10 Most Commonly Asked Questions When Considering Pre-Litigation/Commercial Debt Recovery Services
Pre-Litigation/Commercial Debt Recovery Services FAQs
As we celebrate our 10 year anniversary this month we thought we would share 10 of the most Commonly Asked Questions by clients considering whether to use Pre-Litigation/Commercial Debt Recovery services.
Q1: If I have a disputed debt, can you still help me recover the debt?
A1: If a debt is disputed then we would be happy to review the case and discuss with the client our recommendations for resolving the case and obtaining an amicable settlement by acting as a mediator between the two parties.
Q2: How do you recover my funds?
A2: Our process couldn’t be simpler. After you have sent an unpaid or overdue account to us our pre-litigation team will assess the case and determine the most effective course of action.
Your dedicated Credit Management Consultant will liaise with you to obtain full facts about the case, and discuss their suggested course of action and the costs involved upon successful recovery. Together you will agree the preferred approach and also the method and frequency in which you want to be updated on our progress.
All instructions received are actioned within the hour, with communication commencing with the debtor, allowing us to establish the reason for late paying early in the process.
Telephone recovery will remain high throughout the case with the relevant legal notices being issued, and live updates provided in your agreed method. A full progress report will be provided within 48 hours.
Once the case is complete, we will provide you with a full review of the case.
Q3: Can you only recover what is overdue or in the statement?
A3: No, you are entitled to additional costs on top of your principal sum. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 you are entitled to claim interest, compensation and reasonable costs relating to your outstanding invoices. We have a very high success rate in collecting all costs for our clients, meaning in many cases that all the costs you have incurred to recover the overdue account will be covered. Within our notice sent to your debtor, we detail all the costs and pursue these costs in the same way we do your principal sum.
Q4: How long does it take to recover?
A4: Every debtor and their situation are unique, therefore there is not an exact time scale for every case. On many occasions, we have recovered the overdue account within 24 hours, however, on average, you should allow 16 days for the funds to be recovered.
Q5: If my account is not paid do I have to go legal?
A5: If we are unable to recover a debt at the pre-litigation stage of the recovery process we may recommend legal action as the next step. However, you are not obliged to issue litigation. The decision is yours to make, we will give our best advice to enable the client to make an informed decision for the next steps.
Q6: What information do you require to recover a debt?
A6: All we require to begin the recovery process is the outstanding invoices and a statement of the customer’s account, any contact details you have for the customer and a brief explanation of why the account has not been paid if known and any disputes there may be on the account.
Q7: Which countries can you recover in?
A7: We can operate all over the world. As our service is pre-litigation we have no jurisdiction on where we can operate. Our Credit Management Consultants will work with your customer communicating via telephone within their time zones to ensure effective resolution of the recovery of the overdue funds. Over the years we have developed a vast network of expert professional partners in key trade zones across the world, who have provided us with assistance in successfully recovering tens of millions of pounds for our clients whilst protecting their brand and retaining their commercial relationship.
Q8: If I used you, would I be tied into a contract?
A8: No, that’s the great thing about our service, there is no commercial risk to your business. We only charge you upon successful recovery of the debt. The only time you will be asked to pay anything to us before we recover the debt is an international case, we charge a non-refundable retainer of £250 As we only charge on a case by case basis and only when it is successful you can use our service on an Ad-Hoc basis or as an extension of your credit control department. (If you used our service as an extension of your credit control department and sent us a high volume of cases, a preferential rate could be discussed)
Q9: What is the oldest debt that you can recover?
A9: The maximum length you have to recover an overdue account is 2190 days (6 years) old from the date the invoice was due, however when a debt is this old it is harder to recover, as the debtor could have moved premises or liquidated the business during this time. The best time to instruct us would be between 90-120 days old from the date the invoice was due. Instructing a third party such as ourselves at this stage will give you the highest success rate.
Q10: When the overdue funds are recovered, can they be paid directly to me?
A10: Yes, we encourage all debtors to pay the overdue funds directly to you in your preferred way. However, if you do not have the facilities to accept payment via a card transaction or you have no one available to take payment for you, we can do it on your behalf. We use a “Worldpay” system which is an external payment processing site. The system is secure and as it is external from our business we hold no payment details, the debtor can either make the payment by themselves through a link on our website to the Worldpay system or they can call our secured payment line for us to do it on their behalf. All payments we take on behalf of clients are made into a “Ring Fenced” client account which is separate to our business account.
We hope that you have found these commonly asked questions useful and hopefully we have covered some of the questions or worries you may have when deciding to use Pre-Litigation services to recover your overdue or problematic accounts. However, if you still have unanswered questions please do not hesitate to contact us to ask us any questions you may have on 01698 821 468 or [email protected]
