Top-Rated Debt Collection Agency in Sweden
Fast and reliable debt collection in Sweden - no upfront costs, only pay for success. Request a FREE Consultation or upload your claim today.
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Recovering your debt in Sweden is made easiest through this approach.
Debitura specializes in providing debt recovery services in Sweden through an experienced team of professionals. Our services include accounts receivables management, debt collection notices, pre-legal and legal debt collection, and enforcement court proceedings. Our in-depth knowledge of Sweden's debt collection laws and regulations enables us to devise effective solutions for businesses struggling with outstanding debts.
We provide comprehensive support throughout the entire process.
Tailored debt recovery plan.
We have over 500 professionals specializing in debt collection worldwide.
Our debt collection service has a success rate of 87% and comes at an affordable cost.
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Our lawfirm opened its doors at Esperantoplatsen in Gothenburg in 2011. Since 2018, we have been located at Drottninggatan 31 in central Gothenburg. We currently conduct a general legal practice with emphasis on judicial processes and litigation.
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The ultimate guide about debt collection in Sweden
If you are owed money by a business or customer in Sweden, we can help you! We have helped hundreds of other businesses get their money back from people who owe them.
In Sweden, it might seem impossible to get money that someone owes you. There are challenges like different languages and customs, and also the distance between you and the person who owes you money.
It is easier to get your money back when you use a collection agency that knows the laws and customs of the country where the person you are owed money by lives.
At Debitura, we always try to help you get your money back. We also want to make sure that you have a good relationship with your customer. Our efforts are always fair, but we also want to make sure that your reputation is our top priority! If you want to understand the Swedish debt collection process from beginning to end, keep reading this guide. If you would rather work with a local law firm that specializes in debt recovery in Sweden, we can help you with that too.
At Debitura, we make it easy to collect your debt in Sweden and 192 other countries. To get started, upload your claim today. We will review your case within 24 hours and provide you with 3 free quotes from local debt collection lawyers in Sweden. We use a people-oriented approach with the latest tech-driven solutions to drive results and provide better contact management. This comprehensive method gets the results you need while preserving customer relationships. In addition, our network of debt collectors, attorneys, suppliers and vendors are cherished relationships that allows us to get the job done. We value each of these relationships, no matter how small or large.
Upload claim
Begin the process of debt collection in Sweden without any charge today. Easily create a free profile and submit your case within two minutes.
Pre-legal
We will attempt to recover your claim through our effective pre-legal recovery process for the initial 3 months, with a 100% no-cure-no-pay policy.
Legal
If your claim remains unpaid in the pre-legal phase, we offer you 3 quotes from our nearby debt collection attorneys.
24/7 updates
You get access to our online portal where you can track your case in real-time
Introduction to collecting debt in Sweden
Do you have a hard time collecting debt in Sweden? We make it easy for you to get paid by your Swedish customers.
The person who owes money is called the debtor. The person who the money is owed to is called the creditor. If the creditor collects the debt, it is called first-party collection. If the creditor gets someone else to collect the debt, it is called third-party collections.
- Domestic companies usually make their payments on time, and domestic courts can usually handle disputes quickly. However, the best way to get paid back from someone who owes you money is to negotiate with them before taking legal action.
- When a debtor becomes insolvent, it is very difficult to get the debt repaid. This is because debt-renegotiation schemes allow up to 75% of the debt to be written off. In addition, the priority rules set forth in liquidation proceedings make it unlikely for unsecured creditors to receive any part of the proceeds.
Days Sales Outstanding
In Sweden, people usually pay for things within 30 days. This is because the payment behavior of domestic companies is very good. This means that people don't often delay their payments. For listed companies, the DSO is slightly higher but it has not changed much in the last few years.
Common payment types in Sweden
Bank transfers are a popular way to pay for things internationally. They are fast and secure. This is because there is a good network of banks both in the country where you are and the country you are sending money to. Another option is to get a bank guarantee. This is when the bank promises to pay the person you are sending money to if you do not. Checks, bills of exchange, and promissory notes are not used as much because they do not have good guarantees.
Main corporate structures
Liability for business debts means that someone is legally responsible for them. This is usually determined by the business's legal structure.
- If you have a small business, you can be the only owner. This is called a Sole Proprietorship. If you have a Sole Proprietorship, you are responsible for any money the business owes. If two or more people own the business together, it is called a Partnership. The owners of a Partnership are responsible for each other's actions. A Limited Liability Partnership is when some of the owners have limited responsibility.
- Most businesses in Sweden are Limited Liability Companies (Privat Aktiebolag, AB). This means that the business does not need a lot of money to start (approx. EUR 4,000). The people who own the business are only responsible for the amount of money they put into it. Public Limited Companies (Publikt Aktiebolag, AB) are used for bigger businesses that want to divide their money (at least approx EUR 49,000) into shares. This means that the people who own the company are only responsible for the value of their shares.
