Pages in topic:   [1 2] >
How much bad debt do you have?
Thread poster: Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 19:05
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Aug 3, 2020

I recently cleaned up my invoices folder, and being a lazy ne'er-do-well, this was the first time that I put the invoices that I'm not likely to ever collect into a new folder so that they won't get in the way of my monthly bookkeeping.

They amounted to about $150 USD in total, and obviously most of these were earlier in my career, dropping off as more and more of my work shifts to regular clients or carefully-vetted new clients. The latest was from last year, $40 from a Dubai-based
... See more
I recently cleaned up my invoices folder, and being a lazy ne'er-do-well, this was the first time that I put the invoices that I'm not likely to ever collect into a new folder so that they won't get in the way of my monthly bookkeeping.

They amounted to about $150 USD in total, and obviously most of these were earlier in my career, dropping off as more and more of my work shifts to regular clients or carefully-vetted new clients. The latest was from last year, $40 from a Dubai-based outsourcer. I do have about $100 from these couple of years that could become bad debts, although I have not given up on collecting them.

On the whole, I think I've done fairly well, while keeping a pretty open mind towards new and unproven clients. Of course, I could easily end up with 5-figures of bad debt if my biggest client goes under...

How much bad debt have you accumulated over the years?
Collapse


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:05
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
There was a small amount Aug 3, 2020

But this small outstanding and overdue amount was finally paid today. So nobody owes me anything.

 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 05:05
Dutch to English
+ ...
Reminders? Aug 3, 2020

Lincoln Hui wrote:

I recently cleaned up my invoices folder, and being a lazy ne'er-do-well, this was the first time that I put the invoices that I'm not likely to ever collect into a new folder so that they won't get in the way of my monthly bookkeeping.

They amounted to about $150 USD in total, and obviously most of these were earlier in my career, dropping off as more and more of my work shifts to regular clients or carefully-vetted new clients. The latest was from last year, $40 from a Dubai-based outsourcer. I do have about $100 from these couple of years that could become bad debts, although I have not given up on collecting them.

On the whole, I think I've done fairly well, while keeping a pretty open mind towards new and unproven clients. Of course, I could easily end up with 5-figures of bad debt if my biggest client goes under...

How much bad debt have you accumulated over the years?


Most of my clients are private clients who usually don't owe large amounts of money and if they don't pay, it's usually an oversight. In all the years I have been translating, I had only had three clients who did not pay, even after being reminded. In another five or six cases I sent a reminder and the client was apologetic and paid immediately. I'm not always right on top of it but I may send a reminder about six weeks after the due date.

I've had only one case, a number of years ago, where an agency went bankrupt and I lost a fairly large amount. But this counted as a 'business loss' when it came time to pay my taxes.
,


 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 19:05
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
. Aug 3, 2020

Tina Vonhof wrote:
Most of my clients are private clients who usually don't owe large amounts of money and if they don't pay, it's usually an oversight. In all the years I have been translating, I had only had three clients who did not pay, even after being reminded. In another five or six cases I sent a reminder and the client was apologetic and paid immediately. I'm not always right on top of it but I may send a reminder about six weeks after the due date.

I've had only one case, a number of years ago, where an agency went bankrupt and I lost a fairly large amount. But this counted as a 'business loss' when it came time to pay my taxes.
,

Most of these bad debts - not a lot, and small jobs obviously - belong to companies that have had poor BB entries after the last time I worked with them.


 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:05
Member
English to French
Too much Aug 3, 2020

I've had only two payment issues:
Nov 2001: 3700 euros - nothing recovered
Aug 2010: 500 euros out of 1500 (1000 recovered)
Both bankruptcy/liquidation, both French agencies, both returning customers. I never saw it coming.
But one of them had a 60-day end-of-month policy. Guess which.

Bad debt or business loss, it's money lost. At least I didn't pay tax on it!

Philippe


 
Oriol Vives (X)
Oriol Vives (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:05
English to Catalan
+ ...
I think over €1400 Aug 3, 2020

One single client, owed from 2014. I tried to sue them, but the Spanish justice system is so weird that you actually can't sue someone in your zone tribunal -they demand you to go to the other part's zone tribunal to sue, which makes absolutely no sense to me. I am suing, so I do it on my terms, not the thief's!

Oh, and I paid taxes for that money. So the quantity is 21% bigger actually.

They are reported in the BlueBoard -I did my part regards my fellow translators.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 11:05
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
3 small amounts Aug 3, 2020

Over the years, I’ve had only 3 non-payment issues:

In 2011: 44,45€ (a translation agency)
In 2013: 79,86€ (a direct client, disappeared off the radar)
In 2016: 65,53€ (direct client, sudden death)


 
Christophe Delaunay
Christophe Delaunay  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:05
Spanish to French
+ ...
0€ Aug 3, 2020

Somebody tell me... am I the only one?

