I got a letter from a good client telling me that as of March 1st, due to the difficult economic times, they will no longer pay vendors for searches until the file closes.  They say they have taken many losses on abstracting fees and are "unable to keep our vendors whole while we take on the full loss liability."  

Most of this companies work is on foreclosure searches.  They ask for full copies of deeds in the chain back 30yrs and copies of the foreclosed DOT anywhere in the chain.  This can run up a large amount of copy fees.

They wanted an acceptance or rejection on these changes.   As tough as times are for independent abstractors, I had to reject this offer.  I have taken some losses too from unpaying or slow paying clients.  I hate to lose this client but I also can't afford to take these losses either. 

What do you think?