- Foreign companies may settle in Sweden by setting up a Branch Office. This provides no liability limitations to the foreign parent company. Subsidiaries would rather be set up through Limited Liability Companies. Joint Ventures are also an option.
The debt collection process in Sweden
The debt collection process in Sweden typically happens in multiple steps, as shown in the image below.
1 Upload your claim:
If you want someone to help you get your money back, you will need to find a debt collection partner. You can upload your claim to their website. Debitura provides 3 quotes from local partners in the European country where your case is taking place. This service is free with no strings attached.
2 Amicable collection:
The collection process begins with sending friendly reminders to the person who owes you money. This is called a "campaign." The reminders go through email, SMS, and letter. The goal is to get the debtor to pay the money they owe or at least acknowledge the debt. Debitura offers a no-cure-no-pay solution, which means you only have to pay a small success fee if we recover your debt. Amicable collections with Debitura are 100% risk-free!
3 Evaluation:
If you have not received payment from the debtor after the amicable phase, it is time to evaluate the next steps. We will look at things like the size of your claim and how likely it is that you will be paid to help you decide what to do next. There are three typical next steps:
A Surveillance:
If your claim is below 2,000-5,000 euros, it is not worth it to take any more legal actions. In this case, we recommend "debt surveillance." This means that we will keep trying to talk to your debtor and try to reach an agreement that everyone is happy with.
B: Legal collections:
It's a good idea to go through a legal process if you're making a big claim. The way it works might be different depending on what you're claiming and how much it's worth. Usually, it takes around a year and a half to finish everything.
C: Debt enforcement:
If the person you are owed money from has said that they will pay you back, or if there is a court order, you can go to the bailiff's court to get your money.
At Debitura, we can help you with all three steps in Sweden.
Amicable collection in Sweden
At Debitura, we offer a 100% risk-free and efficient process for Amicable collections. To get started, simply submit your claim and we will begin within 24 hours. We will contact your debtor through all available channels in Sweden, which may include e-mail, SMS, letters, calls and social media.
The goal of this process is to:
A) get the debtor to pay the full amount or
B) get the debtor to agree that they owe the money and start a payment plan.
If the debtor says they do not owe the money, you cannot try to work it out amicably. You must go directly to legal collections.
Late Payment Interest
In Sweden, it is common to charge interest on late payment. This is regulated under the Interest Law (Räntelagen (1975:635)). Unless a contract says something different, interests for late payment must be calculated using the repo rate (reproräntan) of the Swedish Central Bank (Sveriges Riksbank) plus 8 percentage points. The Directive 2011/7/EU is a law that protects people from late payments. The law has been put into effect through the Faster Payments Bill. This bill says that businesses must pay each other within 30 days of the invoice date.
The rule at home is more demanding than the one in the EU.
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amicable debt collection
Upload your claim and get started with our 100% no-cure-no-pay collection solution.
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Legal collection in Sweden
If you have not been paid during the first stage or the debtor disagrees with your claim, we will give you 3 free quotes from our local debt collection attorneys. In the legal stage, our local attorney will contact your debtor and try to negotiate a payment. Our partners can also go to court and get a payment order through the legal system in Sweden. This payment order can then be used to force your claim through enforcement court.
Ordinary proceedings
If you know that someone owes you money, and you can find where they keep their money, you can ask the government to make them give you the money. You have to wait 12 days after sending them a letter asking for the money before you can ask the government. If the injunction is granted, the debtor will have two weeks to reply. If they don't reply, it will be added to the official registers, which will probably make their creditworthiness worse. If the claim for payment is not disputed, the Swedish Enforcement Authority may also issue a Payment Order. This means that they will have to pay four weeks later. The execution cost is SEK 600= EUR 59. If a debtor does not agree with the Order, the creditor usually has ten days to ask the Court to have a hearing. This is done by filing a request for an ordinary lawsuit.
If you can't agree on a payment plan or if the person you owe money to says your claim is wrong, you can start legal proceedings. This means filing a claim with the District Court. The court will tell the person you owe money to (the debtor) that you filed a claim. The debtor must respond within a couple of weeks. If the debtor does not respond, the creditors can ask the court for a default judgment. This means the court decides in favor of the creditors without hearing from the debtor. Before making a decision, the court will hear from both sides and then make its decision. The court decides what the company must do to pay back the money it owes. This includes interest and other costs. If the company owes money in other European Union countries, the District Courts can make a European Payment Order. This means that the company has to pay back the money in all European Union countries (except Denmark) without exequatur proceedings (Regulation 1896/2006/EC).
