Amicable collection
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3
 min read

Does it cost money to collect a debt by sending the case to debt collection?

When sending an invoice, you’re expecting the invoice to be paid. However, if the invoice is not paid on time, you start to get worried. For most – especially new businesses – this brings a lot of emotional reactions and wasted energy. You need the money – and any delay (and potential not being paid at all) hurts in all ways.

After you’ve sent multiple reminders and tried to call the debtor, you start to get ready for the natural next step:
Debt collection.

But the question is – does it cost money to send a case to debt collection?
And if so, how much?

Does it cost money to send to debt collection?

There’s a short answer and a long answer.

Short answer?
In most countries and situations, yes.

Longer answer?
When talking about debt collection, it’s essential to distinguish between the two large steps in debt collection:

  • Pre-legal debt collection – all the actions you can do before involving the courts
  • Legal debt collection – the local court system

When you’re dealing with lawyers, they love the legal debt collection. A lawyer typically sends a maximum of 1 or 2 letters to a debtor and calls the process a failure. The lawyer will typically not charge anything for this (except all fees on the case plus a significant amount of your principal). The same goes for many debt collection agencies.

That’s why when you Google: “Debt collection cost” – you will find many “no cure, no pay” options. The “no cure, no pay” promise is true, but this is not the case in most cases. This is only true for cases that are solved in the pre-legal process.

The legal debt collection process depends a lot on the country. It also depends on if you’re using the enforcement court (for undisputed claims) or the actual courts (for all disputes and larger cases). But in all countries, these courts have one thing in common:
It costs money to involve the courts – and those costs fall on you.

That means, as much as Google will tell you “no cure, no pay”, it will cost you money to start a debt collection case.

Can you send cases to debt collection for free?

Now you know the full answer is no. However, you CAN send a case to ‘pre-legal debt collection’ for free.

With a company like Admino, you are NEVER forced to pay anything. With Admino, you get an offer from the local lawyer to start the legal proceedings, but it’s an offer. If you say no, we will continue trying to collect the money on pre-legal terms (sending letters, SMS, and emails, as well as calling the debtor).

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