Payment history

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Under payment history (or payment record , payment habits , English payment practice, payment behavior ) of debtors is understood their willingness and ability to their payment obligations when due fully and immediately comply to want .

General

Payment behavior is sometimes also used to describe the choice of means of payment used by economic entities when making payments , although the term payment method is intended for this . All business relationships are affected by payment behavior , i.e. B2B , B2C , B2A and A2B . As a measure required to § 286 para. 3 BGB that the debtor a claim no later than in late tackle, if he does not within 30 days after due date and receipt of an invoice does. This regulation was introduced after the payment behavior in Germany had deteriorated further.

The actual payment behavior of debtors must be based on this 30-day period. Anyone who pays immediately after receipt of the invoice is classified as a punctual debtor; the use of the 30 days is considered to be legally compliant payment behavior. In addition, there is a default in payment, which triggers a reminder and can be classified as poor payment behavior. The payment behavior of the debtors also influences the sales decisions of the service providers , dealers or sellers , who, in the case of poor payment behavior, either demand advance payment or no longer deliver to the buyer concerned.

A debtor's payment behavior depends on his ability and willingness to pay the debtor on time to the payee . The ability in turn depends on the liquidity of the debtor, the willingness to be seen in connection with the will of the debtor to repay. When examining payment behavior, it is initially irrelevant which of the two factors influences the behavior. In any case, the quality of the payment behavior (payment behavior) is better the earlier the debts are paid or the lower the delay in payment .

causes

Possible causes for poor payment behavior by private individuals in Germany are uncontrolled consumer behavior (73%), over-indebtedness (60%), liquidity problems (57%) or unemployment (31%). Dissatisfaction with the company's performance ( lack of quality ), forgetfulness and fraudulent entry are also causes. The proportions of these causes can shift due to the economic situation. E-commerce companies (54%), energy suppliers (38%), landlords (37%) and the trades (36%) are particularly affected by payment behavior . 89% of the collection agencies stated that the payment behavior of public clients is very unsatisfactory. Creditors wait a little longer for payments from consumers (C2B) (average: 80.82 days) than for money from B2B debtors (72.34 days).

Key figures

The payment behavior of the debtors is examined by the receivables management . The payment behavior of companies can be measured and assessed using the following key figures:

Decisive are economic indicators as the average of payment ( English days sales outstanding , DSO), turnover rate of the claims or the discount utilization efficiency . An important key figure is the proportion of late or unrecoverable incoming payments in relation to the total incoming payments. Payment by payment method ( bank transfers , real-time transfers , direct debits , payment cards ), payment according to payment behavior (discount, payment term in days), debtors by number of reminders or debtors by credit rating can also be examined .

It examines when a debtor pays his liabilities , based on the period between receipt of the invoice and receipt of payment by the creditor.

economic aspects

Payment behavior fluctuates between punctual payment, payment defaults , payment arrears , insolvency and unwillingness to pay . For the creditor, a payment risk begins with payment disruptions. This payment risk is a typical business risk . In receivables management, creditors need to identify debtors with poor payment behavior at an early stage.

The payment behavior of all economic agents is closely linked to the economy . It improves during economic growth and worsens during recessions or even financial crises . The economic cycles usually have an effect on the creditworthiness of individual economic subjects and entire economic sectors because their economic conditions are more or less influenced by the respective economic situation. In the recession, corporate crises and unemployment pile up , which affects the liquidity of debtors. This can have a domino effect , because bad payment behavior leads to bad or no longer liquidable claims on the part of the creditors, with the consequence of bad debt losses , so that these creditors worsen their own payment behavior. In B2B, companies stated that 55% of them paid late because they had defaulted payments with their own customers. Payment behavior is an essential criterion when rating or credit scoring of debtors.

The credit insurance company Euler Hermes states that the poor payment behavior of customers was the cause of a company crisis in 82% of the cases .