The judiciary in Sweden is divided into different levels: District Courts, Courts of Appeal, and a Supreme Court. Different types of cases go to different courts. For example, business disputes go to a specialized commercial division, while administrative disputes go to an administrative tribunal. The rules are written down in code and also based on past court cases.
Legal fees can be different depending on how complicated your case is and how big it is. To get the best price, we recommend that you ask multiple people for quotes so you can compare different attorneys. You can do this easily by using Debitura.
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legal debt collection
Upload your claim and get 3 FREE quotes from our local collection partners.
Debt enforcement in Sweden
If you have a written acknowledgement of your claim from the debtor, or a court order, you can ask the bailiff's court in Sweden to help you get your money from the debtor in Sweden.
A judgment is final when all appeal venues have been exhausted. If the debtor doesn't pay, you can request the Enforcement Authority to seize and sell the debtor's assets.
The way to do this and how much it will cost is different for everyone. You can tell Debitura your situation, and they will give you 3 different options for what to do next within 24 hours.
Get started with
debt enforcement
Upload your claim and get 3 FREE quotes from our local collection partners.
Insolvency proceedings in Sweden
If the person you owe money to cannot pay you back, you can start a insolvency procedure. This is when you get rid of their stuff and sell it to other people. The money from selling their stuff goes to the people they owe money to, depending on how much they owe.
- Out-of-court proceedings are confidential arrangements between a company and its creditors to renegotiate debt, which are not specifically regulated by law.
- Under the Company Reorganization Act, companies unable to pay their debts can apply for reorganization if there is reasonable belief that the company will be able to recover.
- An administrator is appointed during the reconstruction period to negotiate a debt restructuring plan under which up to 75% of the debt may be written off. A moratorium is also set up during this time to prevent payment of old debts.
- If a debtor's assets cannot cover its debts, creditors may file for bankruptcy and an administrator will be appointed assess the economic situation and establish a list of creditors. The company's assets will then be sold and proceeds distributed among creditors according to priority rules.
- If debtor's assets can cover its debts, it may voluntarily file for liquidation in order for court conduct selling of assets as necessary to cover debt.
- Complex priority rules normally apply while distributing proceeds of sale among creditors, with secured debts being settled first followed by employees' claims and unsecured creditor last (whose claims are rarely settled).
European Late Payment Directive in Sweden
Sweden is a part of the European Union (EU). The EU has a rule that people must pay for things on time. This rule applies to all countries in the EU, including Sweden.
The main ideas of the directive are:
- Public authorities cannot require that people pay for something in more than 30 days.
- Companies cannot require payment terms of more than 60 days.
- If the person you lent money to is a business, you can charge them an extra fee of €40 if they pay you late.
- If you are late on a payment, the interest rate must be at least 8% higher than the European Central Banks reference rate.
The Danish government is a part of the EU. This means that they cannot make any rules that would be less favorable for creditors than the EEU-wide rules.
Credit risk and payment behaviour in Sweden
- 33% of survey respondents in Sweden consider a fall in demand for their products and services as one of the greatest challenges to business profitability in 2015, compared to 20% in Western Europe.
- Respondents in Sweden reported that an average of 53.3% of the value of their domestic B2B sales is made on credit, well above the average for Western Europe (44.9%).
- The proportion of domestic B2B invoices reported by Swedish respondents as past due (20%) is half of the survey average (40.2%), and Swedish respondents receive domestic payments 35 days after invoicing compared to the survey average of 56 days.
- For most respondents in Sweden (58.5%), compared to 66.4% in Western Europe, uncollectable receivables were mainly due to customers going bankrupt or out out business.
The analysis is concluding that the risk of conducting business in Sweden is low. Based on this low score, You can feel reasonably confident that you will be able to get paid when trading with customers in Sweden. Nonetheless, we always recommend doing a specific credit analysis on an individual customer basis before offering any credit. The low risk score is based on the following factors:
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The economic risk in Sweden
Our analysis shows that the economic risk in Sweden is very low (1 out of 6). An economic risk of 1 out of 6 is low in Europe.
GDP and economic growth are critical drivers for economic risk.
The GDP of Sweden is 627,44 bn. USD (2021), growing by 4,8% per year.
In terms of the size of its economy, Sweden ranks #23 out of 183 countries and has a large economy.
In terms of growth rate, it is ranked #84 out of 183 countries and is therefore considered an excellent growing economy.
GDP per capita is 60239 USD, ranking Sweden number #11 out of 183 countries. The result of this is purchasing power of citizens in Sweden is high compared to the rest of the world.
You can see a more throughout picture of GDP and economic growth in Sweden in the table below:
Another huge impact for the economic risk score is the inflation rate and the interest rates. You can see a more throughout picture of monetary KPIs in Sweden in the table below:
The inflation in Sweden was 2,2% in 2021 which is considered a low inflation rate.
