Debt Collection Agency in Vietnam - No Win, No Fee
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Why Choose Debitura for Debt Collection in Vietnam
Fast, simple and risk-free debt collection in Vietnam
Debitura connects you with CONG TY TNHH Upper Class Collections, which runs the amicable, direct-negotiation phase on your behalf from its dedicated Ho Chi Minh City office, with 19+ years of international collection experience. Member of IACC. Vietnam bans third-party debt collection as a business line, so formal demands and court action run through a Vietnamese-licensed law firm.
- Risk-free: Pay only when we recover your money.
- Quick setup: Submit invoices in a few clicks.
- Real-time tracking: Monitor progress live in one portal.
- Local expertise: Multilingual team speaks 15+ languages across ASEAN.
Get started in three simple steps
- Create your free Debitura account and upload your unpaid invoice with supporting documents.
- Upper Class Collections contacts your debtor on your behalf within 24 hours from its Ho Chi Minh City office, running the amicable phase; if the debtor still does not pay, we hand over to a Vietnamese law firm.
- Track progress in real time and receive funds directly when recovered.
Already using an ERP or accounting system? Connect via API or use Zapier to automate claim uploads.
Transparent, success-based pricing
With Debitura you only pay when we succeed. Pre-legal collection is No Cure, No Pay: a success fee deducted from recovered amounts, invoiced locally by your partner. Fees depend on the debtor's country, not yours.
- Debtors in Europe (EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the UK and Switzerland): success fees from 6% depending on claim size.
- Debtors in the rest of the world: success fees from 7.5% depending on claim size.
- Older claims: a surcharge applies for claims 12–24 months overdue and for claims older than 24 months.
- Legal action is optional: you approve fixed-price quotes before any legal spend.
See the pricing page for the full fee schedule, or get an instant estimate when you upload a claim.
How does debt collection work in Vietnam?
Debt collection in Vietnam starts with an amicable phase handled locally by Cong Ty TNHH Upper Class Collections: reminders and a formal payment demand, aimed at full payment or a written instalment agreement. Most straightforward claims are resolved at this stage. If the debtor still does not pay, escalation is never automatic - your partner assesses the legal route and you approve a quote before any court step.
The four steps from unpaid invoice to recovered cash
- Step 1 - Amicable collection: reminders, a formal payment demand and negotiation, handled locally by Cong Ty TNHH Upper Class Collections. Most undisputed claims are resolved in this phase, without going to court.
- Step 2 - Enforceable title: if the debtor still does not pay, your partner assesses the legal route to obtain an enforceable title and you approve a fixed-price quote before anything proceeds.
- Step 3 - Enforcement: with a legal title, the competent enforcement authority can attach wages, bank funds and other assets until the claim is recovered.
- Step 4 - Insolvency: if the debtor turns out to be insolvent, your proof of claim is filed and any distributions are monitored on your behalf.
Every step is tracked in your dashboard, and nothing escalates without your approval. The full legal detail for Vietnam - timelines, costs, courts and enforcement - follows in the guide below.
Debt collection in Vietnam - the complete 2026 guide
This guide explains how debt collection works in Vietnam for creditors, in-house counsel and finance teams: the legal framework, why third-party collection services are banned, the routes that remain lawful, court procedure, enforcement and insolvency.
On this page:
Why you can trust this guide
At Debitura, we uphold the highest standards of impartiality and precision to bring you comprehensive guides on international debt collection. Our editorial team boasts over a decade of specialized experience in this domain.
Questions or feedback? Email us at contact@debitura.com , we update this guide based on your input.
Debitura By the Numbers:
- 10+ years focused on international debt collection
- 100+ local attorneys in our partner network
- $100M+ recovered for clients in the last 18 months
- 4.9/5 average rating from 621 reviews
Expert-led, locally validated
Written by Lars Holdgaard, Founder of Debitura (+10 years in global B2B debt recovery). Every page is reviewed by top local attorneys to ensure legal accuracy and practical steps you can use.
Contributing local experts:
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Debt collection in Vietnam - quick answers
How much does debt collection cost in Vietnam?
Direct negotiation and a lawyer's formal demand cost little to nothing upfront; only a court claim triggers the state's court fee (án phí), which follows a sliding scale set by Nghị quyết 326/2016/UBTVQH14 (Resolution 326/2016/UBTVQH14 of the National Assembly Standing Committee), shown below. Debitura's own fee model is No Cure, No Pay (see the fees section further down this guide).
