Bad debts collection

Despite numerous reminders, friendly letters sent plus a formal notice, your client does not pay and has obviously no intention to do so.

It is necessary to move up a gear to force your client to meet its commitments.

To do so, several solutions are available depending on your internal organization and the resources you have.

Collection of overdue customers. What to do?

You want to delegate the management of litigation that is not your job and you prefer to leave this operation to professionals:

Establish a partnership with a collection agency which will take in hand the collection of your unpaid bills by making a new friendly recovery action followed by a legal action if necessary.
You start yourself a legal proceeding against your client. Choose the most suitable for your case:
- The European Order for Payment (EOP) for litigations inside Europe.
- The longest but safest if it is clear that you're in your right and if you know that your debtor will go to the court to contest the case: the summons to pay.
- The fastest: the emergency interim proceedings which can be very fast in several countries (few months).
You subscribed to a classical credit insurance and you got a guarantee on your client:
- Declare your claim to your credit insurance in order to be indemnified according to your contract.

The management of outstanding invoices is linked to the size and the strategy of your collection. Friendly collection is usually done internaly but collection becomes more complex when only a legal action can resolve the dispute. That's why it is often better to request the help of an external company specialized in such matters.

Next: collection agencies

Tools download:

The order for payment

European order for payment form A

European order for payment form B

European order for payment form C

European order for payment form D

European order for payment form E

European order for payment form F

European order for payment form G

Articles on the same topic

Collection level 1
How to collect efficiently invoices when they are past due

Collection prior due date
How to chase up efficiently customers before the due date of invoices to improve collection

Collection level 2
Collection of invoices after 30 days past due. Reminder letters template to be paid now

Collection level 3
How to collect very overdue invoices (up to 50 days past due) with formal notice templates in english and many other languages

Collection agencies
All you need to know about collection agencies. Advantages and disavantages to use a collection agency to recover due invoices

The keys of cash collection

Bad debts ratio calculation
Bad debts ratio calculation tool is a key performance indicator in credit management

Debt Collection Softwares
What are the advantages of debts collection software in credit and accounts receivable management? Presentation of main features of these tools dedicated to credit teams.

Debt collection in My DSO Manager
What are the main features of MY DSO MANAGER for debt recovery?

Debt collection media

Improve your processes with cash collection
How to use debt collection to improve the quality of your business? Are the issues related to credit management broader than the optimization of the WCR? "

SME organizations for debt collection

Time and collection management
What is the link between effectiveness of debt collection and the timeline of actions taken? Is time management a key factor of success for the collector?

tools to download

European order for payment form A