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Snowwhite
29-08-2016, 02:18 PM
Hope you are all enjoying the Bank holiday. For the 1st time i am having to apply a late payment fee. A day late with fees and still no sign of it and parent has failed to contact me despite my reminders at midday on Friday and one at yesterday early evening. (I haven't phoned, just texts as my husband thinks i should wait until Tuesday to phone her if she doesn't contact me/give me the money.. I disagree but as of yet haven't phoned her). Do you keep the late payment fee going daily up until the fees are payed ( so for example £15 per day late payment) or do you just apply your late fee as a one off payment? (Unless it happened again the following month!). I have noticed that i haven't filled out the part on our contract about how regular the late fee is payed if it applies, but i do have the amount on there.

The parent is a nice young person but frustrates me when it comes to payment as every month i have to remind her more than once. She's the only parent who i have to do that to, as everyone else pays me early or bang on time. For some reason she won't set up a standing order and prefers to post cash in an envelope through my letterbox. 2 months ago she payed a day late as she forgot and she asked what the late fee is, but i said i would let it slide this time but if it happened again i would have to charge. Well it's happened again!

She may be away but i have given her reminders in enough time for her to have got the money to me. Grrr ! She gets most (or all ) of the childcare payed for and it's just after school childcare, term time only. I even gave her my invoice for September back in July, and suggested in it to set up a standing order so as it wouldn't get forgotten about and also incase i wasn't home to receive the cash. When she does pay on time even then she is cutting it fine with when i receive it.

FloraDora
29-08-2016, 03:22 PM
If your contract says the amount for a late payment but not a daily rate then I think she may interpret it as a one off late payment. So that would be a £15 charge for paying late.
Your contract with the parent is what will count - not what other people do. Read your exact wording of your contract and apply that. If you want to change it then reissue a new contract and ask parent to sign.

Maza
29-08-2016, 03:29 PM
When you say that the parent asked you what your late fee is, what did she mean exactly? Was she about to give you the late money straight away or was she not sure of what your late fees were? You can't really decide these things in retrospect - so what did you agree late fees would be when you both signed the contract? You can't suddenly spring an amount on her that she isn't prepared for.

I think if you charge her £15 per day you would be unlikely to get it - but others with experience might have a different story to tell.

When you say that she is cutting it fine when she does pay on time - I think that's a bit unfair to be honest. If she's paying you on time, she's paying you on time.

Hope you get it sorted. Let us know how you get on. x

Maza
29-08-2016, 03:34 PM
When you say that the parent asked you what your late fee is, what did she mean exactly? Was she about to give you the late money straight away or was she not sure of what your late fees were? You can't really decide these things in retrospect - so what did you agree late fees would be when you both signed the contract? You can't suddenly spring an amount on her that she isn't prepared for.

I think if you charge her £15 per day you would be unlikely to get it - but others with experience might have a different story to tell.

When you say that she is cutting it fine when she does pay on time - I think that's a bit unfair to be honest. If she's paying you on time, she's paying you on time.

Hope you get it sorted. Let us know how you get on. x

Just re-read your post and see that you didn't fill in that part of the contract.

Is she definitely coming back to you in September? Don't mean to be pessimistic but she won't be the first parent to have found alternative care come September. Good luck. x

Snowwhite
29-08-2016, 04:30 PM
Thanks both for your responses. Yes her child is definitely coming back as he's increasing to an extra day (after school only) and also the mum has been paying half rate throughout the holidays, so we last spoke at the end of July as i thanked her for August's retainer fee (payment in advance for following month). She payed cash for that and said sorry the payment is late in the day ( just before 5.15)

I think she probably would assume that the £15 late fee is a one off payment, and to be honest i don't think i could charge that amount per day until the fee is payed is full. Maybe i could if i said to anyone new that it's £5 per day late fee, but my reason for charging £15 is so as it doesn't look like a piddly amount of money and for a parent to think ah well it's not much extra to pay anyway! It's me that sets the late fee on the contracts and i always write one in, but now i need to be more specific i guess.

When she was a day late paying a couple of months back it was her to straight away say i'm so sorry, how much is your late fee? (Meaning she was willing to pay it). I didn't even bring it up but that's when i said i'll leave it this time but it will apply if it happens again.
Even if she's failing to receive my texts (maybe poor reception if she happens to be away, or perhaps phone problems). then i still think it's out of order to not make the effort to remember to pay on time. These days you can add reminders on your phone / i pad, not to mention calendar or diary. She does regularly use her mobile phone and one time she sent me a bank transfer via her phone, so i know it can be done.

I do like to have money from parents earlier in the day rather than later, so when i say she cuts in fine even when she does pay on the correct day, what i really mean is i'm probably being too fussy and i should prob relax a bit more as a parent does have the entire day to pay me! (Seeing as i don't state that i would like the fees at a certain cut off time. Maybe i should though?? x

Maza
29-08-2016, 05:41 PM
Oh I'm glad she is coming back to you in September.

We live and learn - use this experience to adjust clarify your contracts. I think most of us have had to do that over the years.

My contracts state that payment has to be on a particular day, so technically they have until 11.59pm to make the payment! It's up to you if you want to be more specific. It would be interesting to see what others do. x

FloraDora
29-08-2016, 08:10 PM
[QUOTE=Maza;1425732]Oh I'm glad she is coming back to you in September.

It would be interesting to see what others do. x[/QUOTE

When I first started I wasn't too bothered about exact payment days as I didn't need the payments to pay bills etc...but overtime I began to think 'in principle' and if we had a payment date, then regardless if I ' needed' the money or not - it should be paid, it's at this point that you begin to get a bit obsessed about it! Well, I did. So my idea was that all monies should be paid by the 1st of the month in my head...so I put in the new contracts that payments should be made by 28th. This seemed to work as if they were a day late or so ...it didn't go over my first of the month psychological payment date. The principle of not paying me on the day the contract states still stood but my way of dealing with it meant I didn't get wound up about it before the first of month had passed. Particularly when you are dealing with voucher companies that take 3 days to get to your account.
A bit like telling youngest son that he needed to be somewhere half an hour before he actually did so that he always got there on time!
Not the most business like way of handling things but it works for me and more often than not all payments are made by the 28th of the month and I am a silly happy bunny - thinking they are all early!
I know lots pay in advance and that's a different set of issues if non payment.

Snowwhite
30-08-2016, 11:22 AM
Still no payment and she is now 2 days late with it. Have just rung her mobile (for the 1st time) and it rang for a bit and then went onto voicemail, so i've left her a message about the payment (plus late fee) and i've asked her to contact me as soon as she can, and also so i know everything is ok. I've taken into consideration the Bank holiday, but seeing as we are now Tuesday lunchtime then i think i have every right to now phone her rather than another text.

Update: 2 hours after my phone call to the mum i receive a text from her. She apologised for only just contacting me as she hasn't been well, and also said she has a problem as can't get the money to me until tomorrow due to when she gets payed and to do with tax credits. She will add my late payment onto the fee. If you charge a late fee then that isn't actually classed as your wages is it? It's in place to try and prevent late payment happening again isn't it ? And cause not getting payed on time could have an effect on you (depending on the amount you have in your bank account and when bills etc are due) I've suggested we could change pay date to very end of the month, but it must be payed on time