How long does debt collection take in Vietnam?
An ordinary first-instance civil claim has a trial-preparation period of up to 4 months from acceptance, extendable once by up to 2 months for complex cases, for a maximum of about 6 months before a first hearing must be held. Where a claim qualifies for the simplified procedure (thủ tục rút gọn), that period is capped at 1 month, with the hearing to open within 10 days of the referral-to-trial decision.
What is the limitation period and what interest applies to a debt in Vietnam?
A contract dispute must reach court within 3 years of the date the creditor knew, or should have known, its rights were infringed (Điều 429, Bộ luật Dân sự, the Civil Code, Law No. 91/2015/QH13). That period restarts if the debtor acknowledges part of the obligation, makes a partial payment, or the parties reconcile (Điều 157). Agreed interest cannot exceed 20% per year of the principal (Điều 468.1); for a commercial contract, the Luật Thương mại 2005 (Commercial Law 2005, No. 36/2005/QH11) instead lets the creditor claim interest at the average market rate for overdue debts (Điều 306), and any penalty clause is capped at 8% of the value of the breached obligation (Điều 301).
What documents do I need to collect a debt in Vietnam?
Assemble the contract or purchase order, invoices and a statement of account, proof of delivery or performance, any written acknowledgment of the debt, and the correspondence trail. A court claim (đơn khởi kiện, the statement of claim) must set out the infringed right, the relief sought, and a list of the evidence filed with it; if the claim is incomplete, the court asks the claimant in writing to amend it within a set deadline before the case can proceed.
Can I hire a debt collection agency in Vietnam?
No. Since 1 January 2021, the Luật Đầu tư 2020 (Investment Law 2020, No. 61/2020/QH14), Điều 6 Khoản 1 Điểm h (Article 6, Clause 1, Point (h)), bans the provision of debt collection services as a business line; hiring an informal or unlicensed "collector" remains a criminal offense for both the collector and the creditor who hires them. Recovery in Vietnam instead runs through direct creditor negotiation, a lawyer-issued demand letter and, where needed, litigation, debt assignment or sale, a fraud report to the police, or referral to post-judgment enforcement.
Which legal route should I use to collect a debt in Vietnam?
District People's Courts hear most first-instance civil and commercial claims; Provincial People's Courts take first instance instead where the case has a foreign element or needs judicial assistance to or from a foreign authority. A claim with simple, undisputed facts, a known debtor address and no foreign element can use the simplified procedure (thủ tục rút gọn); everything else follows the ordinary procedure.
| Procedure | Trial-preparation period | Court fee |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary procedure | 4 months (+2 months if complex) | Sliding scale, Resolution 326/2016/UBTVQH14 |
| Simplified procedure (rut gon) | 1 month, hearing within 10 days of referral | Same scale, case-specific |
Who does what in Vietnam debt collection?
Vietnam banned the debt collection service business (kinh doanh dịch vụ đòi nợ) in 2021, so no licensed local "collection agency" performs third-party recovery the way it does in many other countries. Recovery instead runs through direct negotiation, lawyers, the courts and, after judgment, the enforcement authorities.
Direct creditor negotiation
The creditor, or Debitura's platform coordinating on its behalf, contacts the debtor directly: reminders, a payment demand and negotiation toward full payment or a written instalment plan. This amicable phase carries no licensing requirement, because it is simply the creditor pursuing its own claim.
Lawyers and law firms
Once the amicable phase stalls, a Vietnamese-licensed lawyer or law firm issues a formal demand letter and, if needed, files and conducts litigation. Under the Luật Đầu tư 2020 (Investment Law 2020), Điều 6.1(h), this route, not a paid third-party collector, is the lawful way to pursue someone else's debt as a business activity.
The People's Courts
Civil and commercial disputes run through a four-tier court system: District People's Courts (first instance for most cases), Provincial People's Courts (appeals, plus first instance for cases with a foreign element), 3 High People's Courts (Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City), and the Supreme People's Court (cassation and supervisory review).
Civil Judgment Enforcement Departments/Agencies
Once a judgment is final, enforcement passes to the Civil Judgment Enforcement Departments/Agencies (Cơ quan Thi hành án dân sự) under the Ministry of Justice, not the courts themselves, organized at provincial, district and military-zone level (Luật Thi hành án dân sự, the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, No. 26/2008/QH12, as amended by 64/2014/QH13, Điều 13).
