Debt Recovery – What is the best way forward?

15th Oct 2018

A very distressing story has been reported by the BBC recently, concerning a man who took his own life after being declared bankrupt by his local district council, over what started out as a relatively small amount of unpaid council tax.

The council wrote to the gentleman continuously over a period of years, pursuing the monies through the courts and eventually having him declared bankrupt. The debt involved rose from £1,473.00 up to £72,000.00 through a combination of non-payment; interest; charges and court fees.

Throughout the nine year period that the council chased the outstanding debt, no one attempted to talk to the gentleman, either face to face or by making a telephone call – it was just letter after letter.

It has been acknowledged that the lack of engagement from the debtor to help solve the issue did cause the council considerable frustration, but if they had taken the initiative to talk to gentleman and establish what the exact problems where – in this case divorce and a life threatening illness, then they may have saved themselves considerable time and a lot of effort that achieved very little for them.

It can be stressful and irritating when you are owed money and the urge to pursue it as vigorously as possible is very tempting. This very sad story illustrates how important it is to establish a dialogue with anyone who may owe your company money and to understand what the issues are that lie at the root cause of their problems.

It may be that once you have full knowledge of the debtor’s circumstances, court proceedings are the way forward – it may also be the case though that by simply discussing the issues and problems they are facing, a solution can be found.

We have a very experienced and knowledgeable debt recovery team, who act daily to help a wide variety of companies to reclaim monies they are owed. They are faced with many differing causes for non-payment and work closely with both parties to ensure the best possible outcome.

The team are also experienced in offering assistance to those who are facing difficulties and insolvency, to help and support them to navigate their way through the issues they are experiencing.

Should you wish to discuss any finance and debt problems you are facing due to non-payment you can contact us at eg@rogers-norton.co.uk or on 01603 675641.