Debt Collection

Norcliffe & Co offers a full debt collection service to clients, large or small. We act, by way of example, in the recovery of debts for finance houses under Consumer Credit Act regulated agreements, for industrial landlords for rent recovery and retailers, distributors and importers on a continuous basis. At the same time, we are happy to deal with the collection of debts for individuals or smaller companies and operations. We will take instructions for cases both within the English and Welsh Court's jurisdiction and elsewhere.

Our involvement usually begins when you have exhausted your own patience and polite requests for payment. We will begin with a final written demand for payment (where appropriate and subject to your instructions), allowing the debtor a final 7 or 14 days' grace (depending on your wishes), letting them know that failure to pay will lead to Court action and costs to be added to the debt. These letters will usually be sent out within one working day.

In the majority of cases, such a letter will result in prompt payment. If there is to be regular supply of work of this nature from you then we would normally charge something in the region of £15.00 for that first letter, to include the cost of receiving your initial instructions, writing the letter and reverting back to you with the result - hopefully payment.

If further action becomes necessary, such as handling negotiations for payment, then such work will normally be charged at the standard hourly rates, being £150.00 per hour (one tenth of this per letter or telephone call). However, a regular amount of significant work of this nature may lead to a reduction in rates. Depending on the amount being sought and the issues in the case, it is often possible to recover much of those charges from the debtor, assuming they have the means to pay in the first place and IF Court proceedings are begun.

We are well placed to handle such aspects of debt collection as negotiations for settlement or payment because, as Solicitors (and unlike simple debt collection agencies), we have experience of acting on both sides (for debtors and for creditors) and therefore know what a debtor can "get away with" and what they cannot.

If instructed to do so we will also conduct any Court action to recover the money - Court litigation forms much of our workload. However, the vast majority of such claims fall below the "Small Claims limit" of £5,000.00. The result of this is that, in the majority of such cases, you may be unable to recover from the debtor the cost of any Solicitor's fees or similar costs incurred in the litigation, other than the Court's issue fee.

There are two important things to consider in cases such as this:

	Does the debtor have the means to pay? If not, whilst you may get a County Court judgment against them, this may be effectively unenforceable and may only serve to increase the money outstanding
	Does the debtor have a valid reason for non-payment? If they do then you may lose the claim, wasting your own time and money

Insolvency Proceedings

We also recover debts and enforce judgments by way of insolvency (bankruptcy or winding-up) proceedings. Such proceedings will be appropriate when the debtor owes more than £750.00 and where you feel that the threat of bankruptcy would be effective upon the debtor, such as where they hold a particular office, need to be able to obtain credit and wish to protect and preserve property, all of which may be adversly affected by insolvency.

If, however, the debtor has no assets of his own and/or his property is already mortgaged up to its value, insolvency proceedings may not be the best way forward. Similarly, it must be remembered that even succesful bankruptcy proceedings may only result in you recovering a proportion of the debt (usually a proportion of pence in the pound) and you may not recover any of your costs (which are comparable with the potential costs set out above).

If you have a debt which you would like us to recover for you - contact us