Jean Dimitriadis
Dan Lucas
Christine Andersen
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
English to French
+ ...
Zero Aug 3, 2020

Zero debt and zero bad debt. Double-plus-good.

Josephine Cassar
 
Agneta Pallinder
Agneta Pallinder  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:05
Member (2014)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Also Zero Aug 3, 2020

I have had a few near misses, always smallish amounts though, where I have had to nag and nag and in at least one case put in a bad report on BB. They paid in the end but there are a couple of agencies I don't accept any more work from because of this.

On the other hand an agency I really like and do interesting work for once or twice a year once did not pay me for over a year. They told me it was because the bank charges they would have to pay were almost as big as the - this time
... See more
I have had a few near misses, always smallish amounts though, where I have had to nag and nag and in at least one case put in a bad report on BB. They paid in the end but there are a couple of agencies I don't accept any more work from because of this.

On the other hand an agency I really like and do interesting work for once or twice a year once did not pay me for over a year. They told me it was because the bank charges they would have to pay were almost as big as the - this time rather small - invoice amount. They promised payment with the next project. I believed them, accepted the next project which was much bigger, and they paid the old bill with the new without fuss or delay.
Collapse


 
matt robinson
matt robinson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:05
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
one Aug 3, 2020

Only one, a Spanish "agency" called Tradastur. I tried to be nice and I tried to be flexible, but I was neve paid in full. Moderate this entry if you like, but I think fellow translators should be warned.

Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
 
Hamish Young
Hamish Young  Identity Verified
New Zealand
Local time: 00:05
Chinese to English
Pretty minimal Aug 3, 2020

I've had maybe five unpaid invoices in many years on the job, and all were too small to bother trying too hard to get the money back. I think that's pretty good considering I operate entirely on mutual trust, even with new clients.

I was lucky to only lose a small amount of money (minimum charge!) when a large Irish agency went bust a few years ago - they had previously been a major client of mine, and many translators lost thousands of dollars I believe.


 
Maria da Glória Teixeira
Maria da Glória Teixeira  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:05
Member (2020)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
None Aug 3, 2020

None, I hope you never did.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 12:05
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
None Aug 4, 2020

I was lucky when a long-term major client went bankrupt in 2010, and was working on a book for another client, so I did not do much else in the critical couple of months, and lost very little on the bankruptcy.
One client in the very early days refused to pay an invoice of around DKK 500 - two hours' work at the time - because I had not followed their administrative rules. I gave up chasing it fairly fast... but I learned a lesson!

Otherwise, if a payment is late, I send a rem
... See more
I was lucky when a long-term major client went bankrupt in 2010, and was working on a book for another client, so I did not do much else in the critical couple of months, and lost very little on the bankruptcy.
One client in the very early days refused to pay an invoice of around DKK 500 - two hours' work at the time - because I had not followed their administrative rules. I gave up chasing it fairly fast... but I learned a lesson!

Otherwise, if a payment is late, I send a reminder a week or two after the due date, and that usually works. I have resorted to second reminders and mentioned debt collection a couple of times, but never needed to go any further.

My accountant says never wait too long - it can look like acceptance of non-payment, especially if your terms are current month + 30 days, as mine are in effect. That should be plenty of time to pay!


[Edited at 2020-08-04 07:29 GMT]
Collapse


 
Paul Stevens
Paul Stevens  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:05
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
One bad debt Aug 4, 2020

I had one bad debt situation about 15 years ago, quite early in my freelancing career, from a French outsourcer who posted on here but had no Blue Board rating at the time. The job was split between myself and another proz.com member and my share of the job amounted to about £225. The outsourcer was subsequently banned from posting on here.

Since then, I have refused to take on any new work from outsourcers who either do not have a very good Blue Board or about whom I am unable to
... See more
I had one bad debt situation about 15 years ago, quite early in my freelancing career, from a French outsourcer who posted on here but had no Blue Board rating at the time. The job was split between myself and another proz.com member and my share of the job amounted to about £225. The outsourcer was subsequently banned from posting on here.

Since then, I have refused to take on any new work from outsourcers who either do not have a very good Blue Board or about whom I am unable to secure some firm conviction that they are reliable payers (e.g. recommendation from someone else) without asking for at least partial payment up front.

Whilst this may have lost me a number of potential new business and new clients, I have actually secured 2 very good clients this way. It also means that I don't have to take any undue risk regarding clients about whom I am unable to obtain details about their reliability regarding payments, which, in turn, means no undue worry in this regard.
Collapse


 
Pages in topic:   [1 2] >


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

How much bad debt do you have?







Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »