Business Debt Recovery Fees

Debts can vary from very small amounts of money to millions of pounds and therefore, the complexity of each case depends on the amount of the debt and the circumstances from which it arose. The costs and pricing set below apply where your claim is for an unpaid and not disputed invoice, and does not include enforcement action… The scope of our fees includes the following work:

A disputed debt is clearly more complex. If the other party disputes your claim, we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice as to the bets process and our charges and costs associated for the revised/additional work, if necessary, which maybe a fixed fee or a different hourly rate depending on what is required.

Our fees mentioned below are based solely on debts recoverable in England and Wales and pursuant to English and Welsh law up to £100,000.

Our fees reflect the complexity and value of each debt recovery case and it is difficult to give an estimate of our fees without knowing the background and value of a claim and whether it is disputed. However, examples of the likely fee range for the relevant debt values is shown as follows:

* For the most up to date Court fees for the associated debt claim please click here.

Please note that:

The pricing above is indicative only and are depended on the complexity of the claim. If a claim becomes disputed, we will of course advise you of the likely costs that will be incurred and agree substantive costs with you before they are incurred. However, defended cases are difficult to predict and even for claims worth less than £50,000, the costs are likely to be in the region of £25,000 – £40,000.

We charge an average hourly charge rate of £250 plus VAT, but this can be around an hourly rate of £4000 plus VAT for our most experienced litigator. These fees do not include disbursements or any court fees.

In order to recover a debt, we must follow a process which are laid out in various statutes and rules, depending on the type of debt. We must follow the Civil Procedure Rules, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims and the relevant Practice Directions. We specialise by providing a non-process driven approach worked on or overseen by experienced solicitors at each stage.

We initially send a Letter of Claim (“LOC”) to the debtor, setting out that we are seeking to recover the debt and our intention to issue court proceedings should they not pay. Our fees for considering a client’s documentation and drafting the LOC are £350 plus VAT.

Should the debtor not pay or dispute the debt, the matter becomes more complex and further fees will be incurred. If the debtor does not respond to our LOC, we then send a chaser letter reminding them of our intention to issue proceedings and the implications should this happen. Our cost for doing this is £25.00 plus VAT.

If the debtor still does not respond, depending on the amount of money that is owed, we would advise on the appropriate next steps against the debtor. We would need to ensure that it is financially appropriate for our client to incur the fees of issuing proceedings in order to get payment of the debt. If this is the case and the client wishes to issue proceedings, our fees for drafting the claim form and particulars of claim are around £500 to £1,000 plus VAT, however this could increase if there is substantial paperwork to consider or could be a lot less if the matter is relatively simpler.

Should the debtor respond to our LOC disputing the debt consideration will need to be given as to what has been stated, and once instructions are taken, we will advise the client on the options going forward. The fees for this can vary depending on circumstances and so it is difficult to give a quote prior to knowing the details and complexity of the dispute.

In most cases where the debtor responds to the LOC disputing the debt, our next step would be to draft a response letter to the debtor refuting the allegations. Our fees for doing this are charged at hourly rates between £250 to £4000 plus VAT or a fixed fee could be agreed with the relevant solicitor and estimated charge of around £500 to £1,000 plus VAT but, again, these depend on the complexity of the dispute and the amount of documentation which needs to be considered.

Court proceedings are frequently costly (as you very rarely recover all of your costs, and certainly do not receive compensation for management time and the stress of dealing with these matters) and stressful for clients, as much as we try to minimise this. As such, we could enter into negotiations with the debtor in order to bring the matter to a conclusion without the need to go to court if at all possible. All parties to proceedings are under an obligation to attempt to settle their matter under the Civil Procedure Rules. In order for us to negotiate on behalf of our client, our fees are charged at an hourly rate of between £250 to £350 plus VAT dependent on the complexity of the matter and the time taken in negotiations.

Unless stated otherwise above, all prices are stated excluding VAT and VAT will be charged at the prevailing rate (currently 20% in the UK).

Matters usually take 14 days to 4 months from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly on receipt of Judgement in default. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.

This is just an estimate, and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

Our Complaints Procedure can be located by client here.

We recommend that you contact us on 0333 772 7736 or at enquiries@360lawservices.com before relying on this information or taking any course of action (or omitting to take any action) that has or may have legal implications. If you rely on this information without obtaining legal advice you do so at your own risk.