Debitura's advantage
Debitura's platform coordinates the whole lifecycle for you: direct, professionally handled negotiation in the amicable phase, then a warm handover to a vetted Vietnamese law firm for a formal demand or litigation if the debtor still does not pay, and a route through to the Civil Judgment Enforcement Departments/Agencies once a judgment is obtained, all tracked from one dashboard instead of you having to manage separate local relationships yourself.
Which laws and courts apply to debt collection in Vietnam?
The civil court system in Vietnam
Vietnam runs a four-tier court system: District People's Courts hear most first-instance civil and commercial disputes; Provincial People's Courts hear appeals from district level and take first instance where a case involves a foreign element or needs judicial assistance to or from a foreign authority; 3 High People's Courts, in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, hear further appeals within their regions; and the Supreme People's Court sits at the apex for cassation and supervisory review. Mediation is built into ordinary litigation under the Bộ luật Tố tụng Dân sự (the Civil Procedure Code), centered on Điều 205-207 and Điều 213, and a separate voluntary, pre-filing mechanism exists under the Luật Hòa giải, Đối thoại tại Tòa án (the Law on Mediation and Dialogue at Court, No. 58/2020/QH14), in force since 1 January 2021. The two exist side by side: the in-litigation mediation attempt happens after a case is already accepted by the court, while the Law on Mediation and Dialogue at Court offers a voluntary, pre-acceptance route the parties can choose before formal proceedings even start, aimed at settling the dispute, or at least narrowing the issues, before a case reaches trial.
Key legislation
The Bộ luật Dân sự (the Civil Code, No. 91/2015/QH13, in force since 1 January 2017) governs contracts and civil obligations, including limitation periods and interest. The Bộ luật Tố tụng Dân sự (the Civil Procedure Code, No. 92/2015/QH13) governs court procedure and took effect 1 July 2016, with the provisions tied to the new Civil Code delayed to 1 January 2017. The Luật Đầu tư 2020 (the Investment Law 2020, No. 61/2020/QH14), Điều 6.1(h), bans the provision of debt collection services as a business line, effective 1 January 2021, so lawful recovery in Vietnam runs through direct negotiation and lawyer-led demand and litigation rather than a licensed third-party collector.
Consumer and data protection
The 2021 collection-service ban was driven partly by reports of aggressive and abusive conduct by informal collectors, and hiring such collectors remains a criminal offense for both sides. Beyond that ban, this guide could not verify a separate debt-collection-specific consumer-protection or data-protection statute from an official source in this research pass, so none is stated here; general contract and civil-liability rules under the Civil Code continue to govern how a creditor or its lawyer may lawfully contact a debtor.
Step 1 - How does amicable (pre-legal) debt collection work in Vietnam?
Amicable collection in Vietnam is creditor-led: because the Luật Đầu tư 2020 (Investment Law 2020) bans third-party collection services, the creditor itself, or a lawyer acting on the creditor's behalf, contacts the debtor directly to seek full payment or a written instalment agreement before any court step.
What the amicable phase involves
A written reminder and a formal payment demand set out the amount owed and a deadline, followed by direct negotiation. A lawyer-issued demand letter carries more weight than an informal reminder and signals the creditor is prepared to litigate. The demand can claim the outstanding principal plus late-payment interest under the Bộ luật Dân sự (the Civil Code) or, for a commercial contract, the Luật Thương mại 2005 (the Commercial Law 2005).
| Stage | Typical timing | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Handover | Day 0 | Invoices and evidence reviewed; debtor and balance verified |
| First contact | Days 1-7 | Written reminder sent direct to the debtor |
| Formal demand | Days 8-30 | Lawyer-issued payment demand with a set deadline |
| Negotiation | Days 30-90 | Full payment, a written instalment plan, or a decision to litigate |
When does the case move to legal action?
If the debtor stays unresponsive, disputes the debt without genuine basis, or refuses to pay, the next step is a lawyer preparing and filing a court claim, since only a licensed lawyer or law firm may lawfully pursue someone else's debt as a business activity in Vietnam. Acting promptly matters: under Điều 429 of the Bộ luật Dân sự (Article 429 of the Civil Code), the limitation period to bring a contract dispute to court is 3 years, running from the date the creditor knew, or should have known, its rights were infringed; a partial payment, a partial acknowledgment of the debt, or a reconciliation between the parties restarts that period (Điều 157).
