Catherine Bell warns that accepting partial debt payments can reset your contract terms and forfeit your right to collect the full amount. When a client owes $6,000 after default but offers only $5,000, taking it legally counts as settlement and bars you from claiming the rest. Compromise instincts learned in childhood can cost you serious money in business.
We've got somebody that owes us money. They owe us $5,000 a month. They defaulted. We told them then it's accelerated now to $6,000 a month. They decided 3 months later, well, we'll send you $5,000. If I accept the $5,000, do I get to make claim to the $6,000 they actually owe me? Yes or no? Do I? No. Because I took the what? I took the $5,000 and I reset the term. Their convenience, not mine. Right? So I have to be willing to say, here's your $5,000 back. Give me 6. And then we're even. So you're legally in compliance? Legally, no. I can't take $5,000 because that's called a settlement, right? So when we're taught as children to agree and don't argue and compromise, guess what happens? It makes you a weak business person. Oops. Mama's manners don't mean shit. I'm mad at my grandma.