The business environment risk in Sweden
Our analysis shows that the business environment risk in Sweden is very low (1 out of 6), which is a relatively low risk score in Europe.
Economic freedom and rights has a big influence on the business environment risk in a country. You can see the critical facts for Sweden in the table below:
As you can see above, the property rights index is 87 in Sweden, which is considered quite good in Europe.
The business freedom index is based on 10 indicators, using data from the World Bank’s Doing Business study. The Index is 83 in Sweden, a quite good score for a country in Europe.
Sweden's overall economic freedom index is 75 out of 100 and is based on factors such as the rule of law, regulatory efficiency, and market openness.
The political risk in Sweden
The political risk in Sweden is very low, with a score of 1/6. This is a low political risk score in Europe.
The governance and political stability indicators are critical drivers for political risk. An overview of Sweden can be seen in the graphs below:
The rule of law index analyses to which extent agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the quality of the courts, and the police's ability to enforce court orders.
When transacting business in a country, the rule of law index is critical as it describes your ability to enforce commercial contracts.
In Sweden, the rule of law index is at 1,73 points, with the score going from -2.5 (weak) to 2.5 (strong). Sweden has, therefore, a very high rule of law index, which means you have a very good chance of enforcing your contracts. If your individual customers have good creditworthiness, you should therefore feel relatively safe when providing credit.
Other drivers for the very low political risks are the very strong control of corruption, the average political stability index, and the normal shadow economy that is 11,74% of Sweden's GDP.
The commercial risk in Sweden
In Sweden, the commercial risk score is 2/4, which in our model is a low score. This low commercial risk score is relatively low compared to the average in Europe.
The commercial risk is relying on a country's international trade relationships. You can see some of the key facts for Sweden in the table below:
Sweden has a total of foreign exchange reserves of 62.05 bn. USD.
Sweden has a positive trade balance of 4,35% of GDP. This means that Sweden imports fewer goods and services than the country exports.
The annual growth of exports of goods and services has been growing 7,49% annually - now 46,26% of GDP. Import of goods and services represents 41,91% of the GDP in Sweden.
The financing risk in Sweden
We have calculated the financing risk to be 1/4, which equals a very low risk. A very low financing risk score is relatively low for countries in Europe.
The country's banking system, efficiency, and stability influence the financing risk. Additional facts and info can be found for Sweden in the table below:
In Sweden, the credit information sharing index is 5 on a scale from 0 (low) to 8 (high). The result of this is accessibility and quality of credit information available in Sweden is medium.
This makes it not that easy for you to understand the credit risk of your counterpart in Sweden. Unless you have found a good source for credit ratings or know your specific customers well, we suggest charging payment upfront or using credit insurance.
Your rights as a creditor are 7 out of 12 and, therefore, medium.
Debt Collection in Sweden: Frequently Asked Questions
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In Sweden, debt collection typically happens in multiple steps. It starts with sending reminders to the debtor via email, SMS, and letter. If the debt is not paid, the next step depends on the size of the claim. Debt surveillance is recommended for claims below 2,000-5,000 euros. For larger claims, legal processes may be needed, taking around a year and a half to finish. If there is a court order or the debtor has promised to pay, you can go to the bailiff's court. Debitura offers a no-cure-no-pay solution and can help with all three steps in Sweden.
The debt collection process in Sweden typically involves three steps: pre-legal collection, legal debt collection, and debt enforcement. The pre-legal collection process starts with sending friendly reminders to the debtor. If that doesn't work, the next step is to evaluate your options, including debt surveillance, legal collections, and debt enforcement. At Debitura, we offer assistance with all three steps in the debt collection process in Sweden.
In Sweden, if a debt is disputed, a civil lawsuit may be necessary. Debt enforcement and insolvency proceedings are also options. Local lawyers are required for legal actions. Legal fees may vary depending on the complexity of the case. Insolvency proceedings involve selling the debtor's assets to pay off creditors. If a debtor cannot pay their debts, they may apply for reorganization. If their assets cannot cover their debts, creditors may file for bankruptcy and an administrator will sell the assets and distribute the proceeds among creditors based on priority rules.
In Sweden, debt collection costs depend on the specific case and desired actions. Debitura's pre-legal collection services offer a no-cure-no-pay model with a success fee between 10-20%. For legal actions, Debitura can provide you with 3 quotes from the best debt collection lawyers in Sweden. Please contact us for more information on pricing.
The length of time it takes to collect a debt in Sweden can vary depending on the individual debtor and the specific case. If the case can be resolved in the pre-legal phase, the process usually takes 3-6 months. However, if legal action is necessary, it can take anywhere from 12-18 months to collect the debt.
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