Step 2 - How do you obtain an enforceable title in Vietnam?
An enforceable title in Vietnam is a final court judgment or decision. Two tracks lead there: the simplified procedure (thủ tục rút gọn) for clear-cut cases, and the ordinary procedure for everything else.
The simplified procedure (thủ tục rút gọn)
Under Chương XIX of the Bộ luật Tố tụng Dân sự (Chapter XIX of the Civil Procedure Code, Điều 317-318), a claim qualifies for the simplified procedure where the facts are simple, the legal relationship is clear, the defendant has acknowledged the obligation with sufficient evidence, all parties' addresses are known, and no material foreign element is involved. The trial-preparation period is capped at 1 month from case acceptance, with the hearing to open within 10 days of the referral-to-trial decision, and no extension is available.
The ordinary procedure
A disputed or more complex claim follows the ordinary procedure, with a trial-preparation period of up to 4 months from acceptance, extendable once by up to 2 months for complex cases or force majeure, for a maximum of about 6 months before a first hearing must be held.
Court fees
Court fees (án phí) follow a sliding scale set by Nghị quyết 326/2016/UBTVQH14 (Resolution 326/2016/UBTVQH14 of the National Assembly Standing Committee). The losing party generally bears the court fees.
| Claim value (VND) | Court fee |
|---|---|
| Up to 6,000,000 | 300,000 flat |
| 6,000,000-400,000,000 | 5% of the claim value |
| 400,000,000-800,000,000 | 20,000,000 + 4% of the excess over 400,000,000 |
| 800,000,000-2,000,000,000 | 36,000,000 + 3% of the excess over 800,000,000 |
| 2,000,000,000-4,000,000,000 | 72,000,000 + 2% of the excess over 2,000,000,000 |
| Over 4,000,000,000 | 112,000,000 + 0.1% of the excess |
Determining the court
District People's Courts have first-instance jurisdiction over most civil and commercial claims. Provincial People's Courts take first instance instead where the case involves a foreign party or asset, or needs judicial assistance to or from a foreign authority. There is no monetary threshold splitting the two levels; the split is by subject matter and any cross-border element.
More on court proceedings in Vietnam
The appeal ladder
A first-instance judgment from a District People's Court can be appealed to the corresponding Provincial People's Court; a first-instance judgment from a Provincial People's Court is appealed to the relevant High People's Court (Hanoi, Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City, depending on region). Beyond that, the Supreme People's Court provides a further cassation or supervisory review, but only on defined legal grounds, not as a routine further appeal on the facts.
Step 3 - How does debt enforcement work in Vietnam?
Enforcement of a Vietnamese civil judgment is handled by the Civil Judgment Enforcement Departments/Agencies (Cơ quan Thi hành án dân sự), not by the courts themselves.
The enforcement authority
Under the Luật Thi hành án dân sự (the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, No. 26/2008/QH12, as amended by 64/2014/QH13), Điều 13 (Article 13), the system consists of civil judgment enforcement management agencies under the Ministry of Justice (and, for military matters, the Ministry of Defense) and civil judgment enforcement agencies organized at provincial, district/town/provincial-city, and military-zone level.
Ways to enforce a judgment
| Measure | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bank account freezing and deduction | The debtor's bank balances are frozen and applied to the debt. |
| Asset seizure and auction | Movable and immovable property is identified, seized and sold, with proceeds applied to the judgment. |
| Wage deduction | A portion of the debtor's income can be deducted and applied to the debt, subject to protections for the debtor's minimum living needs. |
| Compulsory transfer of property | Specific property can be compulsorily transferred to satisfy the judgment where the ruling requires it. |
Locating and identifying assets
The enforcement officer (chấp hành viên) can require the debtor, banks, land registries and other bodies to disclose information about the debtor's assets and income, and can request cooperation from local authorities where the debtor's assets are located elsewhere in Vietnam.
The enforcement process
The creditor requests enforcement once the judgment is final, presenting the judgment or decision to the competent enforcement agency. The enforcement officer verifies the debtor's assets, applies the appropriate measure, and the case remains open until the debt and enforcement costs are satisfied or the debtor is confirmed to have no further recoverable assets.
Debtor protections
A debtor who has assets but does not comply voluntarily faces these compulsory measures; Vietnamese law protects a portion of the debtor's income and certain essential assets needed for daily life from seizure, balancing the creditor's recovery with the debtor's basic living needs.
Step 4 - How do insolvency procedures affect debt recovery in Vietnam?
