Late fee - in Germany? Thread poster: Inez Ulrich
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Inez Ulrich 
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
Hi all,
I know that some of you charge late fees if a client does not pay in a timely way. Here in Germany, I only know collection expenses which are about € 2,- or so, so not a good way to make clients pay faster. I don't know if charging a late fee is actually legal here, so I'd like to know about your experiences. Thank you!
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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Wasn't there an EU law for mandatory minimum late fees and % interest on overdue business debt?
I know there was a British version from back in their EU days and I think I heard there was some related EU law
| | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Adieu wrote:
Wasn't there an EU law for mandatory minimum late fees and % interest on overdue business debt?
I know there was a British version from back in their EU days and I think I heard there was some related EU law
I have absolutely no idea. I never came across any late fees my entire life, that is why I am asking.
| | | | | You may apply such a fee ... | Jun 18, 2021 |
... but I'm afraid that your client may feel no obligation to pay it, and then it's up to you to enforce it by civil law measures (because it's not a crime, where you could call the Police for). Therefore you would need (and need to pay by yourself) a solicitor (if we are talking about German clients). Warum postest du deine Frage nicht im deutschen Thread?
[Bearbeitet am 2021-06-18 09:14 GMT]
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| | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
oh gosh, now I need to do the calculation...." 8 percentage points above the reference rate"...what is that reference rate?
I'm not certain if they will pay at all. It is a publisher who I have some really difficult and labor-intensive editing for a book they plan to publish. Now they are obviously trying to find the fly in the ointment because they have underestimated the expenditure of time. Only they have nobody who can judge this actually, as the topic is complicated and nobody in their stuff knows anything about it. So now they are "assessing" my work and keep quiet about my invoice. Bunch of professionals, for sure. My invoice was due upon receipt, and that was on June 1st. I sent a reminder 3 days ago, they haven't even read my email.
| | | | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
You're awesome, Teresa! Thanks really much!
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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It exists, but collecting small sums on it is a pain.
Organizations that confirm they are aware of this and continue to pay you (or even improve on punctuality after complaints!) tend to still leave you hanging on the late fees.
Their typical and usually-valid assumption is that you won't poison the relationship or bother with the bureaucratic process of collecting late payment penalties.
PS reference rate, iirc, is the central bank interest rate, so near-zero.
Inez Ulrich wrote: oh gosh, now I need to do the calculation...." 8 percentage points above the reference rate"...what is that reference rate? I'm not certain if they will pay at all. It is a publisher who I have some really difficult and labor-intensive editing for a book they plan to publish. Now they are obviously trying to find the fly in the ointment because they have underestimated the expenditure of time. Only they have nobody who can judge this actually, as the topic is complicated and nobody in their stuff knows anything about it. So now they are "assessing" my work and keep quiet about my invoice. Bunch of professionals, for sure. My invoice was due upon receipt, and that was on June 1st. I sent a reminder 3 days ago, they haven't even read my email.
| | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Adieu wrote:
It exists, but collecting small sums on it is a pain.
well, it's over € 2000 ...
| | | | Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
| Reference rate | Jun 18, 2021 |
Adieu wrote:
PS reference rate, iirc, is the central bank interest rate, so near-zero.
Near-zero, indeed, but actually negative (-0.88%) at the moment.
| | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Matthias Brombach wrote:
... but I'm afraid that your client may feel no obligation to pay it, and then it's up to you to enforce it by civil law measures (because it's not a crime, where you could call the Police for). Therefore you would need (and need to pay by yourself) a solicitor (if we are talking about German clients). Warum postest du deine Frage nicht im deutschen Thread?
[Bearbeitet am 2021-06-18 09:14 GMT]
Hi Matthias, I suppose this will be the case anyway, they way they are acting.
Gute Frage mit dem deutschen Thread - ich schätze, reine Gewohnheit
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| The debt itself? | Jun 18, 2021 |
Or the interest and penalties alone?
In my experience, companies tend to eventually pay the debt but ignore the penalties, sometimes outright no response, sometimes a polite "I've forwarded your request to our payments people" email with no further developments
Inez Ulrich wrote: Adieu wrote:
It exists, but collecting small sums on it is a pain.
well, it's over € 2000 ...
| | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Adieu wrote: Or the interest and penalties alone? In my experience, companies tend to eventually pay the debt but ignore the penalties, sometimes outright no response, sometimes a polite "I've forwarded your request to our payments people" email with no further developments Inez Ulrich wrote: Adieu wrote:
It exists, but collecting small sums on it is a pain.
well, it's over € 2000 ...
no, the debt. If is was 2000 in interest and penalties, I would have completely freaked out by now. But the debt is also a lot of money for me, of course. (You wrote "collecting small sums" which I understood as collecting small invoice sums.)
| | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 14:33
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | something else...update | Jun 18, 2021 |
okay, just received an email from them, saying that they will get back to me after my editions have been assessed. They are clearly playing along. I wonder how I shall proceed from here. There is no written agreement in form of a contract. I always issued an invoice and it was paid. I mean, I have worked for a certain amount of time and they have to stick to our agreement, assessment or not. If there is sth to be amended etc. (which I doubt they can judge anyway as they have no clue about the to... See more okay, just received an email from them, saying that they will get back to me after my editions have been assessed. They are clearly playing along. I wonder how I shall proceed from here. There is no written agreement in form of a contract. I always issued an invoice and it was paid. I mean, I have worked for a certain amount of time and they have to stick to our agreement, assessment or not. If there is sth to be amended etc. (which I doubt they can judge anyway as they have no clue about the topic, as I mentioned before), I would certainly do that, but don't they have to pay anyway. Or am I wrong here?
[Edited at 2021-06-18 19:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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