Are You Owed Money Ltd were able to resolve a number of outstanding historical debts for a professional management company based in the North West. After numerous unpaid invoices by a large PLC, they asked Are You Owed Money to step in.
Debt mismanagement
The client primarily deals with maintenance and construction for the private and public sectors. Between 2015 to 2017 the company completed hundreds of separate jobs for the debtor. As mentioned, the debtor was a large PLC; operating in the healthcare sector.
Some invoices were paid, but, through the debtor’s own mismanagement of the file, left over 200 invoices that remained outstanding. The unpaid invoices totalled nearly £40,000. The debtor’s in-house legal counsel continually disputed the debts. The client became frustrated as time (and the debtor) dragged on; their cashflow being severely affected. When cashflow suffers, it is important to get on top of the issue right away. The client turned to AYOM for swift action.
Charges and interest were added to each invoice under The Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013 and before beginning the debt recovery strategy. The client was happy and agreed to let us take the strain off the chase.
Amongst the paperwork was official correspondence from the debtor. The correspondence acknowledged a large portion of the debt. With proof of admittance, our in house solicitor prepared insolvency papers. These papers were served at the debtor’s head office by one of our senior debt collectors.
Initially the debtor’s legal counsel tried to set the papers aside. However, after some negotiation we secured a payment of £25,000, which is held on account. The remainder of the balance (and charges) are being pursued by the company solicitor who has issued a letter before claim.
As is common, the debtor feels they shouldn’t pay invoice compensation and interest. Legislation however allows for this on commercial contracts. With the law on the side of the client, the debt is due to be resolved 100% very soon. The client is extremely pleased with the upfront £25,000 and can expect the remainder to be awarded following court action.
Fast solutions
While attaining 100% recovery right away with larger debts such as these is often not possible, it is in the client’s best interest to look for a lump sum before a repayment plan is set. In this case the client was very happy to receive over half the money right away after nearly 2 years of chasing.
Despite the initial stalling, Are You Owed Money were happy to step in and are very pleased to have awarded a payment of £25,000 to help alleviate early cashflow worries for the client. With the team working closely with the client they can now feel safe in the knowledge the debts will be paid, in full.