Our services Contact us
Letter Before Action & Final Demands
The LBA (Letter Before Action) tells the debtor what you want and why. This normally includes details of any outstanding invoices and gives a formal warning that if payment is not received by the date shown (usually within 7 days), court proceedings may commence.
It is our experience has that the threat of court action from a professional third party (us) often results in payment.
We will also try to contact the debtor by any other means available to encourage a settlement of the claim. We are always friendly and courteous but at the same time firm enough to serve your interests.
What if the debtor doesn’t pay the full amount?
One of the reasons people or businesses do not pay their debts is that they do not have the money to do so. We are specialists in finding solutions to this problem. For example, a debtor may agree to pay in instalments, or re-negotiate another of his contracts to release funds for your benefit. Some collection agencies march on and issue court proceedings without investigating the reason for non-payment.
Issue Court Proceedings
Whilst we base our reputation on recovering your money ‘amicably’, there are debtors who still refuse to pay and the next step is to issue a County Court Claim on your behalf.
Due to the volume of cases we handle, we issue court proceedings via the CPC (Claims Production Centre) to ensure Claim Forms are issued promptly. This is, of course, to your benefit.
As with all our services, we are so confident in our ability to help you that we act on a ‘no collection - no fee’ basis.
In the small proportion of cases that are defended we offer a referral service to Lyons Davidson Solicitors who are a national law firm who will progress matters up to trial on what we believe to be some of the most favourable terms you will find.
Judgement
If the defendant does not reply to your claim, we can ask the court to enter judgment 'by default' (that is, make an order that the defendant pay you the amount you have claimed because no reply has been received). We diarize the commencement of court proceedings in every case and apply for judgment as soon as it is possible on each case.
After Judgement
The debtor has 28 days to pay the Judgement debt otherwise a CCJ (County Court Judgment) will be entered onto the County Court Judgment Register. A CCJ stays with the debtors for 6 years and may hinder any credit applications during this period. This is one of the reasons debtors are eager to settle their debts once claims have been issued. Costs of getting your judgment are borne by your debtor.
Enforcement
If the debtor does not pay you after you have got your judgment then we will go about vigorously enforcing the Judgment (actually getting the money).
This includes:
1. The use of Bailiffs and High Court Enforcement Officers (formerly known as Sheriffs)
2. Charging Order (if the debtor owns real property)
3. Attachment to earnings (if the debtor is an employee)
4. Third Party Orders (if the debtor is owed money from someone else)
5. Getting the debtor to Court for questioning.
We will direct you every step of the way and do all the work for you.
Tracing debtors
More often than not people give up if a debtor has ‘disappeared’. We can arrange for a trace and status report to be carried out to find the debtor and confirm whether or not he/she is worth pursuing. Clearly, if they were bankrupt it would probably be a waste of your time. The last thing we want our clients to do is throw good money after bad.