Under the Luật Phá sản 2014 (the Law on Bankruptcy, No. 51/2014/QH13), an enterprise or cooperative is considered insolvent once it has failed to pay a due debt for 3 months from the payment due date, not from a creditor's request or demand.
Who can start the process
Once that 3-month non-payment threshold is met, a creditor, among others including the debtor itself, can petition the competent People's Court to open bankruptcy proceedings, filed at the court with jurisdiction over the debtor's registered location. The court examines the petition before deciding whether to accept the case.
What happens next
If the court accepts the case, it opens bankruptcy proceedings and a filing period follows for creditors to lodge their claims, together with an assets-and-liabilities review of the debtor. A creditors' meeting is convened during the process to review the debtor's financial position and discuss the way forward.
Types of outcome
Bankruptcy proceedings in Vietnam can lead to one of two outcomes: a court-supervised business recovery plan, giving the debtor a further period to restructure operations and repay creditors, or, where recovery is not viable, a declaration of bankruptcy and liquidation of the debtor's assets under the court's supervision.
The creditor process
Submit your proof of claim to the court or the appointed asset-management officer within the stated filing deadline, together with the contract, invoices and any statement of account. Claims are then paid in the statutory order of priority as the debtor's assets are liquidated or distributed, and unsecured trade creditors often recover only part of what is owed once employee and secured claims are satisfied. Keep track of the case timeline and any calls for creditor votes or meetings, since a claim that misses a filing deadline risks being excluded from the distribution.
Insolvency versus direct enforcement
Individual enforcement action against the debtor's assets generally pauses once bankruptcy proceedings open, making insolvency a collective, not an individual, recovery route. Where the debtor still holds identifiable, unencumbered assets and is simply refusing to pay, direct enforcement of a judgment (Step 3) can be faster than waiting on a full collective insolvency process.
Fees, interest and who pays what in Vietnam
- Our fee: success-based, No Cure, No Pay (see pricing).
- Court fees: án phí (court fees) apply only if the case escalates to litigation, on a sliding scale set by Resolution 326/2016/UBTVQH14. The losing party generally bears the court fees for the portion of the claim it loses.
- Settling before trial: a case that settles before the court rules is eligible for a 50% reduction in the court fee, an incentive to resolve claims without a full hearing.
- Statutory debtor items: late-payment interest up to 20% per year of the principal (Civil Code, Article 468(1)), or, for a commercial contract, interest at the average market rate for overdue debts (Commercial Law 2005, Article 306); a contractual penalty clause is capped at 8% of the value of the breached obligation (Commercial Law 2005, Article 301).
- Who keeps what: recovered principal is yours; statutory interest, penalties and court costs follow the contract, the statute and the court's order.
Cross-border debt collection in Vietnam
A foreign court judgment is not automatically enforceable in Vietnam. The Bộ luật Tố tụng Dân sự (the Civil Procedure Code) recognizes and enforces a foreign judgment on a treaty-or-reciprocity basis (Điều 423), and a creditor must file within 3 years of the judgment becoming legally effective (Điều 432). Vietnam has bilateral judicial-assistance treaties with 17 countries, including France, China, Russia and Cambodia, but is not a party to the 2019 HCCH Judgments Convention, so a judgment from a country outside that treaty network depends on Vietnam's reciprocity practice rather than a guaranteed route.
A foreign arbitral award is a more reliable route: Vietnam has been a party to the 1958 New York Convention since 1995, so an arbitral award from another member state benefits from a standardized recognition-and-enforcement framework that a foreign court judgment does not have. Structuring a cross-border contract with an arbitration clause can materially improve the odds of enforcing an award against a Vietnamese debtor.
Find a Local Debt Collection Lawyer
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BLaw Vietnam Co., Ltd is a premier law firm in Ho Chi Minh City offering effective Debt Collection services in Vietnam, positioning the firm as the go-to partner for debt recovery since 2007, with accolades from the Debitura Partner Network and services extending to the EU, United States, and wider Asia.
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Upper Class Collections Pte Ltd is a premier debt recovery agency in Australia offering effective risk-free debt collection services, trusted since 2006, with operations across ASEAN, and exclusive Debitura partner offering No Cure No Pay based on Debitura's risk-free standard terms; TCM Group and IACC member.
Frequently Asked Questions
Explore our most common FAQs below, or reach out directly at contact@debitura.com if you need help with a specific case.
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