisted that the company employ less of a Kate and more of a Bianca as he felt it would allow his team to take the company to the next level. Geoff then went on to explain that within a year the company had gone from having virtually zero debtors to over 15% and the majority of the debtors had come form new customers that had been signed up since Maggie retired.
When I asked him what he had done, he took a deep breath and said that he had begged Maggie to come back on a part time basis so that she could teach her successor how to do her job. When I asked Geoff how John took the news, he said that John had said that if Maggie came back he would leave because he felt that she stifled the sales team with her attitude. Geoff then smiled and said since Maggie had come back debts had fallen and while they had lost a small number of customers, the majority respected the fact that if they wanted to advertise within their titles then they had to follow Maggies’ rules.
While I have not used Maggie, Geoff’s or John’s real names the story is true. If you would like to know a bit more about the Taming of the Shrew or other works by Shakespeare I would suggest that you obtain a copy of To Be or Not To be, Innit by Martin Baum.
If you would like to challenge David to link a subject to credit control or like to know more about him or Deanem Collections Ltd please do visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or send David an email david@deanemcollections.co.uk
When I first received the challenge my mind went blank was it possible to link William Shakespeare’s masterpiece with credit control. But then I thought of the “Shrew” in Shakespeare’s tale Katherine & her sister Bianca. In the story Bianca is everything that Katherine is not she is soft-spoken, sweet and unassuming and is the one that all the men want to wed. The problem is that Bianca cannot get married until Katherine does. In the story Katherine is eventually “tamed” by Petruchio and eventually both Kate & Bianca find happiness.
There is a direct link between the characters and credit control and I hope this illustrates why I can make this statement. When I started in business over 30 years ago being allowed time to pay was not expected or demanded as it is today, you had to earn the right to be granted credit. Once you had proven yourself worthy of being offered credit and you had passed the vigorous vetting procedure, well OK it wasn’t that vigorous as it usually consisted of you providing 2 trade references. Obviously the salesman, or Bianca would be delighted and they soon became a “friend”. They would show you the latest goods, they would shower you with compliments etc etc.
Depending on the size of the company you were dealing with there would be at least 1 or 2 people, who were generally ladies who took care of the credit control for the company. These ladies could also be like Bianca as it was in their interest to be nice with customers who paid. However, if you didn’t pay your invoice Bianca would suddenly become Katherine.
I once met a Katherine when I was asked to meet Maggie* who was the credit control manager for a major publishing house. Maggie had a reputation for being a bit of a dragon and was for ever stopping new customers from obtaining credit and as such upset the sales team who found it hard to attract new advertisers who would not be granted credit. The board felt that while Maggie was doing a good job they wanted to know if she was acting unreasonably and asked me to carry out a review.
Maggie & I met for a cup of coffee and I found her to be charming very much like Bianca, she explained that before joining her present employer, she had been a tax inspector. It was her belief that if as long as a client let her know if there was a difficulty and sorted out a payment plan and stuck to it, she was happy. However woe betide anyone who did not keep their promise, as she then became Katherine. When I asked her how far she would go to get paid, she pulled out a portable credit card machine! She explained that she would attend exhibitions both here and abroad and if she saw an errant advertiser entertaining someone, she would march up to them and demand that they pay their overdue invoice.
I reported back to the board that Maggie was the perfect example of a competent credit controller whose goal was to insure that her company did not suffer from bad or late payers. John* the sales director asked what did I think of Maggies’ attitude to granting credit as it affected the sales staff’s ability to attract new customers as they wanted credit before placing an order. I explained that I felt Maggie was right and gave him my favourite analogy of not being able to go to Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose etc and fill up a trolley and then walk out with out paying. I finished my report by saying that I felt as long as they allowed Maggie to carry out her job the company would continue to grow and remain relatively debt free.
A few years later I met Geoff* who was the Chairman of the publishers at a networking event and as we both had some spare time I treated him to a coffee and asked how things were, howMaggie, John and the rest of the team that I had met were. Geoff explained that after Maggie had retired John had insisted that the company employ less of a Kate and more of a Bianca as he felt it would allow his team to take the company to the next level. Geoff then went on to explain that within a year the company had gone from having virtually zero debtors to over 15% and the majority of the debtors had come form new customers that had been signed up since Maggie retired.
When I asked him what he had done, he took a deep breath and said that he had begged Maggie to come back on a part time basis so that she could teach her successor how to do her job. When I asked Geoff how John took the news, he said that John had said that if Maggie came back he would leave because he felt that she stifled the sales team with her attitude. Geoff then smiled and said since Maggie had come back debts had fallen and while they had lost a small number of customers, the majority respected the fact that if they wanted to advertise within their titles then they had to follow Maggies’ rules.
While I have not used Maggie, Geoff’s or John’s real names the story is true. If you would like to know a bit more about the Taming of the Shrew or other works by Shakespeare I would suggest that you obtain a copy of To Be or Not To be, Innit by Martin Baum.
If you would like to challenge David to link a subject to credit control or like to know more about him or Deanem Collections Ltd please do visit our website www.deanemcollections.co.uk or send David an email david@deanemcollections.co.uk
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Deanem Collections: There is nothing like a claim.
Deanem Collections: There is nothing like a claim.: "I was sent this blog by George Emsden, who inturn received it from the author Alan Lakey I was so impressed I wanted to pass it on to my rea..."
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