In Focus Collections
Commercial credit – how can we all move forward?
Last month, CCRMagazine and Else Solicitors gathered a group of senior professionals to consider the future of the sector: Caroline Asquith-Turnbull, credit manager, Maistro; Laura Charles, head of debt recovery, Else Solicitors (LC); Atul Vadher, former international credit manager, French Connection (AV); Nick Woods, export credit control manager, Marston Book Services (NW); Perry Burns, director, Working Capital Partners (PB); Kevan McGerity, trade finance manager, Terex Aerial Work Platforms (KM); Dave Mullett, credit manager, Elliot Baxter & Co (DM); Allan Poole, credit & operations director, Waters & Gate (AP); Holly Jannaway, head of customer service and credit control, Wessanen UK (HJ); Laural Jefferies, credit executive, Fashion Edge (LJ); Emma Ryan, head of servicing and legal, Octopus Property; Chris Else, partner, Else Solicitors (CE)
run into, whether it is incurring a bad debt yourself, suddenly being assessed for some VAT or Duty that you were not expecting, getting a delay in supply because a creditor cut off your own supplier, there can be a number of things that go wrong. I think it comes down to the attitude of the debtor. If they are an upstanding person, then they will pick up the telephone and explain that they have a real problem which is going to take, say six months to sort out, and ask if they can rely on our support, then we would probably say yes, as long as we thought it was genuine. If, on the other hand, they self-medicate and start trying to play Peter against Paul, then we will take a very dim view. At that point we will go down the legal route because they have demonstrated that they are not to be trusted, and, in credit as in so many other things, trust is everything.
DM: Everyone has a chance – and I think everyone is entitled to one chance – but if they burn those bridges, they are generally irreparable. If we need to go legal, then there are very few who I will allow back on a credit basis. It would generally need to be short-
term credit on a direct-debit basis, so at least we have some agreement and control. It takes away some of the pain of chasing them.
KM: It is the proven track record that is important, be it success or failure. Everyone thinks, when they say ‘proven track record’, it is a plus, but in can be a minus if there is a history of running businesses that failed.
Will GDPR have a significant impact upon commercial creditors? CE: It is interesting that, all the firms around this table are quite large, and so everyone should have been trained on GDPR, and have a clear company policy that is effective from now, because it is retrospective. It is so important that all staff are trained on it, as all parts of the business can touch data. You have to think about these things and protect people’s private data. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is going to help businesses at this stage, because it is in their interests to do so, and I believe that there will be a settling-in period of about 12 months where you can talk to them, quite openly, and explain what your policy and
training is and get some guidance. Businesses that do that will not fall foul of the GDPR.
LC:We have recently had our own training session, within Else. There are some elements you believe you are aware of, but there are so many different aspects you need to be aware of. For example, with us, there are letters that are returned in the post, which we might previously have simply kept on file. But, the point was made in the session that we do not necessarily know who, at the address, has opened the letter to send it back. So now we are keeping a log of all our returned correspondence that has been opened, as that letter does include personal data.
CE: The approach we have taken is that we have sent all our clients, and anyone else who is interested, a questionnaire. You work through it, there are no fees involved, and it is evidence you are becoming compliant and taking it seriously. The next stage is that, if you have any issues, then you can call us and we will guide you through. The important thing is not to be scared of it, but to recognise its importance. A lot of the
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Left-right: Chris Else; Kevan McGerity; Laura Charles; Nick Woods April 2018
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