Frequently Asked Questions

No – our services go far beyond chasing overdue invoices. As proactive credit control specialists, we believe prevention is better than cure. Our approach focuses on managing your cash flow efficiently by maintaining clear communication with your clients before invoices even fall overdue.

By gaining insight into when payments are expected, we help you plan and manage expectations effectively. We also provide you with practical tools like our Invoice Tracker to monitor payment patterns and identify potential issues early.

Restricting our work to overdue invoices would only scratch the surface of what we can do. As the Guardians of Your Cash Flow, we're here to support your entire credit control process – not just debt recovery.

This is an important distinction:

Credit control is proactive – it's about managing the entire invoice-to-payment process to prevent debts from arising. This includes setting clear payment terms, monitoring payment patterns, sending timely reminders, and maintaining customer relationships.

Debt collection is reactive – it deals with debts that have already become significantly overdue or problematic, often when relationships have broken down.

We specialise in credit control because we believe prevention is better (and more cost-effective) than cure. By the time you need aggressive debt collection, you've already suffered cash flow damage and potentially lost a customer relationship.

Our Cost of Credit Calculator shows exactly why proactive credit control makes financial sense.

At Freelance Credit Control, we understand that maintaining strong client relationships is as important as securing your cash flow. We begin with a respectful and professional approach, seeking to understand any reasons for delayed or missed payments and identifying what steps are needed to resolve the issue.

Our communication follows a structured escalation process, starting with friendly payment reminders and progressing only when necessary. You can see examples of this balanced approach in our professional letter templates.

As invoices age or if responses are not forthcoming, we adopt a firmer yet tactful tone, ensuring your client understands that continued non-payment could lead to restricted trade, late payment charges (which you can calculate using our Late Payment Calculator), or other collection measures.

This careful balance allows us to protect your business relationships while safeguarding your cash flow, ensuring professionalism at every stage.

This is entirely your choice. We can operate in three ways:

• Transparently as Freelance Credit Control – Your customers know we're acting on your behalf as professional credit controllers
• As an extension of your team – We communicate using your company name and email domain, appearing as your internal credit control department
• Hybrid approach – We start internally and only reveal our involvement if the situation escalates

We'll discuss the best approach for your business and client relationships during our initial consultation. Our professional letter templates maintain the appropriate tone regardless of which approach you choose.

Every business has unique needs, which is why we don't believe in one-size-fits-all pricing. You can book your free 30-minute consultation here to discuss what's right for you.

During your consultation, we'll explore the level of support you need. This might be as simple as downloading and using the free resources here on our website – such as our Invoice Tracker, Late Payment Calculator, or professional letter templates.

Alternatively, you might need a Guardian for as little as one hour. Our standard pricing is set in hourly blocks, and we then create a unique plan for your business showing exactly how that time gets used.

We also have tailored pricing structures for larger requirements or situations where you only want specific invoices chased – these are assessed case by case, as sometimes it's more cost-effective to pay for time rather than per-invoice fees.

The bottom line? We'll find an approach that works for your budget and delivers value. Book your free consultation and let's talk about what makes sense for you.

All of this will be discussed during your free 30-minute consultation, and it's entirely driven by your business needs.

Our goal during the consultation is to get a full flavour of your business and the challenges you're facing. We'll explore:

• Your current credit control processes (or lack thereof)
• The nature and age of your outstanding invoices
• Your customer relationships and any sensitivities
• Your industry and typical payment cycles
• What's keeping you awake at night regarding cash flow

From there, we'll identify exactly what information we need and create a straightforward onboarding process. Some clients come prepared with detailed sales ledgers; others arrive with a pile of unpaid invoices and frustration – both are absolutely fine. We'll work with you wherever you are in your credit control journey.

Before you even book, you might find it helpful to explore our free tools like the Invoice Tracker to get a clearer picture of your payment patterns, or our Cost of Credit Calculator to understand what late payments are really costing you.

Book your free online consultation here – no preparation required, just an honest conversation about your business.

Absolutely not! In fact, small businesses often benefit most from professional credit control because:

• Cash flow is more critical – A single large unpaid invoice can seriously impact a small business
• Time is precious – As a business owner, chasing payments takes you away from revenue-generating activities
• Relationships matter – We can be the "bad cop" while you maintain positive customer relationships
• Professional approach – Even with limited resources, you can present a professional, structured credit control process

We've designed our services to be accessible and scalable for businesses of all sizes. Even if you're not ready for our full service, our free tools like the Invoice Tracker and Late Payment Calculator can help you manage credit control more effectively.

