Hi guys,
This thread has been long dead but I decided to respond to the original question anyway.
It seems very cold here compared with L/C forum.
Have you ever serve your customers under clean collection? What are the most commonly used financial documents? I am still puzzled how will checks or promissory notes be used under such circumstances? It should be the buyers who send checks or promissory notes to the sellers, then the sellers present them to his bank. Is that clean collection? If so, why not does the buyers make remittance through T/T directly? T/T is more convenient and ecnomical.
What is clean collection? Found this nice defination on the net so thought will share it some minor changes in emphasis:
Is a
Documentary collection whereby only the financial document (draft or bill of exchange) is sent through the banks
without
a bill of lading and/or other shipping documents (which are sent separately by the consignor to the consignee).
Used usually
in open account arrangements,
clean collection
allows a consignee to take delivery of the shipment
without paying and without making a firm commitment to pay on a fixed date.
The last line helps understand the purpose of clean collection.
Under Clean collection the consignee is able to collect the goods without paying
( unlike in D/P where he must pay to recieve the docs and then collect the goods. )
And without making a firm commitment to pay on a fixed date.
(unlike in DA where he must accept a Bill of Exchange i.e commit to a firm date of payment/maturity before he recives the docs to then collect the goods)
Thus 'clean collection' is esenially designed for 'Open account trade' .
In open account of course the buyer parts with money only after recieving the goods.
I am still puzzled how will checks or promissory notes be used under such circumstances? It should be the buyers who send checks or promissory notes to the sellers, then the sellers present them to his bank. Is that clean collection? If so, why not does the buyers make remittance through T/T directly? T/T is more convenient and ecnomical.
Under clean collection the most common financial instrumnet used is a 'bill of exchange' - typically sight but term is also doable.
Cheques and promissory notes are also used and in the manner you state above.
Why not use T?T ? Well there is an additional security for the seller if they actually part with docs against a cheque or promissory note because if the buyer dishonurs these then he can be taken to court .
(Of course the original sales contract and proof of dispatch of goods can be used for the same
BUT in many countries if the cheque bounces for example it is a criminal offence and the beneficiary of the cheque can claim and get compensatin from teh courts without any refernce to underlying contract. In other words if I sign a cheque favouring you and the same is not honured then The court will not look into the underlying contract and disputes. court will only check the genuiness of the cheque and the signature. Moreover the signatory risks going to jail too.)
Why not use T/T which is cheaper and more convinient?
T/T can be used in two ways .
1) before the goods are dispatched or recieved by buyer:
In this case the buyer parts with funds before the goods arrive. Useful where buyer has agreed to make ' advance payment' in the original sales contract but no use if the agreement is for 'Open Account Trade'
2) After recipt of goods by buyer:
In this case the arrangement would be fine for ' Open Account' but the seller has higher risk. By taking a 'cheque' or a 'promissory note' he could have some additional security.
There could be another reason for using 'Clean collections' . The banking laws of importing country might not allow payments for imports without a Bill of exchange.
In some jurisictions this is also the reason why LCs require an additional draft drawn on the applicant. If this draft is not there the LC issuing bank cannot claim money from the buyer.
Thus no BE means no payment can be made under law. The BE is also a source of income for the government in teh form of stamp duty.
Hope this answers the question.
( Every product is designed to meet some requirements. One reason is management of risk for all parties involved. Another reason is local reglations)
Your comments welcome.
Cheers