Owing money to a company in liqudation

[cheekymeerkat]

Hello,

I owe the sizeable figure of £14k to a supplier that went to the wall, the invoice is now overdue by 60 days and the liquidator (one of the big 4) doesn't seem too interested in collecting payment quickly, as I've barely heard from them!
At the moment I'm enjoying the cash flow, but how do you guy's think I should play this out?

Will delaying payment affect my company credit file with credit insurers?
Do liquidators typically sell the debts they couldn't collect before closing the business with Companies House? The company turnover was half a billion so I'd imagine it's going to be open for some time, ex staff have told me the liquidator's fee's are already running in to the millions and they reckon pennies in the pound has recovered.

I'm not entirely happy to be honest because about £1K's worth of goods turned out to be faulty but I'm not sure how to play ahead?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[cheekymeerkat]

NorthDave said:

So would I am afraid. I kind of know where John above is coming from on paying what you owe but there is also the point of view that you are throwing money at something which is already dead.

Having said that I am very sure they will come knocking at some point. At that point I would pay speedily and gracefully :-)

That's what I was thinking, I think I'll just sit on it until they force my hand.

[cheekymeerkat]

A lot of wildly different opinions on here!
Thanks for your suggestions guys, it's going in to our reserve account until they mention it.
I'm still amazed that administrator's don't sell debts on? If EE can sell a £100 debt to a debt collector, why wouldn't an administrator sell the title of a very large debt to a debt collection agency for pennies in the pound? At least the administrator would get something back?

[cheekymeerkat]

So today, I paid most of the £14k (minus deduction for faulty goods), I'll have to see if they disagree with that, but they have most of their money.
They threatened a winding up order, and as far as I know, this can destroy a company once advertised in the Gazette, even if we have the means to pay.

This thread was interesting because there was a big split of opinion, I'll let you know my reason for preferring to withhold payment. I was advised the only money left would be swallowed by administrators fee's, and there was a preferential secure loan for the PE tts who ran the previously always profitable company in to the ground with their arrogance after just 2 years at the wheel. It caused me a hell of a lot of bother sourcing new suppliers, and all the admin involved.

Administrators fee's were down as £820 PER HOUR, plus disbursements which were just as high as they hire other "professionals" at high hourly rates on top. All staff were fully paid up before redundancy.