It is only natural for businesses to occasionally experience cash flow issues. Whether that is due to seasonality, unexpected expenses, cancelled orders, or an external force outside of their control, these issues can have an effect on your own cash flow, meaning debt recovery is essential.
Your cash flow will be the foundation of your business. Any late payments will have a detrimental effect on your profitability, your ability to pay your own creditors and potentially your reputation. In extreme cases, reduced cash flow could even mean the difference between the survival or the demise of your business.
Whether you are a business owner, Finance Director or Credit Controller, the burden of responsibility for managing the finances is on your shoulders, as will any cash flow issues. Chasing unpaid debts is stressful and time consuming, inevitably leading to frustration and added pressure to secure the debt.
This is where our Debt Recovery experts can help.
Our Commercial Debt Recovery experts at Warner Goodman Solicitors have over 35 years of experience of recovering debts and are well equipped to remove that pressure from you. We don’t provide an automated service, quite the opposite.
From the start of your relationship with us we will take you through each stage of recovering the debt, while also reviewing your credit control processes, advising as to where changes can be made to improve your long term strategy and streamline your invoicing capabilities, offering you a bespoke service as we appreciate that one size does not fit all.
Achieving the delicate balance between being forceful enough to encourage payment while keeping an ongoing relationship is crucial; something that we have many years of experience in handling.
We will take into account the historical relationship you have with the business in question and decide, with you, the right course of action to acquire the debt owed to you. In most cases, our approach leads to settling out of Court, leaving you with invoices paid and relationships in tact.
Speak to our Commercial Debt Recovery experts today
To speak to our Debt Recovery experts in Southampton, Portsmouth, Fareham, Chandler’s Ford and Waterlooville, and to find out more about how the team at Warner Goodman Solicitors can assist you in securing this and all future debts, contact Brian Kirby on 023 8071 7421 or email briankirby@warnergoodman.co.uk.
How our Debt Recovery team can help you
Our Commercial Debt Recovery experts can provide swift and successful action to reclaim the debt, securing your cash flow for the future. Our team specialises in commercial debt recovery, working with businesses who regularly invoice their customers and suppliers and are struggling to manage their cash flow due to late payments of those invoices.
Leaving a debt outstanding for too long could lead to the debtor defaulting completely, and so our aim is to settle quickly and amicably out of Court, causing as little disruption to your own cash flow as possible.
Our Business Debt Recovery experts will support you throughout each of the four stages of debt recovery, including:
- Pre-action protocol, designed to remedy the situation and reclaim the debt without the need to pursue further legal action.
- If pre-action protocol is unsuccessful, we will then issue proceedings to the Court.
- Manage the Court proceedings, such as the County Court Judgment.
- Assist you with any enforcement that is required.
Even prior to these stages of debt recovery, we will review the debt outstanding, the debtor’s financial situation and the impact the debt is having on your business, discussing with you the other options open to you, such as offering payment plans and other forms of agreement.
We thrive on not only recovering your debts, but also reviewing your whole credit control procedure to assist you in avoiding similar situations in the future. We look at our dealings with you as a partnership, and will act accordingly when providing our expert debt recovery advice.
What makes our Debt Recovery team different?
When faced with an outstanding debt, you will be looking for legal advice and support that will secure your debt in a timely manner, taking the stress off you and placing it onto your debtor. At Warner Goodman Solicitors, our success can be attributed to the following key benefits of partnering with us on your credit control matters:
Pricing ModelOur revolutionary pricing model has recently been overhauled to minimise the upfront cost to you in chasing the debt and takes advantage of Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation. Our pricing is based on our confidence in returning your money to you in an easy to understand structure.
Our ApproachWe adopt an innovative approach to debt recovery; not only securing your unpaid debts but also reviewing your entire credit control procedure to streamline your processes for the future. This is a bespoke service, tailored to you, your business and your overall objectives.
