| Common Sense Recovery of Business Debts |
| Use this debt recovery model from now on. For existing debts join in at letter before claim stage. |
| Invoice Promptly & Clearly |
| When: The day the goods are sold or services (or service stage) completed |
| Be sure to invoice promptly, informatively and accurately. People pay more readily while their purchase is still in their mind and there is nothing to query. Put order details on your invoice. Queried invoices are often put aside to be dealt with later. This is the start of payment inertia. It can easily become entrenched. Deal with invoice queries as an urgent priority. |
| Costs: none. |
| Send 1 Written Reminder |
| When: Due date plus 7 days |
| This traditionally takes the form of a statement of account. Consider making it into a formal reminder instead. Try not to use invoicing packages which show an aged debt spread. They suggest to the debtor some tolerance of delayed payment. |
| Costs: Just postage. |
| Make 1 Telephone Reminder |
| When: Due date plus 14 days |
| Always try one telephone reminder. Do this before using us. It's cheap, quick and often tells you a lot. Say you are calling out of courtesy before the recovery process starts. If you are promised a return call say that it will have to be within 1 working day to stop the recovery process starting. If you are fobbed off or a promised call is not made send a letter before claim immediately. You can with debtclaims.com. Always keep timed, dated notes of every call including the name of the person speaking. |
| Costs: The cost of a phone call. |
| Letter Before Claim |
| When: due date plus 21 days |
| Your fully optimized letter of claim is automatically generated from the debt and invoice data you enter into this site. If you delay you give out an impression of being reluctant or ill equipped to pursue payment. Choose the most suitable form of optimized letter of claim from those available on our site. |
| Costs: £1 plus postage. |
| Claim |
| When: Due date plus 28 days |
| Before issuing a claim online make the necessary Pre Issue Checks. (Don't issue a claim if you know it is going to be disputed without first taking advice. Pre Action Advice does not only tell you if your claim is sound or not. It can also show you alternative ways to proceed which may gain you an advantage, pitfalls to avoid and can save you incurring sanctions for inadvertent non complince with the Court's pre action protocols in disputed debt claims). Generate and download your claim into the Court website using our link. Send the debtor the letter-with-claim generated by our site at no extra cost. |
| Costs: "Between £20 and £50" depending on value plus the "Court Fee". |
| Judgment |
| When: Due date plus 49 days |
| If the Debtor does not defend the claim enter judgment online. Your claims menu tells you when it is lawful to do this. Always send a letter-with-judgment generated by the site. The debtor's seven options of how to respond to your claim may look confusing at first. Solicitors have made a fortune out of making sure you stay confused. Make a cup of tea, sit down and study our Debtor's Responses page for 5 minutes maximum. You will then be able to deal with any judgment situation effortlessly, without solicitors, for the rest of your life. |
| Costs: It costs nothing to enter a judgment online. |
| Enforcement |
| When: Due date plus 50 days |
| Enforce online by Bailiff (warrant of execution) when the debt is under £600. Otherwise enforce online by High Court Enforcement Officer (use the High Court Enforcement Group). Both are officers of the Court. The Debtor pays these enforcement costs. Don't spend money on enforcement by execution against goods if you suspect there are no goods to sell. Remember most peoples cars, computers, office furniture, etc is on lease from a finance company and cannot be seized. If in doubt use the experienced debt recovery solicitors who co-operate with us on this site to pursue alternative forms of enforcement of your judgment. |
| Costs: Between £25 and £50. These fees are added to the judgment debt to be paid by the debtor. If goods are seized and sold to satisfy the debt there are extra fees but they are paid out of the sale proceeds. |
| Where do debt collector or solicitors come in? |
| If the debt is unduspted they are not needed. Avoid debt collectors for business to business debt recovery. They charge far too much for easy recoveries and many give up on the hard ones. They rely on threats and debtors' ignorance of the fact it is unlawful for collectors to sue for your debt without you paying for solicitors on top of their percentage. Most businesses know they can put debt collectors' letters in the bin, bar the phone number and wait for a solicitor's letter. Avoid also any solicitors who do not optimize their letters of claim. They know the terms of the late payment directive perfectly well. They ignore it to secure more litigation fees, which is the best proof available that use of payment incentives under the Late Payment Directive to secure payment without litigation works. |