Bacs Direct Credit uncovers comedic payment excuses and launches the "Little book of late payment excuses"

Once upon a time a business waiting for a late payment would be told, plain and simple, "the cheque is in the post". However, research conducted for Bacs has found that late payers are coming up with far more complex and, often, outrageous excuses to avoid paying.

The excuses given by companies paying other businesses late have now been made available in "The little book of late payment excuses", which is illustrated by well-known cartoonist Mike Mosedale - a veteran of Punch and Private Eye. The little book is downloadable as an eBook at www.directcredit.co.uk/paymedirect

The little book also has a serious side, as it contains practical ideas for businesses with late payment problems, together with details of "Pay Me Direct" - a campaign aimed at encouraging small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to make more use of automated payments in place of traditional payment methods to reduce the likelihood of late payments in the future.

Some of the more memorable excuses recorded fell into some distinct overall themes, including:

The inflammable

• "A customer's car caught fire in the car park"
• "The post box caught on fire"
• "The bank burned down and nobody could verify the account"

Partner related

• "My boyfriend ran off with the money"
• "The cheque fell down the side of my wife's car"
• "My wife went into labour when she saw the invoice"

The deceased

• "They said [the cheque writer] was dead, but we knew he was alive"
• "We were at a funeral, and someone ran off with all the money"

While some of the excuses make for amusing reading, the research also found that an estimated 90% of SMEs felt that businesses could cease trading as a consequence of this practice. With over £11 billion owed to SMEs collectively at any one time, over 17,000 individual businesses are at risk of closure from late payments, with the incomes of around 3.4 million people at risk of delay each month.

Michael Chambers, Managing Director of Bacs, comments, "We all chuckled when we saw the results of the research, but as laughable as some of the excuses are they do underline just how some people will act towards fellow business owners. We are actively encouraging SMEs to change their behaviour and work together to overcome the problem."

For more information about Bacs and our services visit Bacs key facts.

Contact Bacs press office.

Notes
The research:
Bacs Direct Credit combined business omnibus on late payments, May 2004.
366 interviews with managing directors, financial directors and other senior managers of businesses with an annual turnover of over £50,000.
Quotas were applied by turnover, region and industry type. All companies had 1-250 employees.


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