We asked Neil Jinks of new Chamber member Court Enforcement Services for his top tips on debt enforcement and how to avoid incurring bad debt write offs. Neil has well over 30 years of debt enforcement experience across all sectors and has been recommended for it in The Legal 500.
Court Enforcement Services is the largest, market leading and fastest growing High Court Enforcement company operating across England & Wales. Since forming in 2014, they have managed over 100,000 High Court Writs and recovered more than £187 million for their clients, all debt fairly collected.
The company help individuals and businesses, their credit professionals, and lawyers, across all sectors, to recover their unpaid County Court Judgments (CCJ’s) sooner rather than later and achieve 39% early engagement resulting in market-leading recovery rates.
The company’s multi-award-winning technology provides real-time reporting 24/7. They work in close partnership with their clients to expertly resolve matters with a fast, fair, and personable approach and work hard to achieve the best results and to protect client brands and reputation.
CCJ’s for over £600 can easily be transferred up to the High Court for enforcement and this tends to be a much quicker and more effective solution than instructing the County Court Bailiff Service, which is currently facing a significant backlog.
Court Enforcement Services offers a free service to transfer your CCJ’s up to the High Court for enforcement subject to payment of the Court fee payable on the issue of a High Court Writ, which, is currently £66.
High Court Enforcement fees are recovered from the judgment debtor when enforcement is successful. If enforcement is unsuccessful, as judgment creditor you only have to pay a compliance fee, which, is currently £75 plus VAT.
Best Practice: Neil’s Top 10 Tips
Do your homework:
- It is crucial to ‘Know your debtor’ and information that you might capture at the front end of a relationship with a customer, for example, via a credit application form could prove to be useful intelligence at the back end when it becomes necessary to enforce against them.
- In the current climate it also pays to be mindful of vulnerability and how the customer might have been affected by the pandemic. I believe these considerations should extend to both consumer and commercial debtors at this time. If it is a commercial debtor, has the business been affected by COVID-19 and is it still trading?
- Have you invoiced, sued, and obtained judgment against the correct name? We are often instructed to pursue the wrong legal entity, for example, the defendant is shown as a firm when in fact it is a limited company, which, could mean the judgment is defective and potentially unenforceable without amendment.
- If it is a limited company, have you checked that it is still live, not insolvent or has it been dissolved and struck off the record? We have been directed to company premises, which, were demolished many years ago.
- Is the debtor likely to have any assets or do you know of any? For example, vehicle details or the location of stock?
- Do you have the right and current address? Bear in mind registered office address as well as any trading addresses. I recommend supplying your enforcement officer with all known addresses that you are aware of.
- Pass on any additional information you have about the debtor, for example, contact details such as telephone numbers, email addresses etc., a photograph for identification purposes, the best time to attend if their business only opens between certain hours. Bear in mind the type of business as certain businesses such as some pubs and restaurants may not be opening much if at all.
- If the debtor contacts you directly once you have issued a writ and seeks to make payment or an arrangement with you directly, you must refer them on to the High Court Enforcement Officer to ensure that any fees due are included. Otherwise, you could become liable for the fees yourself.
- As we expect an increase in activity, I would recommend issuing your writs sooner rather than later. Act quickly as we face uncertain times ahead so do not regret leaving it too late! You are much more likely to collect your debts if you pursue them expeditiously.
- Remember: Cash is king but information is too!
For more information about how to transfer your CCJ’s up to the High Court for enforcement, please contact Neil:
Call 07542 304 328 or email: [email protected]
or visit the website: www.courtenforcementsevices.co.uk
You can also follow Court Enforcement Services on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/company/court-enforcement-services
and connect with Neil on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/neiljinks