ICSM, which provides specialist credit referencing services to the Printing, Stationery and Graphic Arts sectors, has launched a new “micro-debt” recovery service to help recover small, “nuisance” debts that many businesses stop chasing… with no charge made unless the money is recovered.

In the first two-week pilot phase of the service, some 56 bad debts were recovered for ICSM clients, ranging in value from £36 to £1,712: a total of £18,000. Now the service is being rolled out nationally.

“The print sector historically has had a massive problem with unpaid bills,” says Ian Carrotte, proprietor of ICSM. “To be honest, a lot of it is because many print and stationery businesses tend to be a bit ‘old school’ and trust their customers more than perhaps they should.

“Each year hundreds of companies in the print and stationery sectors go bust – and bad debts, along with late payments, are a big part in that.

“Conventional debt recovery services will ask for upfront payments of unavoidable (and often substantial) court fees and legal fees with no guarantee of success. No wonder creditors give up on smaller debts. We asked our customers what would work for them and came up with the new micro-debt service.

“For some 30 years now,” adds Mr Carrotte, “we’ve been providing the information companies need to help stop bad debts occurring in the first place, as well as helping our members recover larger unpaid bills.

“But every print business gets saddled with smaller debts that they just give up on, considering them to be ‘not worth chasing’. Because of our reputation and approach, we tend to get more positive results… and we’re now applying that expertise for debts as small as £25.

 “There’s no charge unless we recover the money – and from that we deduct a pre-agreed success fee. There’s no risk and no upfront cost… just a good chance that you will get most of what you had written off, back into your pocket.”

To try out the service, email sam.farrow@icsmcredit.com or call Sam on 01454 322234.