Our SoftwareTo enable us to understand the best approach with each particular debtor, our unique access to cloud based software allows us to investigate and monitor company credit scores and financial health to identify emerging risks.
Links with third partiesWe work closely with the UK’s largest judicial services group, enabling a smooth transition through each stage of recovering the debt.
Our Case Management SystemOur leading case management system specialises in debt recovery procedures. Our valuable time is therefore spent working with you to find a solution instead of burdening you and us with unnecessary paperwork.
No hidden chargesThere are no hidden charges involved in our pricing structure so you will be clear from the first day of working with us as to the costs involved in recovering the debt.
We are SolicitorsUsing a firm of Solicitors to recover your debt is always advisable to safeguard your interests. We are regulated by several organisations and industry bodies, we are able oversee the whole recovery in-house as well as review your current practices offering a tailored approach for the future.
Wider Commercial networkAs part of a law firm, we are supported by a wider department of Commercial Solicitors who can offer their advice for any other business concern you may have, including our Litigation and Dispute Resolution team who can advise you should the debt owed to you be defended.
Why work with our debt recovery team?
Over the years, our Debt Recovery experts have built an enviable reputation in obtaining swift payment of outstanding debts in a commercially sensitive and pragmatic manner. We can help any business in any industry recover their debts owed by another business, with particular expertise in the recruitment, manufacturing, food and dairy, distribution, supply chain, hospitality and retail sectors. Most of our clients have been with us for years, demonstrating our success in the partnership we have developed with them.
At Warner Goodman, we are a regulated firm of solicitors that regularly conduct debt recovery work. We are legal experts and can access the courts and other Judgement and enforcement methods directly with no delay or hesistation.
Debt recovery FAQs
What is debt recovery?
If any payments your business is expecting to receive continue to go unpaid, it may be necessary for you to take certain actions to recover the money you are owed.
Debt recovery refers to the methods a third party, such as our experts, take to ensure that the debtors pay off the debt.
How does debt recovery work?
There are typically four steps to the debt recovery process. These are:
- Pre-action protocol/Letter Before Action
- Issuing Court proceedings to recover the debt
- Applying for a County Court Judgement
- Enforcement
The first step involves contacting the debtor with a ‘Letter Before Action’ which sets out the need for the outstanding debt to be paid and confirms a date when a payment is expected. It also sets out that, if a debt is not received, Court proceedings will begin.
A business debtor has 7 days to make a payment following a Letter Before Action. If they do not, the next stage is to proceed with a claim to the County Court. A debtor has 14 days to act on a claim.
If a debtor does not respond to a claim, or has not made the payment despite admitting the debt, the Court will pass judgement on the debtor in the form of a County Court Judgement (CCJ).
Our Commercial Debt Recovery team can also assist you with any enforcement that is required during the process.
What does a Debt Recovery expert do?
Our Debt Recovery team provide a range of services to support your business. Depending on the circumstances of the case, this may involve:
- Drafting and serving Letters Before Action
- Engaging in pre-action negotiations
- Investigating a debtor’s ability to repay
- Enforcing County Court Judgements
- Seeking Charging Orders to secure debts over property
- Advice on insolvency procedures
Speak to our commercial debt recovery experts today
To speak to our debt recovery experts in Southampton, Portsmouth, Fareham, Chandler’s Ford and Waterlooville, and to find out more about how the team at Warner Goodman Solicitors can assist you in securing this and all future debts, contact Brian Kirby on 023 8071 7421 or email briankirby@warnergoodman.co.uk.
Brian could not have been more helpful, professional and he gave us the right advise from start to finish.
It is always a pleasure dealing with Warner Goodman, and Brian is always very helpful and polite – as well as dealing with our instructions within a day of receiving them. Excellent service.
All of your staff who we’ve had dealings with are extremely approachable & helpful. Brian Kirby is excellent, he is totally professional, but also pragmatic. He handles things speedily & efficiently. It is a great pleasure to work with him.