Debt Recovery
Our Charges
Our charges as set out here apply to the recovery of debts up to £100,000. For debts in excess of that amount please contact us for details of our charges.
Our charges for collecting debts up to £100,000 are based upon the time spent, which is charged at £225 per hour plus VAT at 20%. We have a minimum charge of £100 plus VAT (if applicable) at 20%. We charge for our travelling time at the normal rate of £225 per hour plus VAT at 20%. We also charge travelling expenses and parking. VAT is normally added to those costs at 20%.
Disbursements
In addition to our charges, there may be disbursements payable to other people or organisations for work they undertake or services they provide. These may include Court fees to issue a claim form or Court fees to try to enforce a judgment once a judgment has been obtained. The Court fees for issuing a claim form vary on the amount of the claim, for example as at 19th January 2024 the Court fee on a claim of between £3,000 and £5,000 was £205. For a claim of between £10,000 and £200,000 it was 5% of the amount claimed and for a claim greater than £200,000 the fee was £10,000. The Court fee for taking steps to recover the amount of any judgment depends upon the particular steps being taken to enforce the judgment, but typically the Court fee is in the region of £100 – £130. Our work is in addition to these Court fees. Other disbursements that may be incurred, depending upon the circumstances of your case, will include fees for company searches, private investigator’s fees for tracing a debtor or finding out information about them or serving them with documents if they need to be served personally rather than by post. VAT is payable upon some disbursements at 20%. To see whether VAT is likely to be added to the disbursement, please click here.
Key Stages and Timescale
It would be normal to write at least one letter before issuing Court proceedings to demand payment. If no satisfactory response is received to the letter, then a claim form would be issued, either by post or online. It may take the Court several days to issue the claim form. The debtor will then have at least 14 days from when they are deemed to receive the claim form in which to respond. If they file a defence, then the Court will give directions for a contested case. If the debtor does not respond or admits the debt then judgment can be entered and we can take steps to try to recover the monies due, for example, by obtaining an attachment of earnings order against their salary or a charging order against their home or arranging for their goods to be seized and sold. The timescale for recovery will depend upon the means of enforcement used, but it is likely to be several weeks and could be several months.
Fee Earner undertaking the work
Generally debt collection is dealt with by Mr. Jeffrey Lee, a Solicitor with over 40 years’ experience in debt collection. If the work was undertaken by another fee earner then it would be undertaken under the supervision of Mr. Jeffrey Lee.
VAT: To find out whether VAT at the rate of 20% will be added to our charges and as to whether it will be payable on disbursements, please click here.
Note: Prices correct as at 31st March 2024.