In economics , the cash flow rate reflects payment habits and is influenced by the opportunity costs of holding cash (lost credit interest ):

,

where stand for cash in circulation and for the amount of money . A rising interest rate reduces the cash flow rate and vice versa.

Use of the means of payment

In economics and the business administration payment behavior forms part of the purchasing behavior and relates to the selection of the debtor , which means of payment ( cash , deposit money as cashless payment or monetary surrogates such as credit card , debit card or check ), he in favor of the payee begins. Payment behavior depends on the one hand on the terms of payment and on the other hand on the customs , which are different in each country. Payment behavior can be measured using the cash quota or the cash payment quota. The cash quota is a key figure that shows the proportion of cash in circulation in relation to, for example, gross domestic product . The cash payment quota is the share of cash payments in total sales or in all transactions . While most companies make their payments almost always cash, it is the consumers in Germany still accustomed to their business of everyday life in the trade to pay with cash. At 96%, the share of cash in pubs , cafés and fast-food restaurants is particularly high . Only the introduction of financial innovations was able to push back the cash share. From 1961 transfers or standing orders were added, 1964 direct debits , 1968 Eurocheques with Ec-Card and from 1990 electronic banking . 60% of German consumers only decide which means of payment to use at the checkout.

statistics

The longest payment term with an average of 91 days was in Greece in 2019 , followed by 88 days in the People's Republic of China . This was followed by Spain (39 days), Great Britain (33), Belgium and France (32), Switzerland (31), Denmark (24) and Germany (23 days). The share of incoming payments with late payments and non-payment of total incoming payments was 18% and 3% respectively in Great Britain in 2019, followed by Belgium (17% / 3%), Switzerland (16% / 2%), France (15% / 2%) ), Spain (14% / 2%), Denmark (14% / 1%) and Germany (13% / 1%). While 55% of business customers cite defaults on their own customers as the reason for poor payment behavior, 57% of private customers cite a current liquidity bottleneck, followed by forgetfulness (47%), overindebtedness / personal bankruptcy (45%) and fraud (36%) ).

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. BT-Drs. 16/511 of February 2, 2006, draft of a law to secure contractor claims and to improve the enforcement of claims (Claims Securing Act - FoSiG) , p. 1
  2. ^ Federal Association of German Debt Collection Companies (BDIU), press release of November 22, 2018
  3. ^ Hermann Lauer, Conditions Management - optimally design and enforce payment conditions , Verlag Wirtschaft und Finanz Düsseldorf, 1998, ISBN 3-87881-124-1
  4. Rolf Bühner (Ed.), Management-Lexikon , 2001, p. 186
  5. Wolfgang Breuer / Thilo Schweizer / Claudia Breuer (eds.), Gabler Lexikon Corporate Finance , 2003, p. 119
  6. Capital of January 11, 2018, Rainer Downar: Payment behavior - hesitating instead of paying
  7. EOS Study, European Payment Habits , 2019, p. 2
  8. Causes of insolvencies. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. In: Euler Hermes (Hrsg.): Wirtschaft Konkret . No. 414, 2006, p. 23. The study is the result of a survey of 125 insolvency administrators who processed around 19,000 bankruptcies.
  9. Verlag Dr. Th. Gabler GmbH (Ed.), Gabler Volkswirtschafts-Lexikon , 1990, p. 545
  10. Gerhard Diepen / Werner Sauter, Business Studies for Bankers , Springer-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 978-3-32282-958-0 , p. 389 ( preview in Google book search)
  11. Deutsche Bundesbank, Payment behavior in Germany 2011 , 2012, p. 13 f. ISBN 978-3-86558-864-7 ( PDF )
  12. Statista , Average payment term (in days) granted by companies from selected countries in Western Europe in 2019 , 2020
  13. Statista, proportion of late or unrecoverable incoming payments from companies from selected countries in Western Europe in 2019 , 2020
  14. EOS Study, European Payment Habits , 2019, p. 14