Debt collection agencies in the U.S. collect more than $13 billion of bad debt each year. And that is only the debt that has been turned over for collection.
The COVID-19 pandemic is also having an impact on businesses of all sizes. The five largest banks (Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo) disclosed in their recent earnings reports that they are forecasting more than $104 billion in defaults from consumers. Businesses are also seeing late payments at an astounding rate.
At any given time, 43% of outstanding payments to businesses are unpaid by the due dates – an increase of 72% from the previous year. Bills that are 90 days past due have doubled and 4% of total outstanding invoices have been deemed uncollectible and written off.
If you are seeing more slow-pays or no-pays, you are not alone. However, you do need to take steps to protect your business to ensure you are paid what you are owed. This starts with sending an email message making a phone call or sending a collection letter.
Download the Executive Report on this page to learn how to write a collection letter that will get customers to pay.
The report includes these valuable points to help you collect more payments:
- Proven Collection Letters Templates
- A Coordinated Collections Effort
- Reviewing a Customers Business Report