Debt Collection

Our debt collection team will help you get the money you're owed

Debt collection is difficult for businesses. You probably don’t have time to chase your customers and clients for the money they owe you – but we do. If your customer can pay you, but won’t, we can help.

We work with businesses of all sizes to collect debts of all sizes: from single debts of as little as £100 to complete debtor ledgers, worth millions.

We don’t use automated systems – we’ll look at your problem from all angles before deciding how best to go about it. Because our disputes lawyers know what strategies work, we can get your money back – plus interest and compensation – as quickly as the same day.

We can help you:

  • recover debts up to six years old
  • tighten up your trading terms
  • improve aged debt
  • save credit insurance premiums.

And, you don’t have to pay anything or take on any risk: when your customer pays up, they pay us, too.

Our fees
Stage 1 - Pre-Action

For debts of £2,500 or more our fees will be 9% plus VAT charged at 20%

For debts of less than £2,500 our fees will be £250 plus VAT

At no upfront cost you may instruct us to send a ‘letter before action’ to the debtor demanding payment within a specific timeframe.

If you instruct us to send a letter before action to an individual, you can typically expect a payment or response from the debtor within 30 days.

If you instruct us to send a letter before action to a business or company, you can typically expect a payment or response from the debtor within 14 days.

If they fail to respond we will chase the debtor by telephone and provide you with a report on the outcome. If they do not pay you can instruct us to move on to Stage 2.

 

Stage 2A - Court Claim

£800 plus VAT

We can issue a claim in the County Court and seek an undisputed judgment against the debtor.

In those circumstances, we would calculate interest on the debt, prepare your claim, lodge it with the court and request a judgment on your behalf.

When issued, the debtor will have a maximum of 28 days to lodge a defence to your claim. If they do not, you are able to instruct us to request a default judgment.

Stage 2B - Insolvency

Statutory Demand — £800 plus VAT

Bankruptcy or Winding Up Petition — £1,500 plus VAT

If a certain criteria is met, you may also be able to get a Court to declare the debtor insolvent. As a pre-requisite to insolvency proceedings we can draft and serve a Statutory Demand providing the debtor 21 days to pay.

If payment is not received following service of the Statutory Demand we can present a petition to the court, arrange representation at the hearing, correspond with all the relevant parties and request a bankruptcy (individual) or a winding up
order (company).

 

Stage 3 - Enforcement

£800 plus VAT

Once you have been awarded Judgment against the debtor, various enforcement options are available to you where we would charge a flat fee of £800. They include instructing bailiffs or applying for a charging order over property but exclude statutory demands and a petition (both of which attract Stage 2 costs). We will advise you of your options if and when we get to this stage.

Important information

  • Disputed debts would fall outside the scope of Capital Collect. If and when a debt becomes disputed, the file would immediately be passed to one of our lawyers in the Commercial Disputes team who will discuss alternative fee arrangements with you.
  • All fees (including our % success fee at Stage 1) are exclusive of VAT and disbursements which may include for example, court fees. Please see our disbursement sheet for more information.
  • If you have a large portfolio of debts please contact us for bespoke rates.

Who will handle my case?

Dafydd Park is an Associate in our Commercial Disputes team. Dafydd works on Debt Recovery matters and has experience of recovering all manner of debts owed by businesses and individuals.

Owen John is a Paralegal in our Commercial Disputes team. He assists Dafydd with Debt Recovery matters, and predominately assists businesses recover overdue payables.

 

We used Capital to recover a large debt owed to us by an international company who were ignoring our requests for payment. They were clear and decisive – the strategy worked perfectly and we were paid every single penny, plus interest and costs, within four days.

Gloria Crichlow
In-House Counsel, Fuels Europe