We're flexible! You can engage us for:

• Single case support – Help with one particularly challenging debt
• Specific customers – Ongoing management of your slower-paying clients
• Full credit control – Complete management of your entire sales ledger
• Overflow support – Help during busy periods or when your team needs backup
• Project-based work – Clearing a backlog of overdue invoices

There's no one-size-fits-all approach. We'll tailor our service to what you actually need. Even if you just want to use our free resources like the Late Payment Calculator and handle everything yourself, that's fine too – we're here to help however works best for you.

Results can vary depending on the age and nature of the debt, but many of our clients see improvements within the first 30 days. Our proactive approach means we don't wait for invoices to become seriously overdue before taking action.

By implementing structured communication processes and monitoring payment patterns using tools like our Invoice Tracker, we help you reduce your average days to payment and improve cash flow consistency.

The sooner you address credit control issues, the better your outcomes – which is why prevention really is better than cure.

We believe in empowering businesses with the right tools. Even if you're not ready for our full service, you can benefit from our free resources:

• Professional Letter Templates – Professionally-drafted payment reminder and demand letters that maintain the right tone throughout the collection process
• Late Payment Calculator – Calculate the statutory interest and compensation you're legally entitled to under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998
• Cost of Credit Calculator – Understand the true financial impact of extending credit terms to your customers
• Invoice Tracker – Monitor payment patterns, identify your best and worst payers, and track your average days to payment

These tools are designed to help you take control of your cash flow, whether you work with us or manage credit control in-house.

Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, you're entitled to:

• Statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate
• Fixed compensation (£40 for debts under £1,000, £70 for debts £1,000-£9,999.99, and £100 for debts over £10,000)
• Reasonable debt recovery costs

Use our Late Payment Calculator to work out exactly what you can claim. Many businesses don't realise they have these rights, which means they're leaving money on the table every time a client pays late.

Extended payment terms might win you the contract, but they come at a real cost. When you wait 60 or 90 days for payment instead of 30, you're essentially providing free financing to your customer.

Our Cost of Credit Calculator shows you exactly how much those extended terms are costing your business in real terms. Armed with this information, you can make informed decisions about:

• Whether to offer early payment discounts
• How to price contracts with extended terms
• Which customers are actually profitable once credit costs are factored in
• When to renegotiate payment terms

Understanding the true cost of credit is essential for protecting your profit margins.

There is no silver bullet or guarantee that every invoice will be paid. Granting credit is a risk that you choose to take and, as with any risk, there is always the prospect of non-payment.

Our methods and techniques are industry-leading and optimised to give you the best prospect of being paid each and every time and to the terms that you have agreed. We also help you understand the true cost of extended payment terms using our Cost of Credit Calculator, enabling you to make informed decisions about your credit policies.

However, there are times and circumstances in which payment is not forthcoming. In such cases, we will advise you to seek legal advice, as this may be your only avenue of recovery.

Let's be honest: there is no silver bullet, and previous success is no guarantee of future success. Anyone who promises you'll collect 100% of overdue invoices isn't being straight with you.

What we can promise is that our proactive processes will position you to have the best prospects of being paid. These processes have been learned and refined through years of real-world experience. Our founder still delivers successfully for clients using these exact methods to this day – they're proven, they're professional, and they work.

The key factors that drive success are:

• Early intervention – The sooner we act, the better the outcome. Use our Invoice Tracker to spot issues early
• Consistent follow-up – We don't let invoices slip through the cracks
• Professional communication – Our approach maintains relationships while securing payment (see our letter templates for examples)
• Understanding your rights – Knowing what you're entitled to under UK law, including statutory interest (calculate yours with our Late Payment Calculator)

Rather than quote you statistics that might not apply to your specific situation, we'd rather have an honest conversation about your particular challenges. Book your free 30-minute consultation and we'll give you a realistic assessment of what's achievable.

We're the Guardians of Your Cash Flow – and we take that responsibility seriously.

It depends. Before we can give you an honest answer, we'll need to review the debt in detail and assess what actions have already been taken.

If your current debt recovery company has truly exhausted every avenue, it may be that legal action is your next step — and in such cases, we'll advise you to seek specialist legal guidance.

However, in many situations, our proactive collection strategies and relationship-based approach have succeeded where others haven't. We'll review the documentation trail, assess whether statutory interest applies (check our