Debt Collection Agencies Recommendations please

Re: Debt Collection Agencies Recommendations please

Bob Russell — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:37:15 GMT

Debts up to £30 I breath a sigh of relief and consider it is a cheap way to discover they are bad clients. Get rid of them before they need work costing hundreds!!

On principle we follow them up - we use P&J. Not very successful but those that are likely to pay will when the letter arrives. The others are 'hardcore' and even with CCJ's seem to take little notice. There is no difference to them if they have one or ten CCJ's against them. Get rid of them cheaply with a bu**er off letter.

We put notes on the records so should we be asked to provide a history the new practice can see there has been a problem. We never supply lab reports or radiographs for these individuals. If another practice wishes to take on our bad clients good luck to them!!

Fortunately we rarely have to write off bad debts and there is reasonable communication with our nearby competitor for the problem clients.

Re: Debt Collection Agencies Recommendations please

Nixthevet — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:36:39 GMT

Hi Anthony,

I've always been very dissappointed with the recovery rate of our debt collectors- who might manage to get something back in about 1% of cases.

Have you considered VetDebts? I haven;t used them myself but have heard good things about them.

Good Luck!!!

Re: Debt Collection Agencies Recommendations please

Robert Wilson — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:59:13 GMT

Anyone who persistently owes me over £50 I will take through the Small Claims via www.moneyclaimonline.gov.uk ; you can apply for a CCJ online for about £25; before doing this I check their status by doing a search on the Land Registry web site to see if they own their house or are renting eg. from a housing assocn...... this costs £4 or so.

If they are mortgage payers and then get a form from the County Court saying they need to defend the CCJ, they usually pay up. If they do not pay then you can apply fro a warrant (this costs £50 or so) and they will send the bailiffs in on your behalf. You need to pick your cases but I have found this very successful. Charge the costs to the client plus any administration fees.

People who still do not pay will never pay anyway in my view and they get a sacking letter.

Hope this helps.

Re: Debt Collection Agencies Recommendations please

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:21:46 GMT

I've tried a few, and found they're all useless

I think the problem is we have a lot of small debts, which add up to a lot. Agencies who take a % of the debt they collect, find ours too small (individually ) to bother doing more than sending 1 letter to. Those that charge a set fee will take more than the debt's worth

A representative of 1 agency told me that he would collect (unless the debtor had no money ), but unless an individual debt was worth more than £700 (this was approx 10 years ago ) I would be out of pocket-fair enough-I would want to be paid for my work but no help with lower debts-which add up to a lot. Best thing if you have any suspicion is to be very firm at the start

Small claims court only of use if the debtor has no other debts. Once someone has 1 court judgement, the threat of another is pointless, as their credit rating is already destroyed. Also the court can give a judgement of as little as 50p/week , and if the debtor ignores that, it's further expense to go back for a bailiff's order-and they won't answer the door when the bailiff's call-they have no power to smash their way in. The representative of the private agency told me that they would have someone on the pavement outside the house 24 hours, until the debtors had to emerge, but obviously wages soon add up, so you see why £700 was the minimum worth pursuing

Wynne