Hi Tim,

I will comment on this...  I feel that 30 days is reasonable and seems to be the standard in MOST businesses.  In manufacturing it may be customary to see terms like 10/2NET30... meaning 2% discount for payment in 10 days, full price due within 30days.  I have considered adopting similar stadards, however, I know my clients - most of them would take the 2% off and still pay in 45 days. (Sad, but true)

I think that larger companies may be able to offer these discount terms, but most of them charge quite a bit to begin with.  The profit margin in title abstracting is already razor thin and it is a shame that too many of our clients don't understand that.  They are continually demanding lower prices and it is not possible to provide quality work for less (in my opinion).  Now they are pretty much saying that they are not going to pay for our work on-time (per our terms of NET30) unless we discount the work further. I think 30 days is very reasonable when most companies want the work back in HOURS.

The vast majority of abstractors can't carry customer credit for that long. We mostly have to pay our bills in less than 30 days!  I get a lot of bills, for everything from insurance to utilities, that only give me about 2 weeks to pay.  It is sad to see these larger companies pushing the burden back on the small vendors.

I think that companies that don't pay within 30 days should pay an EXTRA 2% for the credit extension.  If they need more time to pay their bills it should cost them MORE... they should NOT pay less to pay them on-time.

On a personal note, Tim... I realize this isn't YOUR policy.  I know you don't have much control over it, and I'm not aiming this at you - we don't even do work for you company.  It is just my opinion on the subject in general.

Regards,
Robert A. Franco
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