Hi everyone, happy hump day! Ok, today we are going to talk about defaults. I am constantly asked “how do I black list someone?” so here it is! A very brief summary of how you can list a black mark against your non-paying customer:
1. To default an individual you must be a member of a credit reporting agency, of which Australia has 3 major ones with Veda being the market leader. Once you are a member, you must have your customer sign an authority giving you access to their credit file. Most good credit applications (let me know if you want a blank generic one emailed to you for free) include this authority.
2. 60 days must have passed from the date the invoice fell due.
3. The debt must be more than $150
4. You can then list a default which will stay on their credit file for five years, regardless of if they eventually pay it.
5. To default a company, again you must be a member of a credit reporting agency, however the leader in commercial credit files is Dun and Bradstreet. We however prefer Creditor Watch and for as little as $39 per month, you can search unlimited business credit files and also list unlimited defaults. The same conditions as individual’s apply (waiting 60 days, over $150 etc) The FAQ’s for creditor watch are excellent and can be seen here:
https://creditorwatch.com.au/page/faqs
Guys, defaults are an excellent way to motivate your debtor to pay. Once listed, they can only be removed if they were listed in error and will stay on file for 5 years, making the chances of your customer obtaining credit extremely difficult.