Business debt collection process UK

There are 3 ways to submit the details of your debt. You can submit the details via our online form here. Email us for a debt recovery submission form to fill out and send back to us. Or you can call us on 01494 422742 and a member of our team will happily take all the details over the phone for you.

Once you have sent the details of the debt to us, we verify the debtors details including address. We do this to ensure the debtor is still located at the address you have provided. Formal letters are sent to the debtors' current or last known address.

A Letter Before Action (LBA) is a legal requirement which is issued to formally request payment of the debt owed to you. The letter lays out the debt amount owed and the date payment must be made by. For limited companies the deadline is 14 days or 30 days for individuals and sole-traders. At this stage for business debts we add a late payment fee of 40, 70 or 100 (depending on the debt amount owed and in-accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998). You can choose to also add interest at 8% above the bank base rate to the debt amount owed.

Between the 14 or 30 day deadline dates given, FJCM will contact the debtor to request or negotiate payment to you. We keep you updated each step of the way either via our online 24 hour access portal, email or call.

Upon receiving your court submission fee, we assist you with submitting your claim to the Small Claims Court. This is a formal process where the debtor is sent a court form requiring them to pay the debt, plus interest and costs within 14 days. An alternative to issuing a County Court Claim is to take insolvency action. This can be in the form of winding up proceedings against a business, or bankruptcy proceedings against an individual.

A County Court Judgment (CCJ) is a type of court order that is registered against a debtor who has failed to pay and/or failed to respond to the court action taken against them. A CCJ allows you to take enforcement action against the debtor to recover your money. Records of Judgments are kept for 6 years (which makes it hard to get credit), unless the full amount is paid within 1 month.

Now that a County Court Judgment has been granted you can "Enforce the Judgment" if the debtor has still failed to pay you. You do this by instructing High Court Enforcement Officers (for debts owed over 600) (costs 66 redeemable from the debtor) to visit the debtor to collect the debt amount owed to you. The bailiff will ask for payment within 7 days. If the debt remains unpaid, the bailiff will visit the debtor's home or business to see if anything can be sold to pay the debt.