Being classified as "delinquent" is not a positive thing, far from it. And in order not to fall into that attribute, it is important to know what it is delinquency law, what characteristics it has and the deadlines that are established.
If you have never thought about it before and want to know more about the delinquency law, then we are going to tell you everything.
What is delinquency
If we go to the dictionary of the RAE, delinquency is defined as:
«Slowness, procrastination, delay. Lack of activity or punctuality«.
In other words, we could consider that it is a situation in which an individual, company or Public Administration does not meet the established payment deadlines, and when these pass, he still does not pay.
What is the delinquency law
The default law in Spain is Law 3/2004, of December 29. It establishes the measures to combat delinquency. However, at first they focused on commercial operations. In 2010, with the Law 15/2010 of modification, was extended to establish how and when payments should be established between companies or companies with the public administration.
In other words, this law It is based on establishing legal conditions with which to fight against delinquency while avoiding abuses (hence the establishment of payments).
Who does it apply to?
In case you do not know, or it is not clear to you, the default law always applies to commercial operations, but these can be:
- Between companies.
- Between companies and the Public Administration.
- Or between contractors and subcontractors.
In fact, a very common mistake is to think that the delinquency law applies to operations with consumers or debts from insolvency proceedings. The reality is very different and in this case these would not fall within the legislation of this law.
How much time do you have to pay
Unless another term has been established by contract between companies, the Public Administration or contractors and subcontractors, by default, the delinquency law establishes that all payments must be made within a period not exceeding 30 days since the services or goods are delivered.
Of course, for it to be carried out, the supplier of that product and/or service you have to deliver an invoice, and you have to do it within 15 days.
In this sense, a "play" that some companies carry out is to verify the products or services, for which they have 30 days. And only when they have been verified, will the 30-day payment period begin. That is in the end you end up getting paid in 60 days.
In fact, in the law an extension of that period of 30 days is allowed, for another 30 more, that is, 60 days of payment term, but they will not exceed that figure and the days are considered "calendar".
What happens if you don't pay on time?
Imagine that you have worked for a Public Administration. Your work has been approved and you are waiting to be paid in 30 days. But that day comes and the money does not appear. Not the next day. Not the next...
When a debtor, in this case the Public Administration, does not pay within the established term what is called “blackberry” is generated. This implies that, if the creditor has complied with all the obligations under the contract but has not received the money for his work on time, can demand from that debtor an interest on arrears.
Now normally that interest must be agreed in contract. But if it has not been taken into account, then it is the delinquency law that comes into play.
And it is that according to this regulation, interest will be set by the European Central Bank increased by eight points over the next 6 months.
But that's not all.
Also, together with default interest, there will be collection management fees. In this case, the minimum that will be imposed will be 40 euros, but in reality it can be much more if the figure is documented.
How to avoid defaulters
Having a pending payment and not knowing when you are going to be paid is something that not many people can afford. A defaulter can do a lot of damage, especially if the money you owe is a lot. Therefore, when choosing jobs, It is important to take into account some aspects to avoid delinquency. Which? For example, these:
Always charge a part in advance
It is becoming more and more common for people offering services charge half in advance, or even 100% because they are sure, and they give security, that they are going to comply, but the same may not happen with the other person.
Therefore, if you want to avoid being owed too much money, what you can do is set an early deadline for the money, and another in the middle of the time or similar.
Do not accept any client
First of all, you must study who your client is to accept it or not. And it is that the fact that you get a job does not mean that it can pay you. You may not have credit for it.
And how is that done? Requesting a risk and solvency report. Obviously, you will do this only when it is a client with a significant amount to be able to put yourself at risk. Otherwise, the normal thing is that we consider it in another way.
Always with a contract ahead
Forget that verbal agreement is as good as a signature. Everything in writing is better because that way you can know what is fulfilled and what is not, and act in those cases.
It is possible that this procedure makes it take longer to start the work, or that it is not done at all. But if so, you should not see it as a loss but as a benefit because you will be saving yourself future problems (and they can be many, we already told you).
As you can see, knowing what the delinquency law is and what it entails is very important because in it you will find the deadlines to claim the money and the different assumptions in which you will find yourself. You have doubts? Leave them in the comments and we will try to help you.