president Henry Hayward said yesterday.

Effective November 1, there will be no more purchases put through to existing charge accounts. From that date, the company will accept only cash or credit card payments for all travel purchases, the company said.

Mr. Hayward said the move was partially prompted by a growing trend of account tardiness.

Asked if he thought Meyer, the Island's largest travel agency, was setting a precedent, Mr. Hayward said it remained to be seen if other travel agencies would follow suit.

If they did, it would be a "sensible trend,'' he said.

Customers need to realise that travel agents earn a commission of 10 percent from airlines and are forced to pay the airline within 10 days. That 10 days compares with the 30 days Meyer asked customers to pay their bills. After 60 days, the company charged a fee, he said.

"As far as I know, we are the only (travel agent) to cut off charge accounts completely,'' he said.

Attending to the accounts receivable is a "continuous battle'' which has taken on more time for back office staff, he said.

"Expenses relating to the present charge account systems have outstripped commissions earned,'' Meyer vice president, marketing, Carl Paiva, in a notice recently sent to the company's clients, said.

"Fortunately, credit card acceptance, enhancements, and benefits have made any charge account system superfluous.'' The company plans to promote the advantages of paying by credit card, Mr.

Hayward said.

John S. Darrell & Company president Donald MacPherson applauded the Meyer move. John S. Darrell is majority shareholder of Darrell Travel Ltd.

Although the company has not discontinued existing charge accounts, "we've quietly not offered any new credit accounts for over a year,'' he said.

"The comment will be made that the innocent are paying for the guilty. But we are not a bank,'' he said.

Franklin Travel Ltd. president Patti Daly Franklin said that company would continue to offer charge accounts.

"We feel we need to offer credit to long-standing credit-worthy customers (but) charge accounts have to be managed tightly.'' BUSINESS BUC