Payment bank charges

Calibre Designs · #1 (**permalink**) 19-09-2008, 11:16

Currently we receive payment either by cheque or bacs. The banks charge for cheques. How do we encourage clients to pay the free way without having to add a surcharge which is not what we want to do? Any ideas?

Thanks.

Fuzzy · #2 (**permalink**) 19-09-2008, 11:20

Give them a discount for paying by BACS?

Indizine · #3 (**permalink**) 19-09-2008, 11:20

dont offer it as an option.... then those that have no option will ask anyway, thus limiting it to only those who can only pay by cheque, or only willing to pay by cheque. Or just add a £5.00 surcharge. Its not unusual to see CC surhcarges so why not?

Fuzzy · #4 (**permalink**) 19-09-2008, 11:21

Cancel that, just re-read your thread

AccountingBasics · #5 (**permalink**) 19-09-2008, 11:24

Many people and companies still operate a cheque run system and will not do anything else.

Some options could be:

Ensure any invoice includes your bank details and that they are very clear.

If you have to remind people about overdue accounts then ask them if they could do a BACS payment.

I think in time people will switch more to BACS and away from cheques. One advantage of a cheque for the customer is that it takes longer for the money to leave their account on a cheque, due to postage and banking. At the moment more people are trying to delay paying invoices and keep the money in their account.