Debt Recovery

Debt Recovery Team

The Debt Recovery team are a specialist team within the firm’s Litigation department largely dealing with undisputed debt recovery.  The team, supervised by Elizabeth Shaw, is comprised of Jane Marsden (who has over 20 years’ experience in credit control and debt recovery) and Mandy Smith (who has over 10 years’ experience in credit control and debt recovery), deal with the initial stage in recovery of monies due from your debtors.

The team has a tenacious approach in dealing with Debt Recovery and strives to achieve the best outcome for clients, resulting in clients repeatedly instructing them to pursue outstanding debts due.  

We will look at all the information that is available to give you an honest and experienced opinion on the chances of successful debt recovery.  We can advise on your current credit control procedures and how they can be enhanced to reduce the need to use Debt Recovery services in the first instance and to better your chances of successful debt recovery in the future.

We will guide you through the debt recovery process and help you make informed decisions at each of the stages from the initial Letter Before Action, to issue proceedings, obtaining judgment and enforcement.

We understand that an unpaid invoice is not just a debt; it’s a loan to your customer that can have a crippling effect on your cash flow. 

The Initial Stage of Debt Recovery

The initial stage of debt recovery will depend upon whether the debtor is a company (or partnership/limited liability partnership) or an individual/sole trader.

Where the debtor is a company, partnership or limited liability partnership a letter will be sent to the debtor giving them 14 days to respond. After 14 days if there has been no response we can issue a County Court claim form to pursue the debt.

Where the debtor is an individual or a sole trader a letter will be sent to the debtor giving them 30 days to respond.  After 30 days if there has been no response we can issue a 14 day notice of intention to issue proceedings letter.

If the individual replies or makes a part-payment a further 30 day letter has to be sent with the new amount outstanding. Each time the debtor responds we have to repeat this procedure. Some debtors may know this which buys them more time as another 30 days has to elapse.

If the debtor fails to respond to the 14 days’ notice of intention to issue proceedings letter we can issue a County Court claim to pursue the debt.

County Court Proceedings

Once proceedings are issued, these are sent to the County Court to serve upon a debtor. The debtor will have 14 days of date of service to respond. The date of service will be provided to us by Court so that we know when the debtor has to respond by.

If a debtor does not respond to the Claim Form then the Debt Recovery team can send a Judgment request to the Court. Once Court have entered Judgment, a sealed copy will be sent to us and then we can discuss enforcement options with you. The Judgment will state the amount it has been entered for and the date it was obtained.

If a debtor defends an action, then the case will be passed to Stephen Thompson of the Litigation Team to deal with the Defence and advise of the next steps involved.

Enforcement

After a Judgment has been entered, we have 6 years from the date of the Judgment to issue enforcement proceedings.

There are various methods of enforcement. These can be discussed with you as to what the debtor’s circumstances, financial situation, residential arrangements are. Not every enforcement method would be suitable for a debtor, it all depends on the debtor’s individual circumstances.  

Debt Recovery Costs