Debt Recovery

Debt recovery can be a frustrating and time-consuming process, but in the current climate, never has there been a more important time to concentrate on your finances and recover your debts.

If you have debtors, and don’t know how to obtain money owed, Burnetts Debt Recovery team can help you get paid quickly.

One constant challenge businesses face is the sudden shortage of cash-flow that can arise from unpaid invoices. A shortage of cash-flow for any business can severely restrict its ability to pay its staff, rent and creditors and therefore cash-flow is of the upmost importance. Why should any business have to suffer because it’s not being paid by their debtors?

Whilst there are undoubtedly some debtors who will currently have no means by which to pay their creditors, most do, even if that is by instalments and therefore it is important for tight credit control and management.

There is no denying that chasing debtors can be time consuming, and must be done correctly to avoid any reputational damage, but Burnetts team of debt recovery experts can take control of the process and manage it until you get paid.

How it works

The process of debt recovery is pretty much the same for both large and small debts and for all types of debtors. We have collected debts of under £100, to some over £1,000,000, and over the last 10 years have collected in excess of over £23 million for our clients.

Step 1

The first step is to discuss the debt with us. We will then send either a Court protocol compliant Letter before Action, if it is a business to business debt or Letter of Claim, if it is a business to individual debt. Quite often at this stage, payment in full is made or it is agreed that the debt can be paid by instalments. There can also be occasions when there is a reason for non-payment (and if there is a dispute, our Dispute Resolution team can help with this), but quite often with our input the issue can be resolved and payment agreed and made. We find that in excess of 60% of debtors pay at this point during the process.

Step 2

If no payment or response is received, the next stage is to issue County Court proceedings through either County Court Money Claims Centre or County Court Business Centre, the latter being a specialist debt recovery Court offering a faster cheaper option of which we are members.

Step 3

The debtors then have 14 days to respond to, admit and seek to pay by instalments, pay or dispute the claim.

Step 4

If no response is received, a request for Judgment (CCJ) is made to the Court.

Step 5

Once the Judgment has been obtained, if the debtor fails to pay, we then discuss enforcement action with our clients to find the most suitable option based on the debtor’s circumstances.

Enforcement is usually done by either instructing the High Court Enforcement Officers, County Court Bailiffs, applying for an Attachment of Earnings Order or applying for a Charging Order.

Case studies

Here are some examples of recent cases which show how we act on behalf of our clients to recover money rightly owed to them.

1. Letter of Claim sent and no response received. Our clients instructed us to issue County Court proceedings and as no response was received, Judgment was then requested and obtained. The debtor then contacted us upon receipt of the Judgment and asked to set up a payment plan for £100 per month. We collected these instalment payments by direct debit on behalf of our clients and marked the Judgment as paid in full once payment was received.
2. A Letter of Claim was sent and the debtor called upon receipt of the letter and paid the debt in full. The money was then sent over to our clients within 48 hours.
3. Letter of Claim sent and no response received. Clients instructed us to issue County Court proceedings and again no response was received. Judgment was then requested and obtained. In this case our clients were unaware of employment status so a status search was carried out, employment information was obtained and an application for an Attachment of Earnings Order was sent to the Court. The employer responded with wage details and a full Attachment of Earnings Order was made for £150.00 per month. In an Attachment of Earnings the Court will order the monthly payments be taken at source and sent to the Attachment of Earnings Payment System which is then forwarded to us.

If you would like to speak to someone within our Dispute Resolution team please contact our offices on 01228 552222 or email hello@burnetts.co.uk. Please note that both telephone and video appointments can be arranged.