How to avoid unpaid bills in France

On the French market, and especially for consumer goods, the supplier credit for the payment of the deliveries is the rule (more or less 60 days).

The total amount of those credits are estimated about 600 billion Euros.

The amount of definitively unpaid bills is around several billions Euros.

To avoid unpaid bill there is the necessity to apply some credit management rules.

– Before and on the delivery day you have to respect 3 major commandments

o To have a signed order form with a stamp of the customer on it

o To provide a French solvency check

o To have a signed delivery note with a stamp of the customer on it

– On due date if the bill is still unpaid you have to give a phone call to the debtor without delay

– 30 days after the due date and if the invoice is still unpaid you should transfer the file to a French debt collection office; the worse the solvency check the quickest you should initiate a debt collection process.

– Going legal for debt collection in France is quick and efficient. There is only a problem with the companies going bankrupt during the litigation procedure. But if you studied seriously the solvency check this should not happen.

– At least the major decision is about who are the customer you will deliver. Turnover makes no sense if the payment delays and the costs and efforts to cash in the money provides a negative margin. Financial and sales departments have to find a way to avoid the bad debts and the insolvent customers.