by Henley RecoveriesCommon Reasons Why Court Won’t Work For You
Some of the most common reasons why court won’t work for you are simple, others are more complex. We want to make sure that if legal action is necessary to recover a debt that you are making a well-informed decision. To help you along, here are some of the reasons we advise against court with out clients.
Not the End of the Road
Let’s take an example from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). We have a client whose debtor has stated that we can take him to court and he is still not going to pay the $300 owed. VCAT and other tribunals will provide a judgement, but does not end with a physical enforcement of the result. If we take him through VCAT, we will then need to take the matter further to an enforcement hearing.
An enforcement hearing at magistrates court can be costly in terms of payment and time set aside. With solicitor involvement, the matter starts to blow up to the next level. Is it worth it for the $300?
Lack of Information
Some recoveries we do start with a first name, 10k owed and a disconnected phone number. We welcome a challenge but the courts may not look too kindly towards it. Court requires the respondent served the documents so they actually know that there is a case against them. We do skip tracing to find more details on the subject, but sometimes they can be incredibly hard to find. Melbourne Investigations explain the process of skip tracing well in their blog here.
Without a means to take person to court, it can be a fruitless process.
Costly
We hear some horror stories of clients spending 25k to recover 20k. Our court cases are paid upfront prior to moving forward to avoid this. When a case moves forward to the next step like the aforementioned enforcement hearing, things could get out of control. If we can see this being the case, we may advise against court.
Court costs can be recovered to an extent, but sometimes it is hard to count the cost.
Time
Preparing for court can be time consuming, even if you have someone like a collector or solicitor preparing the way for you. For some businesses, it’s not worth chasing $6,000 in court as they would lose this in time spent preparing for court. On the other end, some courts can be slow with 10 month wait times to get the case on the table. Maybe this is too long for you to wait for a solution.
Other Options
Debt collectors like ourselves are always looking for the best way to resolve a case. We try to avoid some of the issues court produces. We avoid costs, time extensions, hassle on your end and any nerves the word ‘court’ might produce. This could be by trying another avenue first like:
- In-House Escalation
- QBCC / DBDRV / Fair Trading
- Credit File Implications
- Statutory Demands
Whatever the situation, we hope we can give you the options forward to recover your debt. This can sometimes mean court is the only option, even if it’s not a good one. Are you confused on what avenues you have? Feel free to contact us on info@henleyrecoveriesgroup.com.au with your situation and our collection agents will be happy to advise on what we can do in your situation. Otherwise, you can submit a debt with us and we will let you know what options should present themselves as we move through collecting your case.