What to do when payment delays occur?

Sometimes, when investing in companies such as start-ups or SMEs, one may encounter projects that are problematic in terms of deadlines. In most cases, delays are due to technical or personal contingencies that can be resolved within a few days. In other cases, however, they may be caused by more complex problems: for example the non-arrival of an expected liquidity event.

The most experienced investors know perfectly well how to handle these unforeseen events without panicking. Over time, in fact, they have learned that payment delays do not necessarily lead to the loss of the money they have invested, and that sometimes, as they are caused by cash flow problems, they simply require a little patience.

However, wondering how to manage the risks associated with delays is understandable and perfectly legitimate. Precisely for this reason, we thought it might be useful to offer some tips on how best to manage possible delays in project payments on our platform:

Be patient for at least 5 days, as the delay may have been caused by an unforeseen event that can be resolved in a short time.

EvenFi usually sends a payment notice to companies 4 to 5 days before the due date of individual project deadlines. However, the sending of the notice does not exclude the possibility of technical, personal or banking contingencies. For this reason, delays will only be considered as such after 5 days from the project deadline date. If a company is late in payment, EvenFi will contact them immediately: in case of a technical or banking problem, payment will be made, in most cases, within 5 days of contact by phone or email.

Read the company's notifications on the project sheet updates

EvenFi usually notifies companies of delays through notices posted in the "Updates" section, visible within the project sheets. It is in the interest of the platform to recover the invested capital from the lenders as soon as possible and to inform you of all the news related to the management of the delay within the allowed timeframe. Therefore, it is not necessary to contact the helpdesk for information on delay management: the platform itself will provide investors with all the information it has on the process of recovering their capital.

Please wait for the time frame of the negotiation process

In most cases, a delay of more than five days is due to subjective difficulties on the part of the companies: for example, the delay in the arrival of payments or liquidity or the need to meet unforeseen expenses. Often it is the companies themselves, with whom EvenFi's platform is in constant contact, who inform us of the occurrence of these unforeseen events. When this happens, in order to recover the capital invested by the lenders as smoothly as possible, EvenFi will remain in permanent contact with the company to try to understand its difficulties and negotiate a possible rescheduling of the loan that allows the investors to recover the invested capital and is sustainable for the company. The negotiation phases may last more or less time depending on the difficulties detected and the possible solutions proposed. Even in this case, it is not necessary to contact the helpdesk: investors will be informed of the progress of the negotiation initiated by the platform itself through the "Updates" section within the project files.

‍In the case of problematic loans, EvenFi will provide the legal costs necessary to recover your capital.

In the event that the negotiation process is unsuccessful, EvenFi, through its lawyers, will initiate the necessary legal proceedings to recover the capital loaned by users registered on the platform. Although the platform is not legally obliged to provide the necessary expenses to proceed legally, EvenFi will provide the legal costs of the recovery process (expenses that EvenFi will try to recover later during the legal process). The only thing affected users have to do in case of a problematic situation is to wait for the official updates published in the "Updates" section within the project archives. However, it is essential to keep in mind that the recovery of capital by legal means requires deadlines that are completely independent of the platform's will. The platform, in essence, aims to protect the interests of its users free of charge, requiring only that they be patient enough to wait for the time necessary for the implementation of the institutional process of capital recovery.