Sometimes business owners face the difficulty of following up on payments after rendering goods or services to clients. This happens when serving ‘difficult clients’ who for one reason or another drag things when it comes to making payments. Trying to get such clients to pay up comes with a lot of stress and frustration if they are unwilling to comply. This is where the services of a debt recovery solicitor may come quite in handy. With legal representation, it is easier and more effective to settle debts with customers than on your own, and more so if there is a dispute.
Why Hire an Attorney to Pursue Disputed Debts?
A debt recovery solicitor is a professional lawyer who specializes in resolving payment disputes between businesses and customers. This legal representative is referred to as the collector, whose job is to talk with people about paying up money they owe. Companies or firms who are owed money go by the term creditors, while the party that is required to make payments is the debtor.
The advantage of hiring a debt recovery attorney is that the lawyer gets to take care of everything relating to the payment dispute. This takes away the stress, frustration, and lost productivity of chasing up overdue invoices from clients. Attorneys that specialize in this filed know the law quite well. This means that they can help creditors to raise court action should the dispute go that far.
It is important though to understand what exactly a lawyer does during the debt recovery process. Generally, the collector tries to reach an amicable solution without having to resort to taking legal action. In fact, most debt disputes settle out of court through dialogue between the opposing parties. In order for this to happen, the collector must first contact the debtor by mail, phone or in person to find out the reason for non-payment. One of the reasons for payment defaults can be due to dissatisfaction in goods or services, in which case the collector refers the matter to the creditor’s customer service department for a resolution. The collector will only follow up on payment if the bill is determined fair and payable.
Sometimes the debtor is willing to pay up but has financial difficulties and cannot settle the debt in full. In such cases, the debt collector can arrange for a reasonable payment plan. If the debtor continues to dispute the owed monies, the lawyer can proceed to pursue legal action. Once the matter moves to court, it will be up to the judge to determine whether the creditor should be paid or not. This will ultimately depend on the evidence provided during hearings, which may range from invoices, IOU notes among other paperwork.
What does it Cost to Hire a Debt Recovery Solicitor?
The cost of hiring a debt recovery solicitor varies from one law firm to another or according to the fees charged by your chosen private lawyer. Be on the lookout for firms that file debt recovery cases on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. This means that legal fees apply only if you are successful. If the case goes in your favor, the debtor may be ordered to pay a contribution towards legal expenses along with interest payments pursuant to provisions in the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Legislation. This means that expenses for successful debt recovery cases could be less than you anticipate.
Marley Crawford is a professional blogger and writer that loves to educate people about debt dispute resolution. If you are looking for a debt recovery solicitor in Scotland, Marley recommends you visit http://www.djpsolicitors.com/debt-recovery.
